Happy Terra Madre Day!   Today is the first worldwide day to promote sustainable food and eating locally.

On the occasion of Slow Food International’s 20th birthday, Terra Madre Day is being marked by 100,000+ farmers, producers, cooks, students and consumers around the world.

Terra Madre Day celebrates “locally produced food that is good, clean and fair: food that tastes good and is produced without harming the environment and taking social justice issues into consideration.”  Across 150 countries, Slow Food’s 1,300 convivia (local chapters) and the Terra Madre network of 2,000 food communities will participate in this global occasion.

Terra Madre Day celebrations will range from communal meals, themed film screenings and cultural events to excursions to producers, campaigns, meetings and discussions, food and taste education activities and local gatherings of producers, cooks or youth.

Check out the above world map here on the Terra Madre Day website to find events going on in a community nearest you.

What will you be doing this Terra Madre Day?  If you’re interested, join the local celebration in your community.  Or you can plan your own personal celebration wherever you are, from dining out at Venice restaurants, finding green NYC restaurants or buying local food at a Vancouver market.

Here are some of the Terra Madre Day activities around the world:

• India’s Slow Food Information Day will focus on good, clean and fair food to farmers, local food producers, educators and students.

• Romania’s Back to Traditions event will show school children how to make traditional bread.

• Belarus students will learn how to dry and use herbs and berries  in cooking and traditional Belarusian teas.

• In two Azerbaijan mountain villages, there will be a special Terra Madre school lesson and tasting of products from local beekeepers and producers of mazoni (fermented milk).

• At Seattle’s Progressive Holiday Block Party, each house will prepare a meal course using locally grown, organic and ethnically diverse ingredients.

For more info, check out Terra Madre Day online.

Images courtesy of Slow Food International