Healthy Food vs. Fast Food

By Isabelle

Photos courtesy of Yeikel Santos

In Terra Madre 2012C Cuba presented
some brochures on comunitary projects

Hundreds of countries work daily to design strategies to promote a better world. Thus, the promotion of a sustainable agriculture, of healthy feeding processes and with space for everyone are priorities.

 

Although governmental efforts yield fruits, the world has realized solutions need much more help.

Given this fact, thousands of men and women decide to take charge, generating solutions not relying only on governments. To do this they have created countless organizations and local projects that have managed to reach more people.

In this sense, one of the entities of higher results is Slow Food, an international movement born in Italy, trying to break the standardization of food taste encouraged by large transnational as McDonald's.Slow Food promotes a new philosophy that encourages the pleasure and knowledge by indigenous culinary cultures.

Between different events supported by this organization, the so-called Terra Madre - carried out every two years — stands out for expanding relations between community and educational projects from different parts of the world.

Cuba and Terra Madre

"It´s not until you attend an event of international magnitude, in which much of the Nations are present, when you realize we are many and therefore, if we worked together to achieve a goal, a significant number of problems should be solved soon.”

So Yeikel Santos, 25, a young standing put since he was a teenager because of his desire to help other people. With the only incentive than the wish to share his love for a healthy nutrition, he developed the project "Healthy Life, Pure Air".

Perhaps without a full awareness, he led new generations to begin to re-evaluate the ways they assumed food.

Soon his work and that of a group of people dedicated to the same activity was recognized. Professor Stefano Pescarmona, from the University of Gastronomic Sciences of Italy, extended their invitation to attend the Terra Madre event in its fourth edition in 2008, representing Cuba. An enormous privilege, because the Congress stands out today as leader regarding improvements in agriculture and food.

Once there, conferences, photos, videos and books showed to the world part of the Cuban reality in the area of community work.

Terra Madre 2012 for the first time also provided space and attention to the Hall of Taste initiative, which had been doing for some years.

In the center of the debates there were young people from different sectors: farmers, students, etc., who were able to engage participants in reflections on sustainable production and consumption. In overcrowded rooms you polemizó on topics ranging from health and labelling of food, to water and other social issues, such as the role of the food, agriculture, as well as the need for a paradigm shift in the food system.

The meeting, since the first edition, and unlike other meetings of this type, where emotions end at the closing of doors, laid the foundations for future exchanges of ideas among congressmen.

Thus, organizers, producers, delegates and farmers renewed enthusiasm for the future of world agriculture and food.

The organizers hope that the public interest aroused by this last meeting make turn gaze to the decisive work of peasants. In addition, they considered the event as a resounding success and a signal of that, despite the economic crisis, the political importance of the event was understood.