Good, Clean & Fair

Terra Madre...........................Mother Earth. This was the first Terra Madre event in Ireland. I believe it will return to Ireland in 2010 in case anyone is thinking of a green holiday .........??
Ron & I were lucky enough that we got to spend a lovely long weekend in Waterford at the Slow Food festival. We packed our bags, kissed the babies goodbye and headed to the sunny south east. We spent Day 1 at the Bord Bia National Organics Food Conference. This was quite an interesting day and we were quickly caught up to speed on the future of organics not only in Ireland but in the EU. There were presenters from all over (Walmart included) sharing statistics with us regarding the strength at which Organics is growing. This is not a phase. People are getting tired of eating food that has been grown with the use of chemicals and growth hormones. The English & the German were BEGGING Irish farmers to grow Organically as they cannot meet the demands in their stores.

We met some really amazing people whilst in Waterford. We met farmers, scientists, chefs, cheese makers, you name it and they were there - all food lovers.

We listened to a scientist from Germany sharing his findings on a 5 years study of Organic Milk - is it just a hype or is it actually better for you. Here is the findings - not only is it better for you, the low fat/skim organic milk has such a higher nutritional value that it tastes like full fat. Try it. You will be shocked. We switched to Organic milk (as much as possible).
The founder of SlowFood - Mr. Carlo Petrini. He spoke to us (via his lovely interpreter) of how important it is ti take care of our planet. I know this is a little tree hugger for a lot of you, but this man moved (almost) everyone in the room to tears. He is so passionate in a revolutionary kind of way and it is all for love of the earth we live on and the food we eat. Their mantra is 'Good, Clean, Fair' , Good Food (tasting), Clean (from all harmful chemicals) and Fair (the farmers get paid a fair amount for their product). He encouraged us to teach the younger people in our lives the value of good food and dinner with your family. Needless to say Ron and I were so happy that we had the opportunity to be there.
Also in attendance at the Food festival was the Martha Stewart of Ireland herself - Darina Allen. She is a really cool lady. Extremely down to earth and very approachable. We are organising a SlowFood Thanksgiving Feast in Galway (November) and I think she may be joining us for dinner!
Of course, to bring you all back to reality, although touted as the sunny south east, it rained cats and dogs for 3 of the 4 days.........................
But, that did not stop us eating the pig.... Yumba!

That is all the WiseWords I have for today,

WiseMóna