The Adventure Continues!

I have to make sure that I get this down before all of the days start blending together.  I wasn’t able to get to my post this morning because I had an assignment due today I needed to finish, but here I am, 12:20 a.m., recalling the crazy events of yesterday.  It started reasonably well.  I had a fabulous breakfast (pictured below) and managed to get to the rail stop right as it came, which was pretty cool.  I knew how to get to Valentino Park and decided to explore a little, sign up for the Walk ‘N Eat tour now that my first day had officially started (and they were closed when I got to the park the evening before), check out some of the booths, and try some free samples.  My first official activity of the day was my volunteering shift at the USA tent, where I showed all of the visitors pictures of my work at JCCC, my new job in the butterfly house, and other sustainability projects I’ve worked on.  What a wonderful energy!

First of all, I met a guy named Nathan from Austin, TX, who works in education to promote eating insect products, such as cricket flour, protein bars, etc.  Another guy from Missouri was giving out truffles, the girl next to me talked about the pumpkins she grows in Hawaii, and I could just feel the excitement all around me of what we all are doing.  It was a fantastic way to start my day.  The highlight happened when I met Paolo, a young professional from I’m not sure where but has a lovely accent, who happened to be friends with a professor in Topeka, KS.  Paola told me that the professor is always interested in having guest speakers come and talk to his students about what they do (in Spanish of course), and that he might be interested in having me come!  What a small, small world we live in…

Fellow US Delegates Tabling

Beautiful cityscapes!

The streets are definitely something I didn't get used to.  No matter where I ended up wandering, I would always have to take a moment to just appreciate how each block was different from each other and offered its own unique character.

Typical covered dining areas on street

 The photo above on the right deserves a little bit of a discussion.  When I was done at the conference on my first night, I wasn't exactly sure how to get to the bus station.  I had a map, but I had a hard time going in the right direction because I hadn't thought to use my compass in combination with it.  So I ended up walking in some less popular streets around 11 p.m.  What I discovered was magical.

Where I'm from, a college town, there is a night life, for sure.  It usually consists of students showing up in risqué clothing around 11/12 to drink at the bars, go dancing, etc.  The night life in Turin that I witnessed seemed so mature.  It's hard to describe exactly, but I found myself passing block after block of these little covered seating areas in front of restaurants and bars, teeming with 20-year-olds deep in conversation (or rowdy in conversation, but of serious subjects I'm sure), and they all had on sweaters, leather jackets.  Nothing provocative at all.  Of course there is a huge cultural difference between the U.S. and Europe when it comes to alcohol, which I think has much to do with what I witnessed.  I saw plenty of people on the streets with an open bottle of beer, but no one was tumbling around.  In fact, now that I think about it, I did not once see a drunk person in Turin.  No one was out of control.  The deprivation that we have in the U.S. starting at a young age sort of promotes the overindulgence of alcohol once people are of drinking age.  While not applicable to everyone, there at least seems to be the trend of heavy drinking in your 20s in the U.S., which is something I've never been a fan of.  Almost 22, I decided that I would take my time in trying other people's drinks and not worrying about being in a rush to join in "the fun".

Live music in front of vendor tents

Anecdotes aside, after lunch I made my way to the canteen for lunch, and met up with my roommate from my hostel.  We ended up going to the same forum called Food Waste:  A Horror Story, which featured four panelists, a student named Kathleen from Green Mountain College in Vermont (they have a kick ass master’s program in food systems and society that I’m interested in), a professor at the University of Gastronomic Sciences, Alexander Maybeck from the Food and Agriculture Organization (yes, I did get his contact information to follow up on an internship inquiry), and a guy from Japan who’s name I don’t know how to pronounce or spell with this keyboard.  They all had really different perspectives about food waste.  Kathleen talked about her experience with the Food Action Network, which works to divert food waste on college campuses and has, since being established within the last 5 years, has increased its chapters to 43 states and 181 chapters.  The professor from the university talked about decreasing food waste without having a huge impact on consumers.  A big message they kept repeating was this idea that “food waste” isn’t really a part of the food system right now in people’s minds.  It just doesn’t exist, and that’s sort of where a big part of the problem is.  Did you know that in some countires there is a law that makes it mandatory to take your excess to a food bank?

