Making Agriculture Smart and Sexy

Social Entrepreneur Cherrie Atilano

BACOLOD, Philippines - A 28-year-old Negrense social entrepreneur, agriculturist and farmer, will talk about making agriculture smart and sexy at the eighth installation of Organic Market at The Slow Food Negros Island Summit happening on November 27 at the Social Hall of the Capitol Building in this city.

Cherrie Atilano, who grew up in Silay City in this island was a scholar of the Provincial Capitol under the Pagkaon Scholarship Program, will talk on "Making Agriculture Smart and Sexy" on Friday from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Atilano graduated magna cum laude from the Visayas State University with a degree on agriculture. She is a founder of AGREA Agricultural Systems International, and a consultant of the Department of Agrarian Reform.

She has worked at the Gawad Kalinga Community Development Foundation as executive assistant of its founder, Antonio Meloto, and at Ayala Land Inc. as landscape horticulturist supervisor and head of Land Development.

At the Slow Food Negros Island Summit, chefs, farmers, slow food advocates—even converts—will unite to give interesting insights on the most pressing issues about food, our food systems, and the way we eat.  

At the summit, an introduction to Slow Food will be made by Pacita Juan, Reena Gamboa-Peña, Mia Gonzaga and Dr. Anabel Villanueva at 8 to 9 a.m. of November 27.

Ige Ramos will speak on “Tuklasin ang Katutubong Kulinaryo ng Pilipinas (discover Filipino dishes) at 9 a.m., and Nico Aberasturi -Homesteading Growing Food Instead of Lawns at 10 a.m., Villanueva said.

Margarita Fores will discuss the “The Philippines' Ark of Tastes” at 11 a.m., Hindy Weber Tantoco and Melanie Go – The Holistic Life at 1:30 p.m., Amy Besa – Green is Gold in Negros at 3 p.m. 

A Slow Food tasting by the Slow Food Negros Island Convivium will be held at noon.

Slow Food Negros Island is a group of volunteers dedicated in saving endangered food, celebrating gastronomic traditions, promoting good, clean, and fair food, as well as building a healthy relationship among producers, chefs, and consumers.

Slow Food is a global, grassroots movement founded in 1989 by Carlo Petrini and a group of passionate individuals. It started when an international fast food franchise expressed its interest in opening a branch at the famous Spanish Steps in Rome, Italy. The citizens protested by sharing a big bowl of penne pasta with the crowds and began chanting “we don’t want fast food, we want slow food.” Perhaps it was the first time that it was officially coined, the tedious processes of producing and preparing various ingredients for select dishes like cheese, wine, fish, meat, as well as the traditional cooking methods have always been practiced in different parts of the world. After that incident in the ‘80s, what started as a protest to fast food grew to a global movement active in over 100 countries.