At the heart of the four-day programme was Terra Madre Salone del Gusto 2026, the sixteenth edition of Slow Food’s international gathering, organised by Slow Food together with the Piedmont Region and the City of Turin. Events took place across some of Turin’s iconic central locations, bringing together food producers, farmers, fishers, cooks, researchers, activists, Indigenous communities, educators and policymakers.
This year’s theme, Biodiversity – Be Diversity, placed biodiversity at the centre of conversations about the future of food. The programme explored the connections between biodiversity, climate resilience, food justice, culture, education and peace. Rather than treating food simply as a commodity, the discussions highlighted food as something deeply connected to communities, landscapes, knowledge and livelihoods. More than 1,500 people from 125 countries were involved in the opening of the 2026 edition, illustrating the international character of the gathering.
Food as a meeting place
One of the distinctive features of Terra Madre is the opportunity to bring different kinds of knowledge together. Farmers and food producers meet researchers; cooks engage with communities; activists and educators exchange experiences with policymakers. Across conferences, debates, educational activities and encounters, the programme created space for conversations about how food systems can respond to some of the major challenges facing societies today.
The 2026 programme included discussions on **food justice and the distribution of power within food systems**, the role of food education, the protection of marine biodiversity and the relationship between land, agriculture and peace.
Speakers included:
- Slow Food President Edward Mukiibi
- chef and food activist Alice Waters
- researcher and author Raj Patel
- ecological thinker Satish Kumar
- philosopher and journalist Julian Baggini
- journalist Eric Schlosser
- marine biologist Helen Scales
- United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food **Sofía Monsalve Suárez**, among others.
Biodiversity beyond the field
A central message of the event was that biodiversity is not only about protecting plant and animal species. It is also about maintaining diverse agricultural practices, food cultures, local knowledge and ways of producing and sharing food. Slow Food’s work around the Presidia, Ark of Taste, Slow Food Farms and Cooks’ Alliance reflects this broader understanding of food biodiversity.
The theme also invited participants to think about diversity in a wider social sense. In the Slow Food programme, biodiversity was presented as a source of resilience and as an alternative to different forms of monoculture—not only in agriculture, but also in social and cultural life. This perspective connected questions about seeds, soils and ecosystems with questions about communities, cultural heritage and inclusion.
A global Slow Food community in Turin
Alongside Terra Madre Salone del Gusto, Turin hosted the Slow Food Participants’ Assembly bringing together around 800 voting delegates from more than 120 countries. Held every four years, the Assembly provides a space for the global Slow Food network to discuss the movement’s strategic and organisational direction. The 2026 gathering was particularly significant because it was the first Participants’ Assembly under the legal framework of the Slow Food Foundation.
For four days, Turin therefore served not simply as a destination for tasting and celebrating food, but as a place for dialogue about the systems behind it. The encounters in September 2026 demonstrated the breadth of the Slow Food movement: from small-scale producers and Indigenous communities to chefs, researchers, educators and civil-society organisations. Together, they brought different experiences and perspectives into conversations about how food can contribute to healthier ecosystems, stronger communities and more resilient livelihoods.
Looking beyond Turin
The importance of events such as Terra Madre lies not only in what happens during four days in one city. The ideas, relationships and experiences shared in Turin can travel back with participants to farms, universities, kitchens, communities and organisations around the world.
For anyone working on sustainable agriculture, food systems, biodiversity, rural development, food education or inclusive innovation, the Turin gathering offered an important reminder: transforming food systems requires more than technological solutions. It also requires collaboration, recognition of local knowledge, protection of biodiversity and meaningful participation by the people who produce, prepare and consume food.
Turin’s Slow Food week thus offered a space to celebrate food while asking larger questions about its future—and about the kind of food systems that can support both people and the planet.
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