“The environment needs protection and the peasants need dignity, just like our food.”
The Slow Food Beijing Festival was held from September 23 to 26 thanks to the collaboration between Slow Food China, Slow Food International, Beijing Design Week and the Free Trade Zone of Beijing Airport.
The festival offered a new Slow perspective to the country with an old food culture and introduced Slow Food to a new and vast public.
Before a large audience, Slow Food international delegates from more than 20 countries, such as Mr. Kuangsung Ling and Ms. Shy Yan presented the Beijing Declaration:
“China represents many things, mainly, it is recognized for its food: something rooted in its culture and history. However, this identity of China is being increasingly diluted.
Nowadays food is not only unhealthy, it is dirty and contaminated – maybe this is the price we pay for decades of rapid development – it has been produced in large quantities, in a vain, tasteless way, and separated from its root and identity.
Thirty-five years of reform and liberalization led China to rapid economic development, but this harmed agricultural production, since quality declined dramatically by separating local food from the food system; a global phenomenon. Thousands of animals and plant species disappear every year, as well as food products that have been part of human identity and diet for centuries. Distorted consumption is depleting the planet’s resources and damaging the ecosystems where we live; Food security has become a national concern throughout the world and in China.
At the beginning of 2015, the Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China announced that he would take a “zero-tolerance” stance on violations and crimes against the food security of the people of his country. This law aims to be “the most important in the history of food security” that will go into effect on October 1, 2015.
Our environment needs protection and the peasants need dignity, as well as our food, their industry, their distribution and perhaps most importantly, their culture, which is very important for the people of China and the rest of the world.
Particularly in times where food is abundant, even in rural areas, food remains a cultural and intellectual experience. For this reason we need to preserve nature, continue to produce these cultural food treasures and the traditions that have created them.
Confucius once commented that he did not eat food out of season, stressing the importance of collecting and preparing herbs and foods in accordance with Yin and Yang to ensure that herbs and foods absorb the vital essence of nature, optimizing the aroma, flavor and nutrition. The wide and deep Chinese culture is a splendid chapter in the context of world civilization, it is also aligned with the concepts of Slow Food, on the preservation of biodiversity and the consumption of seasonal foods.
30 years ago when Slow Food International was founded in Italy, founder Carlo Petrini said, “… every person must have access to good, clean and fair food”. So far Slow Food is present in more than 170 countries.
Now Slow Food has arrived in China. The non-profit organization of Slow Food China will be dedicated to celebrating the rich food traditions of China and protecting edible biodiversity. For this reason, the Ark of Taste is a crucial project to return those forgotten foods to the farms and later to the dining room.
We must develop a comprehensive network that will grow and work to improve China. We must ensure that our children have a bright future and that anyone can access good, clean and fair food. This change begins now by thinking daily about our food. ”
For more information, please contact the Slow Food International Press Office:
Paola Nano, +39 329 8321285, p.nano@slowfood.it
www.slowfood.com – www.comune.bra.cn.it
Slow Food involves millions of people who support the philosophy of Good, Clean and Fair food. This network is made up of enthusiasts, chefs, traditional cooks, experts, young people, food producers, fishermen and academics from more than 150 countries. It includes more than 100,000 Slow Food members worldwide, who belong to more than 1,500 local chapters (Convivium). Slow Food partners support supporting the organization through the payment of their membership and by participating in locally organized events. The network also involves more than 2,000 Terra Madre food communities, who are committed to the production of sustainable small-scale food.
