This week I will not be buying local (shock horror). The reason for this before you ask is that BigBarn will be spending most of the week in Italy at the Terra Madre conference in Turin. This runs alongside the Salone Del Gusto food festival. We are lucky enough to have been invited to this conference by the organisers and we are giving a presentation on BigBarns work here in Britain. Hopefully we will get to meet many more people from all over the world who are as passionate about good quality local food as we are. There are people from every continent and many countries represented but I think the organisers describe the drive behind the conference best:

An alternative to the current industrial food production system exists: one where food quality and variety are valued, rural regions thrive, and links between producers and consumers are strong.

Terra Madre 2004

The slow food movement has been growing since it was conceived in 1986 to work against the fast food global onslaught which threatens to turn the world into a very poor place to eat. The conference and the festival are playing host to many food producers as well as directories like BigBarn.

I know several of the producers on BigBarn will also be at both the festival and the conference as well so hopefully we will get to see some old friends in Italy.

Of course it might not all be work but that is the hardship we have to face sometimes here at BigBarn. I will be looking for some local Italian produce to bring home so maybe I can still buy local just internationally if you see what I mean.

The BigBarn team are off to Turin on the 19 October for the Slow Food Festival. For those that have not heard of the Slow Food movement it is, as it sounds, the opposite of fast food. Founded in 1986 ‘a movement for the protection of the right to taste’ Slow Food has grown to over 60,000 members in all 5 continents.

The Festival brings together nearly 5,000 ‘foodies’ from around the world to network and put together an action plan for better food. Delegates range from small Kenyan biltong maker, to Dutch charcutiers to… Carrot Man our very own Bigbarn Fine Food Crusader. He will be presenting BigBarn’s achievements and mission to 500 people at the local food workshop compressing his enthusiasm on the subject in to just 10 minutes.

His message will be clear, there is hope, we, as consumers are waking up to the importance of eating well, supporting our community and green issues. We want a local food section in supermarkets, an open all the time farmers market giving farmers a good return and encouragement to grow a wider range of goods. All we need to do is get together and tell these ‘customer led’ supermarkets what we want. If you haven’t registered with BigBarn please click here and we will lobby in your area.

And going green we are all realising we should care more for our environment. Even George W Bush has now recognified (recognised and verified) global warming.