Terra Madre arrives in Turin

Saving rare foods and citrus from around the world

Sep 27, 2024

Hello Lemonistas,

Welcome to this edition of The Lemon Grove newsletter. In this issue, we’ll look at the huge Terra Madre Salone del Gusto festival in Turin, Italy which runs from now until the coming weekend. This year, the event focuses on re-establishing and strengthening the relationship between humans and nature. Food is the essential link between nature and culture. Through Terra Madre, the festival organised by Slow Food International, the organisers aim to map a path toward a healthier relationship that we as humans can have with nature through food. Get a glimpse of what to expect with this short film from the 2022 edition. #TerraMadre2024

Meanwhile, for some background, look at this short introduction to Terra Madre that I wrote back in 2022.

And guess what! European citrus season is rapidly approaching, with the first crates of green fruits arriving in the UK soon; think green Mandarins and Cara Cara, a variety of navel oranges with slightly reddish-tinged flesh and thin skins. Over the coming months, The Lemon Grove will share a 'Citrus 101' with you. This will be a series of recipes, podcasts, short films and stories about particular fruits such as the Cedro, Buddha's Hand and Finger limes. Check out suppliers such as Natoora and Crowd Funding, who offer exciting but different ways to access fresh and unusual citrus fruits. Subscribe to this 'The Lemon Grove' newsletter for full access.

Terra Madre Salon de Gusto
26—30 September Parco Dora, Turin

Every two years in September, Turin in northern Italy hosts thousands of small-scale farmers, artisan producers, food lovers and the curious for the sprawling event Terra Madre Salone del Gusto. I have visited three times and met orange blossom scent producers from Liguria and lemon marmalade specialists from Sardinia. I have also come face to face with giant blue snails. Terra Madre offers a coherent concept of supporting the planet and its people and environment focusing on the way we farm and make choices about what we eat.

Scenes from around Terra Madre 2022 including queing to enter on the first day with a couple of friends from the University of Gastronomic Sciences © The Lemon Grove

Organised by Slow Food International, the five-day event fizzes with chatter and sharing of ideas about regenerative farming, saving neglected family lemon groves or organising to stop devastating farming practices destroying rainforests and polluting waterways.

Scenes from previous Terra Madre presentations with people listening intently to speakers, including an image of Carlo Petrini, — Scenes from previous Terra Madre presentations, including an image of Carlo Petrini, Slow Food founder (top right) and Edward Mukiibi, Slow Food President (top left) © The Lemon Grove

But Terra Madre is also about gathering and serendipitous meetings. Over the years, I've sampled beer people who were active in the erudite Oxford Food Symposium, sipped too much red wine with an Icelandic cheese expert, discussed the finer points of smoked garlic with a heavily bearded German, learnt about the variety of espresso coffees served across Italy often ports connected with centuries of coffee bean imports as diverse as Genoa, Naples and Venice from immaculately groomed executives working for the Turin-based coffee giant, Lavazza.

If this sounds daunting, it isn't. Nut farmers from the Amazon, cheese makers from central England and rare cherry growers from eastern Austria are keen to share their life's work and spread the word about their produce. Terra Madre is not a beauty pageant of foods destined for an anonymous supermarket shelf but an expression of love and dirt-under-the-fingernail efforts to preserve tradition and artisan production techniques honed over generations of family.

A selection of foods including eggs, cheese, nuts and people from past Terra Madre events — A selection of foods and people from past Terra Madre events © The Lemon Grove

Yes, the sheer variety of producers and opportunities to learn can be overwhelming and intense, but the variety of people you meet and interact with over their food and drink makes the experience exhilarating.

Three images of Saudi Arabian food. The first features a man in a typical headdress the second a woman wearing a black abaya, and the third a basket of spices. — Saudi Arabia hosted a large stand in 2022, as part of the Kingdom's culinary diplomacy efforts © The Lemon Grove

Issues such as how to protect the diversity and food heritage of Uzbekistan, how to manage food security in the face of a rapidly changing climate, securing women's rights across the food chain from farming to hospitality and learning how Slow Food International interacts with policymakers in the European Union and at the upcoming G7 agricultural ministers meeting in Syracuse, Sicily all feature in talks and events at this year's Terra Madre.

