Education Activities

Being a strong network partner of Slow Food at an international level, NESFAS has also included activities that aim at connecting to other communities around the world that are facing similar challenges and issues.

Ark of Taste
The Ark of taste is a listing of endangered food species, stretching across the globe and highlighting unique food items that are at neglected today due to the industrialisation of our food production and the marginalization of small-scale food producers.
The Khasi Mandarin has been extensively documented, adhering to the stringent selection criteria and has entered the Ark of Taste. Sha Shiahkrot has been similarly documented and is being prepared for presentation to the Ark of Taste NESFAS has set an initial goal of 10 Ark of Taste products until the end of 2013. NESFAS also plans to continue the documenting such products for its own record and to initiate locally based activities for the preservation of such foods. The Sha Shiahkrot is root from which a delicious and refreshing tea is made.
Photo: Sha Shiahkron, a root from which a delicious and refreshing tea is made. It’s a product of Slow Food Ark of Taste

Presidia
Presidia is a Latin name that literally translates into English as ‘Stronghold’ and symbolizes the defending of agrobiodiversity products and their producers. It is a project run by the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity to directly have a relationship with food producers. The project is geared towards plants, animal-products, production and cooking practices that are at risk of extinction. The objective is to protect unique regions and ecosystems, and recover traditional processing methods, and safeguard native breeds and local plant varieties.
Photo: Khasi Mandarin, product of Slow Food Ark of Taste

Both Ark of Taste and Slow Food Presidia projects are intended to be spread across the North East rather than being restricted to only Meghalaya. For this purpose, NESFAS is currently initiating first documentations with partners in Assam and Manipur and will submit the first items before January 2014.