ISBN: 9788884990853 Year Added to Catalog: 2005 Book Format: Paperback Book Art: full color photographs, index Number of Pages: 8.5 x 9.25, 180 pages Book Publisher: Slow Food Editore Old ISBN: 8884990858 Release Date: April 8, 2005
In southern Chile, only three fishermen still harvest the wild black-bordered oyster in the traditional way. The Slow Food Foundation is helping them preserve their technique and the oysters; to do so, it coordinates a small "presidium," a local project focusing on a group of producers of a single product that develops production and marketing techniques to allow them to be economically viable. This book introduces presidia from Canada to Madagascar to Nepal. Because the foods are all so closely related to local culture, the story of a particular product is often as much about the community that uses it as about the food itself (e.g., the pages devoted to India’s mustard seed oil presidium tell of the seed’s role in Hinduism). Most of the products have been neglected or adulterated as labor-intensive processes required to produce these foods are replaced by modern efficiency and advances in technology—but each presidium aims to show that the extra effort is worth it. Occasional longer sections discussing varied subjects (e.g., the importance of rice; the history of hot peppers) are scattered throughout. Anyone interested in biodiversity and sustainable agriculture, or who loves exotic and heritage foods, will find this a wonderful primer on some of the world’s finest culinary products and the societies they have anchored. Photos. (Mar. 15)
A World of Presidia: Food, Culture and Community (Chelsea Green, 2005, $20) records the work of 65 Presidia projects of the Slow Food movement, founded to counter the inroads of fast food by encouraging traditional gastronomy and agriculture, among other things.
Presidia are local projects that focus on producers of a single product that's struggling to survive, and try to help them to stay economically viable.
There are Presidia projects in France for a golden lentil, in China for Tibetan yak cheese, in India for mustard-seed oil, in Peru for Andean potatoes. In the United States, Presidia are at work for the Cape May, N.J., salt oyster found in the Delaware Bay, Heritage Turkey breeds and a true wild rice from north Minnesota.
Color photos show the producers, their way of life and work, and their products. The publishers say one-twelfth of the book's cover price will be donated to the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity, to support Presidia projects.
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