But what about the food on offer? One way to describe the experience is grazing and trying different foods on little plates.

An image of a food market stall selling meatballs and a closeup of a chef cooking up the meatballs. — Bombetta are meatballs stuffed with melted cheese and pancetta © The Lemon Grove

I've eaten Bombetta Pugliese, little meat rolls stuffed with melted cheese and pancetta; super fresh ricotta with slow-grown tomatoes that have been allowed to develop complex and delicious flavours; pieces of panettone, the airy, sweet bread flavoured with limoncello and lemon jam, Donkey milk dark chocolate and plates of figs. Prosciutto and Parmesan cheese were also taste-tested. And yes, eating such foods knowing a little about the producer's story and processes makes it taste even better.

Citrus on display

Two images of citrus and citrus-based products from Terra Madre, including bergamot (right) and a jar of orange curd from Spain.. — A selection of citrus and citrus-based products from Terra Madre, including bergamot (right) and a jar of orange curd from Spain © The Lemon Grove

Whenever I attend Terra Madre, I am thrilled by how the flesh, juice, and citrus peels find their way onto my plate. So, you might discover and taste a stall marmalade made with the rare Pompia fruit of Sardinia or a bitter orange flower water distilled by the Guglielmi family in Liguria. The festival is a place for the curious.

Images taken of pompia, a knobbly, round green fruit; some jars containing pompia marmalde and the mother and son team who make the product. — Pompia is a rare citrus found on the north-eastern coastal area of Sardinia. Most trees are in the wild or peoples gardens, but efforts are now underway to sustain the fruit trough commercialising its products. © The Lemon Grove

This year's event will see a stall representing Japan, sharing regenerative food and stories about the country's gastronomic culture.

One such storyteller is Osawa Nahoko from a Minamata-based Karatachi, a citrus-growing cooperative formed by fishermen affected by the Minamata disease. After decades of pumping toxic chemical waste into the local marine environment, the fishing economy was wiped out. Nahoko will talk about how the fishers rejuvenated their livelihoods by planting citrus trees, including a bitter orange, known locally as 'karatachi'. Similar in taste to Seville oranges, you can likewise use them for making marmalade or candy the peel. In China, the fruit has numerous uses in traditional medicine. See the impact of Minimata disease on the local population through the eyes of Magnum photographer W. Eugene Smith.

Also being served at a now sold-out dinner is Salsiccia 3.0, a medallion of Slow Food Presidium Palazzolo Acreide sausage seasoned with citrus zest, fried in honey and accompanied by a parsley salsa verde. It will be accompanied by bread made from short-cycle Tumminìa (aka Timilìa) wheat flour. For dessert, a ricotta mousse with Staccia orange from Tursi, in the southern Italian region of Basilicata, will be decorated with dark chocolate leaves and served to guests.

For a fascinating look at history of Terra Madre, and its sister event Salone del Gusto, before and after their merger in 2012, click here.

The Lemon Grove’s Bruce McMichael pictured researching the street food available at Terra Madre a few years ago © The Lemon Grove

We’re on Etsy

The Lemon Grove has landed on the giant online shopping website Etsy and will be building up stock and lots of lemony, foodie books, cooking tools and kitchenalia.

We've just opened our Etsy shop, and it's the place to buy my book, 'Cook Wrap Sell: A guide to starting and running a successful food business from your kitchen'. More culinary items and citrusy goods will be added regularly.

The Lemon Grove Etsy Store

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Bruce & The Lemon Grove’s Events Diary

My diary is a little quiet at the moment as I recover from full knee replacement surgery. I expect to be back on the Tonbridge Farmers Market cooking theatre stage in November.

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Bruce McMichael
Writer, Podcaster, Event Host & Cook, Lemonista
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