Rare Australian-grown Perry pears of English origin have been added to Slow Food’s Ark of Taste. The varieties Gin, Green Horse, Moorcroft, Red Longdon and Yellow Huffcap have been used to produce ‘perry’, a sparkling or still beverage, for more than 500 years, but fireblight disease in Britain severely diminished the pears about 40 years ago. Read how these five varieties, imported from England and Wales and grown in Australia since the Victorian Gold Rush in the 1850s and 1860s, are helping to preserve a fruit at risk of loss to cultivation.

Slow Food’s Foundation for Biodiversity has included Australia’s Dairy Shorthorn cattle in its international Ark of Taste. The origins of Shorthorn cattle can be traced to the sixteenth century in England’s northern county of Durham. Herds were imported to Australia in the early years of European settlement, which began in 1788. The purity of the Australian herd has been maintained. Read about the breed’s Ark listing.

Support Australia’s producers at farmers’ and fish markets. Bypass the Coles-Woolworths duopoly. Buy direct from the people who grow our food, or from the independent, specialist grocers, fruiterers and butchers who support them. Find a local market at the Australian Farmers’ Markets Association. Join the buy local campaign.

Australian producers, chefs, students and teachers were among 10,000 people at Slow Food’s Terra Madre and Salone del Gusto in Turin, Italy, 21-25 Oct 2010. Read about the expectation, challenge and experience of Slow Food’s key biennial events: the intellectual spring that is the world meeting of food communities and the world’s fair of artisan food.