Terra Madre Asia Pacific, Part I

On Nov. 19-23, 2025 all roads will lead to Bacolod, Negros Occidental for the celebration of Terra Madre Asia Pacific, and every other year (odd years) thereafter, alternating with Terra Madre Salone del Gusto in Turin, Italy which is celebrated every other year on even years (next one is 2026).

Why is this an exciting development? This event will gather food producers, activists and consumers in Asia Pacific right in our backyard. Those who have not had a chance to go to Italy for Terra Madre can now participate in Bacolod, where a Slow Food office will even be set up.

We were talking to Reena Gamboa, SF Asia Pacific Terra Madre executive director, about how this will impact the access to good, clean and fair food in this part of the world. Whereas before we had to fly across to Europe, there now is an option to come to the Philippines and experience Terra Madre, while also learning about our country and that is good for tourism and trade. No wonder the Department of Tourism is in full support of this endeavor.

One thing more, the event is open to everyone free of charge, except for taste workshops which have limited seating and where special menus may be served. I remember signing up for a taste workshop in Italy where you can taste different kinds of prosciutto, for example, from different regions and learn what makes their tastes vary. We the Slow Food Philippines team also held a taste workshop to introduce our different heirloom rice varieties from Kalinga, cooked as arroz caldo, champorado and risotto.

Visitors will enjoy tasting samples of food from different countries as the organizers have invited all Slow Food communities, youth networks and alliances from Indonesia and the rest of Asia, to as far as Iran and other countries in Central Asia and beyond. It will truly be an international food festival and a learning experience as we gather to present different ingredients, usually those threatened with non-use or extinction.

Even here in the country, when we showcase rare ingredients like artisanal salt, people get curious and eventually become part of the consumer base that demands to see the rare products that are back in the market. That has now happened to salts like Tultul, Tibuok, Tedted which have seen renewed popularity, use and preservation, with consumers getting familiar with and demanding for it in markets. 

That has also happened to grains and pulses like adlai and kadyos, which are now being used specially by young chefs who have both a mission and a purpose to preserve local rare ingredients. Just check out the menus and degustation dinners and you will see the use of santol, kamias, biasong and other lesser-known fruits which, because of such desires of chefs to be relevant, get pulled into the consumer plates and palates.

I attended two attempts of Slow Food to grow the movement in Asia Pacific in Korea back in 2013 and in 2015. The organizer sadly passed on and no one took up the torch. So 10 years after, 2025 is a banner year as Slow Food (www.slowfood.com) brings back the idea of an event in the Asia Pacific area, right in our very own country. I stand proud as friends from various networks and other countries have indicated interest to come and join the event in November – friends from France, Canada and Australia have started asking about how to come to Terra Madre in our group chats and social media channels.

It will be a boost to our tourism sector to welcome Slow Food advocates, as the movement represents food activists from over 160 countries. Reena Gamboa promised us that accommodations will be available as well as many flights to and from Manila’s main gateways. One can visit the Terra Madre site in Bacolod and even drive to other places in Negros Occidental like Murcia, Bago, Sipalay and other small towns worth discovering for their own specialties.

What is there to do in Terra Madre? You can go around the booths set up by different Slow Food communities from as far north as Kalinga to as far south as Davao, taste coffee from different parts of the world (as part of the Slow Food Coffee Coalition), discover Indigenous People’s food and culture, meet chefs from the many chefs’ alliances and engage the youth through the Slow Food Youth Network.

I always come home with rare finds from Terra Madre – like a fish sauce called Colatura from Italy, a different kind of grain from the Middle East, a certain cheese you can only find from Slow Food Presidia producers and of course, coffee from different places.

To say I am excited is an understatement because of my long engagement with Slow Food and which has given me the mission to preserve our very own fruits like duhat, macopa, katmon – now all found in our humble farm. We are also preserving Liberica coffee also known as Barako, Sulu Robusta and Benguet Arabica – coffee varieties listed in the Ark of Taste (www.fondazioneslowfood.org). Every consumer can have a role in discovering what needs preserving.

Food activism need not be bad, as activism sometimes conjures images of protests. Rather, it is a positive kind of activism in that it wakes up your senses to discover produce, fruits and ingredients that have been eclipsed by industrialization. It is your own small way to preserve food culture, and it is actionable and very much doable.

Slow Food does it slowly but surely. It has taken us almost 12 years to bring adlai and heirloom rice to the fore, but now they are there. It has taken years to introduce sua, tabontabon and something as common as kamias, but they are now back in circulation. That is what we can do every day. Three times a day. We can eat, preserve and slowly keep what makes our own food cultures unique and special.

You can do all that at Terra Madre Asia Pacific.