At Terra Madre, cultural leaders share importance of preserving food traditions
Hundreds of people gathered Saturday morning at the Safe Credit Union Convention Center in Sacramento for the debut of the Terra Madre Americas festival.
The festival features food and drink tastings, live music, celebrity chef demonstrations, educational panels and a variety of vendors.
The convention center buzzed with excitement as crowds navigated between wine and coffee tastings, California grown tea leaves booths, traditional Filipino salt shops and local restaurants serving iconic menu items such as Willow’s meatball with house-made focaccia.
Described on its event website as a “culinary convergence like no other,” the Terra Madre Americas event provides opportunities for younger generations to take part in food traditions.
Raquel Williams, vice chair of Wilton Rancheria, participated in a discussion titled Fireside Chat and Acorn Soup Tasting.
Williams shared the importance of every generation’s role in preserving traditional acorn gathering and cooking.
“When we go to collect (acorns) or even when we think about gathering there’s always an older person there,” Williams said. “Everybody has something to do, and if they have nothing to do, they’re observing.”
All age groups were welcome, but the learning experience was especially geared toward the younger generation.
Throughout the event, children and young people were participating in discussions of identity and preserving traditional food, such as Mexican identity and its connection to corn and how adaption and growth effect the making of tribal dishes such as acorn soup and elderberry medicine. A few booths had hands-on food demonstrations for children to take part in the making of fresh food.
At one of the dozens of booths present, children could be heard giggling as they participated in the Slow Food Russian River demonstration.
There Harold Glasser, member of Slow Food Russian River, assisted children as they used a wooden apple press to create fresh pressed apple juice. Slow Food Russian River is based in Sonoma County and is a chapter of Slow Food International, an organization dedicated to a global food system for healthy food and a clean environment.
Carole Flaherty, member of the organization, poured the fresh juice for the children. Flaherty said a major initiative for the organization’s fundraising efforts is to bring children to experience the apple orchards of Sonoma County in order to seed a love for the produce.
“We bring children to the orchard so that they get an appreciation for what apple trees grow and we are trying to save our orchards because they are going down one after another because grapes are taking over.”
Vince Lapena, leader of ecological knowledge for Wilton Rancheria, participated in discussions on the importance of sharing knowledge to younger generations.
“Life is multi-generational,” Lapena said during the Fireside Chat and Acorn Soup Tasting session. “You’re with your aunts, uncles, cousins and brothers and your sisters and grandparents. It’s a whole group of people. In native communities we don’t leave anybody behind.”
This story was originally published September 27, 2025 at 4:08 PM.
