Can Events Serve Food That Is Truly Good Clean and Fair?

We ask a lot of the food at our events. We want it sustainable, inclusive, local, good for the planet and fair to the people who grew it — and then we hand the caterer a headcount and a budget and hope it all shows up on the plate.

So what would it take to build an event where the experience itself actually lives out those values, instead of just claiming them on the website?

One event has been answering that for almost 40 years — and every two years it shows the whole world how, at Terra Madre Salone del Gusto in Turin, Italy. More than 600 producers from over 100 countries, spread across the city's historic squares, all organized around one idea: good, clean and fair food for everyone.

My guest this week on Eating at a Meeting is Elisa Demichelis, International Networks Director for Slow Food, based at the movement's headquarters in Bra, Italy. Her whole job is connection — linking producers, cooks, Indigenous leaders and food communities across the globe, then turning all of that into one of the most complex food gatherings on earth.

We're talking about how Slow Food grew from "the opposite of fast food" into a full food-system movement, and what that means for those of us who plan and supply events. How do you source with real transparency? How do you feature small producers without expecting them to work for exposure? And how do you make sustainability something guests actually enjoy — not something they feel lectured about?

Whether you plan events or supply them — hotels, venues, caterers, DMCs, destinations — this one's for you.

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