Some facts from the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity website:

75% of European food product diversity has been lost since 1900

93% of American food product diversity has been lost in the same time period

33% of livestock varieties have disappeared or are near disappearing

30,000 vegetable varieties have become extinct in the last century, and one more is lost every six hours

The mission of the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity is to organize and fund projects that defend our world's heritage of agricultural biodiversity and gastronomic traditions.

About the Foundation

The Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity is the non-profit entity behind Slow Food's projects in eco-gastronomy. Founded in 2003 by the Slow Food movement in partnership with the Region of Tuscany, its mission is one of stewardship, where all funding is directly invested in protecting the people, places, traditions and cultures linked to our food heritage.

The Foundation's direct financial contributions are especially dedicated to the world's less developed countries. More info.

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The Ark of Taste aims to rediscover, catalog, describe and publicize forgotten flavours, documenting excellent food and drink products that are disappearing. Since the initiative began in 1996, more than 750 products from dozens of countries have been added to the Ark, including everything from Argentinian Criollo White Corn to Finnish Kalakukko bread.

In the UK, Ark products include Herdwick Mutton, Colchester Native Oysters and unpasteurised Cheshire cheese, with Three Counties Perry - local to our area - supported by the Ludlow Marches Convivium. A full list is shown on the Slow Food Foundation website, together with more information about individual Ark products.

The Presidia: Presidium is Latin for 'fortress'. Presidia are projects devoted to assisting groups of artisan producers whose product is under threat. The concept was developed by Slow Food in 1999 to be the working arm of the Ark of Taste, to safeguard the presence in the marketplace of diverse traditional foods. From Canada's native Red Fife Wheat to Moroccan Argan Oil and Holland's Eastern Scheldt Lobster, Slow Food's Presidia are working around the globe to promote, develop, safeguard and educate. More information here.

In the UK, the following Presidia have so far been established:
Three Counties Perry (supported by Ludlow Marches Convivium)
Artisan Somerset Cheddar
Old Gloucester Beef
Single and Double Gloucester cheese made from the milk of Old Gloucester cattle
Fal Oysters

Page updated 9/3/08