 Sometimes we forget that along with food waste comes a lot of energy waste.  When we think about it this way, it makes it easier for people to justify using less I think.  I am hoping that we'll find a way to put it into terms that makes people want to get on board.  Our infrastructure, though (supermarkets, for example) offers so much, and no penalties are put in place for food waste, only the money you spent as a consumer being pushed down the garbage disposal or put into the compost pile.

Other notes from this forum:

• There are 4 stages that need to be addressed in the food system in order to make a big change.
• Cultivation:  Educating farmers!  How can we communicate between farmers and consumers to grow the things that we want to eat?  How can farmers use their knowledge to introduce less popular, but just as if not more delicious heirloom varieties, to the masses?  If all the "seconds", or "farmer food" were actually used, how would that increase the efficiency and the profits of the farmer?  
• Production:  I didn't actually have any specific notes about this one or th e next two, but I definitely think that if there were a way to communicate what products are desired and only making those could eliminate a lot of our excess.  It would change the name of the game for supermarkets.  They might have to change their operations dramatically to adapt, but they could also find ways to make more money through other avenues.  From what I understand, grocery stores have incredibly low profit margins as it is.  What if all consumers were to put their order in online and then just pick up their pre-made cart at the store?  Or what if it was delivered to them?  How could simple technologies assist in this process (apps, for instance)?
• Side note:  A really interesting conversation I had with a woman at the Think Tank I went to on Tuesday (you'll get to that soon) was about this idea of finding a balance between the needs, wants, and simplicity when it comes to technology.  What exactly is enough?  Apparently Millennials are feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything that's out there (I would completely agree with her statement) and are seeking to scale back and to make processes a little more seamless.  What is necessary and what isn't?  How can our technologies enhance the experience but not take away from it?
• Brands:  Trends often dictate consumer behavior, so how do make it "cool" to be conservative?  It goes against everything we've been taught by our peers, but I believe it's possible to make upcycling, thrift shopping, and other sorts of reuse activities more mainstream.  Especially when people realize how much money they can save when they do it.  I wrote a research paper about this very concept, very much part of circular economics, which is worth checking out if you have a few minutes to read about it.  This is a link from one of my favorite news sources about innovate work in the realm of sustainability, called Sustainable Brands:  Ellen MacArthur Foundation Taps Top Grad Students to Advance the Circular Economy. 
• Institutions
• This seems pretty obvious to me.  Circular economics, food waste elimination should be institutionalized.  I generally associate institution with systems, bodies of rules regulating lots of people, and frameworks that have the potential to set the precedence for best practices.  A lot of times we see the most innovative ideas start at universities, which are then adopted by cities.  Kathleen definitely addressed one potential role of higher education taking a part in eliminating food systems, but at the same time, it's just state by state.  My guess is that other people don't see the economic sense in making the infrastructural changes necessary to start doing something about the issues, but if food starts costing a whole lot more because our fossil fuels do, will they have a choice?

Another speaker I really enjoyed listening to was a doctor working in the field of dietetics.  She worked on researching the food waste produced in hospitals, and found that along with the food that patients weren't consuming came a certain percentage of nutrients that they weren't getting.  That's also a huge economic value if you think about how much hospitals spend on food, just to know that it's not being eaten.  The implications of this are bigger still when you think about how the lack of nutrition affects the time that patients are in the hospital.  Staying in the hospital for one more day costs anywhere from 500 to 700 euros, so it's really in the hospital's best interest to make sure that their patients are eating everything that they should.  My question then is:  What's preventing patients from eating all their food?  Is it because it looks gross or unappetizing?  Is it because it doesn't have any flavor?  How can the people making the food make it more appealing but still fit within the parameters that they have to meet of sodium and sugar limits?

