Carlo Petrini, founder and International President of Slow Food visits Lathlain Primary
In 2008 Carlo Petrini was listed in the United Kingdom’s Guardian newspaper as one of ‘50 People Who Could Save the Planet’ and he was named ‘European Hero’ by Time magazine in 2004.
Carlo had visited Australia years ago but had never seen the West and came to see what makes Slow Food Perth convivium the largest in Australia. Slow Food today has more than 100,000 members in 150 countries, including six branches in Western Australia. The organisation works to counteract the disappearance of local food traditions, people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how individual food choices affect the rest of the world.
Emphasising the importance of children having the opportunity to learn about food Carlo launched a food garden collaborative project between Slow Food Perth, the children’s environment awareness organisation, Millennium Kids, and participating schools at Lathlain Primary School where he presented Slow Food Perth cheques to Lathlain school principal Cathy O’Dea and St Hilda’s junior school principal Julie QuanSing-Rowlands and took a walk through the garden with the children.
The public event at UWA required a change of lecture theatre to accommodate the crowds. In his talk ‘Good, clean and fair: small, slow food in a big food nation,’ Carlo discussed Slow Food’s approach to agriculture, food production and gastronomy, based on a concept of food quality defined by three interconnected principles: good, clean and fair. ‘Slow Food believes that the food we eat should taste good; that it should be produced in a clean way that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health; and that food producers should receive fair compensation for their work,’ Carlo explained.
Carlo reflected on the future directions of the association in its twentieth year and the influence of Terra Madre – the global network of food communities launched by Slow Food. He also wondered at the fact that indigenous Australians had never had a presence at the event which celebrates indigenous food cultures across the globe.
Slow Food members turned out to welcome him to Western Australia at a reception at The Old Brewery that included a Welcome-to-country ceremony by Derbil Yerigan Noongar elder Mingli Wanjurri Nungala (McGlade) and the launch of the Western Australia small food awards by the Minister for Agriculture and Food, Terry Redman MLA.
