Well, our first day in Turin was a good one. And long.
After a very late first night many of our delegation slept in and missed the early (too early) bus heading to the venue. But splitting a cab between several of us was not costly at all.
Once we are at the Terra Madre venue it was an Italian food free for all! Terra Madre and Salone Del Gusto is basically a giant food lovers paradise. There are hundreds, if not thousands of producers and countries represented here – all displaying traditional and regional foods. Terra Madre is basically the international part while Salone del Gusto represents the food regions of Italy. There are one hundred countries represented at Terra Madre and probably 2 dozen regions of Italy.
As you can imagine there are f0ods of all kinds, but from Italy there are many things you would expect: pasta, wine, meats, cheeses, and breads. And the selection is amazing. I tried dozens of cheeses yesterday along with dozens of beers! But the meats are really impressing me the most so far. So many types of sausage, cold cuts, chicken – yet each with their own uniqueness. Last night we had a raw beef dish and it was so pleasurable considering all the beef bullshit going on in Canada. Along with our mint-infused, flower-infused and stout beers we quickly ravaged a plate of raw beef while contemplating ho such a dish would be received in Canada!
The Italians themselves have been great hosts. They love to talk food and love to share food and are very tolerant of our very bad Italian and very forgiving we we talk to them in Spanish! In many ways they seem to be having as much fun as us! Though for many of them there days will be long as they staff that there small-family owned businesses booth. The beer brewers seem to have a strategy for this, though, with many of them employing the one-for-you, one-for me policy.
It has been great getting to know many of the other Canadian delegates and to hear about their projects throughout the country. A small group of us had a great time last night as the crowds started to die down and the event became more manageable. Mid day there must have been 20,000 people at Salone, which covers an area that must be at least 10 acres in size. You can just walk and walk and still keep finding new areas and new regions of the world to explore.
We are just getting started here for day two (I woke up way too early today so am blogging while everyone else sleeps!). We are having a delegate meeting this morning and then we’re off for more. I have been spending way more time in the Italian part of the event so may visit more world stalls today – but the Italian food and their presentations, are just so good! We’ll see where my feet take me…
