Rome, July 18. The ‘slow food’ movement (eat calmly) begins a new stage in which it is committed to “local agriculture to defend biodiversity, territory and the identity of native communities,” Dalí Nolasco Cruz, the first Latin American indigenous woman to be part of its executive committee.
This work is of vital importance in Latin America, the second region with the greatest presence in this network and where “the situation is critical,” explained Nolasco, a member of the Nahua people in the Mexican region of Puebla, in an interview after the announcement of his appointment. .
“We have been an exploited and very violent territory and that is why I think that in ‘Slow food’ there is a space of hope to change things despite the fact that our territories are threatened,” he added.
Influencing the political sphere, educating society to change its food trends and supporting the transformations of agricultural communities are the main missions of the new stage of the movement, inaugurated this weekend in Pollenzno (northern Italy) with a new committee executive and president, the African Edward Mukiibi.
In this new era, the organization wants to consolidate its presence in the different regions of the world to reinforce its influence in the decision-making of governments and other powers that mark the day-to-day life of farmers, especially the most vulnerable.
One way to help them, in addition to lobbying to influence policies, is “to return to local agriculture and gastronomy, which historically kept the towns alive,” the Mexican activist stressed.
“With this we return to forms of agroecological production, which were already practiced and that, although they are not knowledge from universities, have worked for thousands of years,” he added.
The return to local gastronomy, with the recovery of recipes and products that historically belonged to those communities, has a great “political impact” since it supports local farmers and avoids dependence on exports.
In indigenous communities, this work is even more important because the repression they have suffered for years has caused them to forget their traditions, said Nolasco, founder of the network of indigenous women’s organizations from Tlaola, Mopampa, Timo’Patla and Yoltika.
“Many indigenous Mexican women are making recipe books to decolonize the diet, reeducate palates, and reconnect with the flavors of indigenous peoples and ancestors,” she stressed.
Founded in 1989 to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions and to counter the advance of junk food culture, Slow Food has since grown into a global movement involving millions of people in 160 countries.
The new leaders of the movement also hope “to be able to involve more people” and thus reinforce their final mission: “Fight so that everyone has the right to food, good in terms of taste, nutrition, environmental impact and respect for animals “, explained to Efe the new general secretary of ‘Slow Food’, Marta Messa. EFE
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