Slow Food Movement's 'Ark of Taste' catalogues specialty regional food and animal breeds at risk of extinction

The Ark of Taste, a project of the Slow Food Movement, includes a range of specialty cheeses and hams, and rare livestock breeds.

The Slow Food Movement began 25 years ago in Italy and aims to protect world food traditions, to counteract fast food lifestyles, and encourage interest in food production.

Paolo Dicroce, general secretary of the International Slow Food Movement, has flown from Italy to speak at the Australian national conference in Ulladulla, in southern New South Wales.

"It's in the defence of biodiversity," Mr Dicroce said.

"All around the world we are losing our food; losing traditions, losing varieties, animal breeds because of the globalised system which says we have to eat the same food everywhere.

"Ninety per cent of the apples we eat worldwide come from five different varieties, yet there are thousands of different varieties that are part of the history and tradition of every particular place.

"So we're creating a global catalogue to give them value.

"We have established 2,500 products so far, and we're aiming for 10,000 globally."

"We live in a planet where 800 million people are starving. Yet we produce enough for 12 billion people.

"We don't need more industrialisation of food to produce more to feed the planet, but [we need] a different distribution [system].

"We need to focus more on the small scale, and a direct relationship between the food producers and consumers."

Mr Dicroce also believes small scale farming is the solution to climate change.

Australia's Slow Food representative Amorelle Dempster from the Hunter Valley said there are 22 Australian products already listed, mostly wild foods.

They include the desert plum, the angasi oyster from the NSW South Coast, the desert quandong, the bull boar sausage, Kangaroo Island Ligurian bee honey and leatherwood honey.

There are also specialty rare pig and cattle breeds including the Wessex saddleback, the Galloway, and the large black, which has very few breeding sows left in Australia.

"There's a great genetic pool that will continue to give us biodiversity in our food system," Ms Dempster said.

Source: ABC News, Sarina Locke, 20^th August 2015
Originally published as: Slow Food Movement's 'Ark of Taste' catalogues specialty regional food and animal breeds at risk of extinction