Slow Food in the Nordic Countries board. From left: Chairperson Jannie Vestergaard (Slow Food Danmark), Minna Junttila (Slow Food Keski-Suomi, Finland), Treasurer Pål Drønen (Slow Food Hardanger, Norway), Laurel Ekström (Slow Food Stockholm, Sweden), Secretary Emilia Eriksson (Slow Food Västnyland, Finland) and Þórhildur M. Jónsdóttir (Slow Food Reykjavik, Iceland). Not pictures: Faste Grødt (Slow Food Røros, Norway), Andreas Lidström (Slow Food Sápmi) and Hilde Bergebakken (Slow Food Røros, Norway)
Slow Food in the Nordic Countries, or Slow Food i Norden, is a network of the Slow Food chapters (convivia) and communities through all the Nordic Countries and regions, including as well as the 5 Nordic Countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Åland and Sápmi. After three years of hard work by the interim board, a new board for Slow Food in the Nordic Countries was elected at the General Assembly on September 3rd, 2022 at Terra Madre Nordic.
The first ideas of a Slow Food network in the Nordic Countries were born in 2009 where delegates of the different chapters met in Copenhagen, in the office of the Nordic Council of Ministers to present our activities, as a step following the Nordic meetings at Terra Madre Salone del Gusto. These meetings went on and showed that there was a real demand for a more active network in the region and Carlo Petrini met the delegates in 2010 during a visit to Copenhagen and Sweden where the first Indigenous People Terra Madre was hold in Jokkmokk in 2011. A board was elected in 2012 and Katrine Klinken from Denmark was the first Chairman – and Slow Food in the Nordic Countries was registered in Denmark in 2013 after a meeting in Ulvik (Norway) where the convivia of Slow Food Hardanger hosted Slow Food members of the region in the school of Hjeltnes, which was preparing to be a Slow Food Education Center.
The board met the following years and decided to send an application for funding to the Nordic Council of Ministers to hold Terra Madre Nordic for the first time in 2018, in Copenhagen. The application was successful and a large audience from all over the region came to Denmark in May 2018, producers, young people welcomed by Slow Food Youth, foodies joining at seminars, tastings, conferences and more. A Manifesto was published at a general meeting during Terra Madre Nordic, recalling our ideals, aims and the way to get them through. At the following Terra Madre in Torino, the delegates from the Nordic Countries met once again and agreed to hold the next Terra Madre Nordic in Stockholm in the fall of 2020. Then came Covid… Terra Madre Nordic is now planned to be during the fall 2022.
Welcome to our annual meeting on June 7th, 19.00-21 CET
Welcome all members of Nordic Slow Food convivia and communities, to join our annual meeting on June 7th, 2023 from 19.00-21 CET. The meeting is online at this link.
We welcome you to take part in the discussions on the work and plans of our Nordic umbrella organisation for the Nordic Slow Food convivia and communities, including the changing of the statutes to become more in line with our work, as proposed at the last annual meeting in September 2022. After the meeting there will be an open board meeting with the constitution of the board, as well as updates on Terra Madre Nordic 2025 and more.
Please find the agenda, the current statutes as well as the proposed changes and other documents for the meeting here. If you have any proposals for Other Matters, please send these to the board by Sunday, June 4th.
Our goals:
Our mail goal is to strengthen the Slow Food network in the Nordic Countries – „think global, act local“ for the priorities of Slow Food worldwise to be heard and applied in the Nordic region. These priorities are:
Biodiversity – with the Ark of Taste, the Presidia, the Cooks‘ Alliance, the Earth Markets and the communities throughout the region
Education – which is one of the most important chapter for Children as well as in Specialised and vocational schools, or Higher Education whether it is Universities (and the University of Gastronomic Sciences UNISG in Pollenzo)
Advocacy – being part of the evolution of the food systems throughout the worls: in Europe with Slow Food office in Brussels, in the USA with intervention at all levels, local, national, internationallike the UN, and everywhere else in all continents. The Nordic Countries are all an active partner in the think tasks concerning the „Future of Food“ and Slow Food should have a clear and strong voice, particularely in the projects within the Nordic Council of Ministers.
Slow Food Terminology:
What do we call Presidia? Ark of Taste? Slow Food Community? Terra Madre? Convivia?
Here are the main terms used by Slow Food all over the world with their explanation:
Slow Food terminology
Contact:
Jannie Vestergaard
[email protected]
