ISANG tulog na lang, as Filipinos say, when we make a countdown.
Tomorrow, I will fly with my colleagues from the Non-Timber Forest Products-Exchange Programme Philippines to take part in the Terra Madre Salone del Gusto 2016 in the beautiful city of Turin, Italy.
I am one of the 11 fully sponsored delegates invited by the Terra Madre Organizational Committee from the Philippines.
Organized by Slow Food, the 11th edition of Terra Madre Salone del Gusto, which Italy considers as the most important international event dedicated to food culture, will be held from September 22 to 26 in Turin, Italy.
About 7,000 delegates from 143 countries, over 800 exhibitors and 300 Slow Food Presidia will take part in the event.
Safeguarding food biodiversity and the Ark of Taste project is an international objective for Slow Food, a major project bringing the Slow Food network together in the Philippines.
A major event is Let It Bee.
Delegates from Brazil, Ethiopia, Indonesia (SF Presidia Cingagoler Honey), Macedonia, Mexico, Philippines, and Tanzania make 10 minute presentations.
As Slow Food founder noted, “The feature that characterizes Slow Food... is its defense and protection of diversity... that combines with the sacred and the spiritual sphere not only from the scientific and genetic point of views but in terms of cultures, of social arrangements and organizations, of languages, and of community and individual relations.”
But I will attend not as an NGO delegate, but as a representative of media.
Last May 2016, Giulia Capaldi of the Slow Food International Press Office emailed to write some pieces about the event (prior and/or post Terra Madre) on SunStar.
“Your contribution,” said Capaldi, “would be really important to spread the news to a wider public in your area, so that more people would become aware of the new edition of Terra Madre Salone del Gusto.”
That means SunStar will have exclusives on the Turin events.
Below the radar, I have been exchanging emails with my Italian counterparts.
The organizers told me that at the Foreign Press Accreditation Point, I can ask for the password for the free journalists’ wi-fi. This password will enable me to get online from the press room and from various event locations around the city.
As journalists, we can access for free all the Terra Madre Forums until all seats are taken. We will be allowed to enter before the general public only by showing our press passes.
The other Filipino, who will come in as a media person, is entrepreneur Pacita “Chit” Juan, a regular Manila Times columnist.
The next time my column comes out, allow me to greet my readers, “Buongiorno. Come stai? (Good morning. How are things?)”
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(bqsanc@yahoo.com)