The news is official, given in the middle of the 8th international congress of the Slow Food association, which will end tomorrow at the headquarters of the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Bra (Cuneo). Carlo Petrini, born in 1949, 73 years old, is now leaving the presidency of Slow Food, the association he founded 32 years ago. Better, the international movement no profit committed to giving value to food, respecting those who produce, in harmony with the environment and ecosystems. Technically Petrini “passes the hand” to the Ugandan vice president Edward Mookin, just 36 years old. A thoughtful, thoughtful choice that has matured over time to foster a generational change. But Petrini was explicit: “I’m not leaving, because I’m still the founder, so I don’t want ceremonies of amarcord and detachment”, he said.
Carlo Petrini “We must do more for the planet”
by Sabrina Camonchia
“We need to strengthen the profound meaning of our work – added Petrini – because the situation is very very serious climatic field there is a disruption and we are only at the beginning of a phase of irreversible deterioration. And national governance, in their annual appointments, take only feeble decisions that they regularly do not keep, therefore it becomes mandatory that civil society and associations implement virtuous behavior. If planetary politics does not have the capacity to be visionary and take matters in hand, let all humanity give concrete responses to decay, there is no time to lose. We are at a point of no return, it is no longer possible to remain silent, on agricultural, food and food production issues we must intervene with a stronger, more incisive form of activism, linked to the demands of the world of young people “.
The Slow Food Foundation will be led by “a young African, an extraordinary person – underlined Petrini – who was able to create ’10 thousand gardens’ on his continent. international movement, not Eurocentric, not Western centric, and I am convinced that the management team has the capacity to face all challenges. Our building is far from finished, but the foundations are solid, they will bear the weight of what we are going to build. I will continue to be in this process, – added the founder of Slow Food – but I will not do like those fathers who go around saying ‘now my son is in charge’. I have the interest, the satisfaction and the curiosity to see how you will fare “, he said to the new management team that will be voted on today by the international Slow Food congress.