"Good, clean and fair food"

Regarded as one of the world's largest food movements, Slow Food operates activities and awareness campaigns in 160 countries worldwide under the slogan "good, clean and fair food." Edward Mukiibi, president of the global Slow Food movement, which aims to protect natural resources and support clean food production, said that climate crisis and waste are the two biggest problems they encounter regarding food issues. Mukiibi noted that Slow Food was born in Italy in 1986 and has reached countless people from every corner of the world during its 38-year journey. Stating that they have placed the goal of protecting natural resources, especially water, and biodiversity at the center of their activities, Mukiibi expressed that they work for a better world and achieve this by promoting the production of foods that do not harm the environment and people, while also seeking to instill awareness of responsible consumption and responsible production. Mukiibi reported that the Slow Food network includes millions of people wanting to take action on food issues—from farmers to chefs, students to activists, governments to international organizations—as well as numerous institutions and organizations. He stated: "We have more than 100,000 members who support us financially. But this does not mean everyone has to contribute financially. In fact, there are communities doing far more than money can buy. We can point to local communities protecting biodiversity as an example." Edward Mukiibi conveyed that the movement seeks to protect not only food products but also the culture that food brings, and therefore conducts work on how food is consumed, the techniques with which it is prepared, or how it is preserved.

Noah's Ark Project

Referring to the "Noah's Ark" project, in which they bring together plant and animal products at risk of extinction in an online catalog, Mukiibi said: "This catalog contains not only scientific data. It also includes cultural, organoleptic, and traditional knowledge, as well as the techniques used in product preparation and connections to the region." Mukiibi stated that through the project they have worked to protect 5,300 products from around the world to date and continued: "In this project, we were inspired by Noah's Ark, which saved species from extinction during the great flood. In fact, today we face that great flood again in the form of genetic, cultural and traditional erosion. Currently, local and traditional foods face various problems such as genetic transfer and biopiracy. The Slow Food movement seeks to protect our food culture." Emphasizing that they work to protect the species within the project in their own geographies, Mukiibi explained that due to climate change, animals that are economically no longer preferred to be raised and whose populations are therefore declining are being made preferable again through various incentives and projects, while regarding plants, they particularly create seed banks among local groups and develop various networks for seed use. Regarding another project called "Gardens of Africa," Mukiibi stated that they work to create an alternative to the increasingly widespread industrial food production on the continent: "We want to protect Africa's traditional food production methods. To achieve this, we encourage local communities to practice farming within agroecological methods, organize education programs on the subject, and ensure knowledge transfer by establishing coordination between groups. The project started in 2010 with several gardens in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Today, more than 5,000 gardens have been established in various parts of the African continent. We see every day on social media a new participant opening their own garden."

"Climate change in production, waste in consumption are the biggest problems"

Mukiibi stated that the biggest problem they encounter in all their projects during production processes is climate change, emphasizing that extreme weather events such as heat waves and floods resulting from sudden rainfall make food production difficult. Mukiibi said: "All these events will affect our access to food, our food security, and our rain-centered agricultural system. In combating the climate crisis, we are conducting extensive climate change adaptation work." Mukiibi shared that the biggest problem they encounter at the consumption point is food waste: "Nearly half of global food production is wasted before it reaches our plates. However, energy, resources, and the time farmers spend producing those products are also wasted—in other words, food waste goes far beyond our plates. Because when you grow a product, you use a lot of water, you extract many nutrients from the soil. All of this is wasted. The greatest disrespect you can show to food is to waste it. Furthermore, food waste is also a disrespect to nature." He emphasized that particularly young people do not know the story of the food on their plates and waste more. Mukiibi added that as Slow Food, they have designated April each year as "the month of fighting food waste" to raise this awareness. Source