Over 2000 people joined Slow Food in Egypt on June 5 to celebrate the UN’s World Environment Day at Cairo’s Al Azhar park, in an event which brought together students from around the country.

A small market was set up for the occasion with products from food communities: dates from Siwa (Slow Food Presidium) and Sinai, herbs from Fayoum, bread and traditional pastries from Alessandria. The food communities and the Siwa Date Presidium also organized tastings, described their projects and managed educational activities, which included making collages with seeds, drawings and Slow Food t-shirts.

The day was an opportunity for reflection and discussion with the conference "What is Biodiversity? What are its effects on our daily lives?” including a contribution from Antonio Del Vecchio, Vice President of Slow Food Puglia. It provided the chance to present Slow Food’s activities in support of biodiversity and food heritage around the world and to show the educational work which has been carried out by the association for many years, particularly in Italian and European schools.

The event was organized by the Wadi Environmental Science Centre, a local NGO that for several years has been organizing educational initiatives on environmental issues for children and young people.