Terra Madre Americas food conference kicks off in Sacramento
SACRAMENTO – Imagine a world where everyone eats food that is good for them and it's good for the people who grow it and good for the planet.
The concept is called Slow Food and it's a fast-growing concept worldwide, and this weekend, it's here in Sacramento.
Preparation is underway inside the Memorial Auditorium as Visit Sacramento and Slow Food host Terra Madre Americas – the American version of an internationally acclaimed food conference that started in Italy.
"When they started 20 years ago, Turin was a fading industrial town and now it has been transformed into a center of food," said Patrick Mulvaney.
Mulvaney, of Mulvaney's B & L, is one of the chefs behind the conference. He says Sacramento's farm-to-fork history made the capital city a perfect place for such a gathering of slow food innovators: food producers, scientists, cooks and researchers.
Over the next few days, they'll be sharing ideas about wine, coffee and other food.
"It's a chance for the Italians to come and see what Sacramento is, see who we are and how to make them comfortable, that this is a good place to be and share," Mulvaney said. "And for us, it's a chance to introduce them to, not to Patrick Mulvaney, but to Stuart Wolfe, who is the largest producer of tomatoes, to the people from Palm Wonderful, to Blue Diamond."
Chef Monica Orduna-Sosa hails from Mexico. She will be preparing delicious plates in the tent outside.
"We make picaritas, picaritas made in chalula puebla," Orduna-Sosa said.
Her goal is to give people a little taste of what the culture and food are like in her native country.
"I am going to teach how to use the corn in drinks and also some dishes with the tortilla," she said.
Passing on traditions while cultivating interest in food education and sustainable policies around the globe. Harvesting resources from the farm-to-fork capital to set the table for future slow food conferences.
"So when Visit Sac says their estimates are 20,000 for next year and 100,000 for 2027, my thought is that's low," Mulvaney said.
The event starts Friday night and runs Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento.
