Rowena Gonnay Won 2026 ByungSoo Kim Award
Slow Food International honored the advocate for her work in preserving indigenous food heritage.
Updated on Oct. 3, 2026 in Healthy Food
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Slow Food International presented the 2026 ByungSoo Kim Award to Rowena Gonnay for her leadership in protecting biodiversity and indigenous food systems. Reena Gamboa accepted the recognition on her behalf during the Terra Madre Salone del Gusto event in Italy.
Why it matters
The award recognizes significant contributions to the movement for good, clean, and fair food by honoring those who safeguard traditional crops and indigenous farming knowledge. Gonnay has been instrumental in organizing agricultural communities to protect endangered food varieties.
Rowena Gonnay has successfully established 13 unique Slow Food communities. These groups represent a portion of the 1,500 delegates from 125 countries who gathered at the Terra Madre Salone del Gusto event.
The players
Rowena Gonnay
She is a co-founder of the Slow Food Community Pasil and a leader in indigenous agricultural preservation.
Slow Food International
This is a global grassroots organization that promotes local food cultures and sustainable agricultural practices.
Reena Gamboa
She is an advocate who accepted the ByungSoo Kim Award on behalf of Rowena Gonnay.
Slow Food Community Pasil
This organization is based in the Philippines and focuses on the principles of good, clean, and fair food.
The details
Gonnay, a co-founder of the Slow Food Community Pasil in the Philippines, helps lead local efforts in seed selection and the preservation of indigenous rice varieties like Unoy and Chong-ak. The Pasil group gained prominence as the first Indigenous Slow Food Community in the country in 2019.
Timeline
The Pasil community was recognized as the first Indigenous Slow Food Community in 2019.
Terra Madre Salone del Gusto occurred from September 24 to 27, 2026.
Rowena Gonnay participated in an online Terra Madre session on September 25, 2026.
Roadmap
The recognition of indigenous farming through the Terra Madre Salone del Gusto highlights a growing focus on decentralized food sovereignty within the international agricultural sector. This approach marks a shift from large-scale industrial farming toward the preservation of localized biodiversity.
Readers can explore the Slow Food movement to identify how local seed-saving initiatives impact their own regional food availability. Adopting these principles often involves choosing indigenous or heritage produce varieties that support biodiversity in their personal dietary habits.
The takeaway
Preserving indigenous crop varieties like Unoy rice helps protect the global food supply from the risks of agricultural monoculture. Consumers can support these efforts by seeking out heritage food items that prioritize traditional cultivation methods over mass-market production.
Further reading
Learn more about the global movement for sustainable nutrition in the Healthy Food section.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Rappler.
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Do you believe local communities should prioritize preserving traditional food farming practices over industrial methods?
