Greeting from Slow Food’s President

As ecological, economic and food crises make themselves felt around the world, in recent years we have been forced to wonder about our future more than ever before.

Terra Madre taught us that the keys to our future are held by the food communities, the farmers, fisherfolk, herders and skilled artisans. In their approach to production we can rediscover all the characteristics that we seek to give back meaning to our daily activities: like quality, sustainability and social benefit.

At Cheese we will host people from all over the world who produce and process milk in a good, clean and fair way. We will have the chance to meet them and taste their products, to learn how to appreciate them, to understand who they are and where they come from, all against the background of a festival in a beautiful town that for a few days will become the showcase for an exceptional slice of humanity.

It is not by chance that a festive atmosphere and important issues blend together so easily. This is what putting food at the center of our lives means; it concerns our pleasure, but also our future. So at Cheese 2009 we invite you to really get to know these people, particularly those who live in harsher environments, like the mountains. I’m confident that they can teach us how to be little bit happier. .

Carlo Petrini, Slow Food President.