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Terra Madre Salone del Gusto; one of the biggest and most culturally significant food and wine fest in the world witnessed a colourful display of procession as delegates from all over the globe poured in to Valentino Park located in the heart of the city of Turin in Italy. This walk attempts to symbolize and drive home the point of the importance of environmental sustainability as well as strengthening the roots of our local and indigenous food systems. NESFAS also brought in a retinue of nine delegates representing India at the event. Some of the delegates include Mr. H.H Mohrmen, who was also the flag bearer, Mr. Allanson Wahlang, Mr. Xavier Sunn and a local farmer Ms. Iadalin Kharbhoi from Lait Themlangsah village. In this walk; purportedly, it was reported that the delegates from NESFAS started humming along the tune of “Hoi Kiw!’ and no sooner than that it was then picked up by the other delegates from India as well as from other parts of the world and shortly the tune of “Hoi Kiw!” was reverberating across throughout the streets of Turin.
Besides the walk, there were also plenary sessions where the delegates from North East would take a proactive part in some of these which include; “Our Land: Take your hands off the Earth” a presentation by Mr. Morhmen where he illustrated the effects of land grabs which as a consequence leads to landlessness of our local farmers in the state. He stressed on this point by explaining that land grabbing has more to do with grabbing by the land owners themselves due to the clan system rather than grabbing by foreigners from outside the state. He also highlighted the effects of land grabbing by the numerous cement and limestone factories that is sprawling in the state of Meghalaya. Besides Mr. Morhmen, an in-depth talk by Akole Wekoweu Tsuhah (Programme Manager, North East Network, Nagaland) on “Wild Edibles as Future of Food” was also convened where she explained about wild edibles as a viable scope for future food systems in the context of North East India.