Piazza di Castello interactive event on biodiversity

Moving on...In case you weren't aware, the symbol for Slow Food is the snail, which I think is very appropriate and simple.  After the forum Kathleen and I made our way north in the city to Piazza di Castello to check out more of the public events and booths associated with the conference.  I really enjoyed their tent on biodiversity because it was very hands on.  You could fill in the lines of a picture with different legumes, reach your hand into a box and try to guess what spice it was, and test your knowledge with sniff boxes as well.  There was a display on different varieties of apples all grown in various regions of Italy, and a table with soil containing various degrees of organic matter, so you could compare the darkness of one to the dryness of the other.

Found another snail!

These police are super cool.  

Castello means castle in Italian.  We found it!

Plants on display as part of the concert platform.

 I have mixed feelings about this display, integrated into the stage for the free concerts as part of the conference.  I understand that they are trying to teach people about what grapes on a vine and apples on a tree look like, and alongside the wood it just made such a wonderful contrast, but at the same time I had to ask myself:  Where are the trees in the Piazza?  Why is there no greenery in this city?  I would be interested to learn more about why everything is covered in tile, brick, and concrete.

Extension of plant display

Another awesome view of the castle

Panorama of Piazza di Castello

 I really enjoyed spending time in this square.  The trains and buses came right through it, and the steps in front of the castle were just filled with people sitting around and talking.  Lots of life.

My first Italian adffogato

 I have to say, this was a fantastic first gelato experience in Turin.  I didn't realize when I ordered it that I was getting myself into the realm of affogato, but what a pleasant surprise!  I guess that's what happens when the menu is all in Italian and your server doesn't speak English either.  :)

End of Slow Food Parade

 The main event of the conference was the Slow Food Parade, which started at 7 and didn't end until closer to 10 p.m.  Forced to carry around my book bag with me, I definitely regretted not having packed lighter for the day.  However, the end was incredibly special, with an inspiring speech from the president of Slow Food (even translated from Italian, it was impressive), a giant group of flag-wavers on the steps of the building you see above.  It's probably really famous but I'm not sure what it was called.  We were told to bring with us a small food item representative of our culture that we could exchange with the person standing next to us at the end of the parade as a sign of friendship and cross-cultural exchange, truly embracing what food it all about.  I exchanged tea with Kathleen who had not brought anything, but then she ended up trading with another guy's chili paste from Ukraine and then I ended up taking it home.  :)  We took pictures with the people we traded and others walked around sharing their goods.  I heard the fig paste was really good.

Tuna and artichoke pizza

 After being in dire need of finding food before heading back to then hostel, Kathleen and I grabbed pizza and wine.  Wine!!  My first positive experience with red wine.

Big questions I would like to continue to ponder:

            What value do we give food? 

Other things worth noting:

Smoking--The Europeans like their cigarettes.  Clean air is something that I definitely take for granted.

Spanish--My lord how wonderful it is to be able to rely so much on my knowledge of Spanish!  Time and time again I found myself able to use that instead of floundering around with my broken Italian.  :)  So much better than sitting in Spanish class this week.

Sleep deprivation--That's definitely a thing.  Hard as a try, I end up going to bed around 1:00 a.m. and waking up at 6:00 a.m. to do more homework.  Poor planning on my part.  Learning experience!

Feeling at home abroad--Turin feels very comfortable in the sense that I don't feel like I'm drowning in a big city.  The night life is vibrant with young people and even very late at night there are so many people that it doesn't feel unsafe or threatening.

Tomorrow’s (or I guess today’s) schedule includes

a.     Botanical gardens in Valentino Park

b.     Terra Madre Forum about women’s role in food production

c.     Exploring all the exhibits on the north side of town as part of the Slow Food conference

d.     Finding some more delicious gelato

e.     Getting one of the 40 seats available at the Taste and a Movie at the film theatre, where I’ll get to sample foods discussed in the three films about sustainability