FEATURED STORY: A big international food festival inspired by the slow food movement debuts in downtown Sacramento this weekend. The event may help make the city a culinary destination — as it did for a relatively sleepy city in Italy three decades ago. 

Those who have been following Sacramento’s bid for Terra Madre Americas are finally about to get a taste.

The Farm-to-Fork Capital beat out New York City, San Francisco and Los Angeles to host the event every other year (with even-numbered years hosted in Turin, Italy). Visitors can participate in a smorgasbord of free events including demos, lectures, tastings and concerts at the SAFE Credit Union Convention Center Sept. 26-28. You can find more information here on both free and exclusive experiences offered throughout the weekend. 

Terra Madre began in the mid ’90s with food conference Salone del Gusto, hosted by Slow Food International, an organization that arose out of a global movement that protested the proliferation of fast-food chains. Terra Madre is now the largest food conference in Europe, bringing hundreds of thousands of visitors to Turin.

Last year, a pared-down test run was hosted at the Memorial Auditorium in Sacramento. Though the event was unticketed, an estimated 5,000 attended throughout the weekend, mostly locals. While the conference is expected to grow in the coming years, this weekend’s turnout will help gauge the scope of interest in an American Terra Madre and crystallize Sac’s budding reputation as a foodie city. 

– Dakota Morlan, managing editor

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Odds and Ends

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