The Abridged version:
- The first full Terra Madre Americas brought renowned Bay Area and Native chefs to downtown Sacramento.
- Roughly 140,000 people attended, contributing to long food lines and a shortage of free samples.
- Terra Madre Americas will return downtown every two years, starting in 2027.
To hear Slow Food Sacramento co-chair and Magpie Cafe co-owner Ed Roehr tell it, the first full Terra Madre Americas was “amazing.”
The free food festival at downtown Sacramento’s SAFE Credit Union Convention Center drew an estimated 140,000 guests from Sept. 26-28, exceeding expectations by tens of thousands. Organized by Slow Food International and modeled after a similar affair in Italy, it’ll return every two years for the next 10.
Terra Madre Americas marked a new level for Sacramento’s food scene, but some attendees still walked away hungry for more. Organizers expect change in 2027.
Celebrity chefs, out-of-town guests
Sacramento’s culinary reputation has grown immensely over the past 15 years, but it’s still lacking in star power. That changed at Terra Madre Americas.
There was Chez Panisse founder Alice Waters on stage talking about school lunches. Her onetime chef Jeremiah Tower waxed poetic with Corti Brothers owner Darrell Corti, Sacramento’s link to that national food scene of the 1980s. Tower and other nationally acclaimed chefs hosted pop-up dinners, all sold out more than a week before the event.
Native American traditions and practices were also spotlighted throughout the weekend, from those pop-up dinners to Wilton Rancheria’s interactive acorn processing demonstration. Big U.S. food fairs often lack that kind of programming, Roehr said.
Terra Madre Americas’ free, unticketed nature meant Visit Sacramento guessed the attendance based on past events, president and CEO Mike Testa said. Organizers crossed their fingers before the event, then were overwhelmed with the response.
“Friday, there were lines before we opened,” Testa said. “Saturday, there were longer lines before we opened. It was shoulder-to-shoulder inside that building and outside on the street. So the response from attendees (was) dramatic, and sort of higher than we expected.”
The downtown Hyatt Regency and Sheraton Grand hotels were at 100% and 95% capacity throughout the weekend, spurred perhaps by $300,000 worth of Terra Madre advertising throughout the Bay Area, Testa said. Visitors also came for the live music outside the convention center, where Spoon and The War On Drugs played free shows as kids drew chalk art on the surrounding parking lot.
More free food, space needed
The convention center’s 160,000-square foot exhibit hall was teeming with speakers and smells throughout Terra Madre. But the festival’s choose-your-own-adventure nature could have benefited from a central address, some sort of speech to welcome all visitors and give them the basics about Slow Food, Roehr said.
That could be even more of a challenge if Terra Madre expands to the convention center’s second floor, a possibility in 2027. The surprisingly strong turnout created tight quarters on the lower floor, particularly around booths in the Terra Madre Americas Marketplace with free food.
Long lines formed for mushroom mousse from Elk Grove-based Boulevard Bistro, or meatball skewers from Italian restaurant Willow in downtown Sacramento. Many other producers or restaurateurs arrived with informational materials or bites for sale, but not the gratis tastes attendees had been promised. Options leaned local instead of the full range of Latin American vendors organizers had hoped to exhibit, as some would-be delegates stayed home in fear of the United States’ immigration enforcement tactics.
“The lines for food were really long, so we need to make it easier for people to get something to eat, whether that’s lunch or at different times of the day,” Testa said.
Food truck vendors provided a different experience
Blocks of local food trucks and stands modeled after Sacramento’s former Farm-to-Fork Festival also sold lunch and dinner outside, and had plenty of customers no matter the time of day. But those vendors weren’t necessarily as focused on Slow Food International’s ethos. Inside in the convention center, hordes crowded around the Fra’Mani booth for slices of premium cured meats; outside, you could get $15 cups of mass-produced corn mixed with mayonnaise and topped with crushed Hot Cheetos.
Some of those vendors made more money at the Farm-to-Fork Festival than any other event in years past, Testa said, and Visit Sacramento didn’t want to take that away from them. The tourism marketing organization is still trying to figure out what to do in the off years between Terra Madre. The Farm-to-Fork Festival was held annually on Capitol Mall until this year.
In September 2026, Testa said Visit Sacramento might organize a restaurant week with something similar to Terra Madre’s Grand Tasting, an exclusive event with eats from about 20 top Sacramento-area chefs. The biggest action, though, will be in 2027.
Benjy Egel is the senior food editor at Abridged. Born and raised in the Sacramento region, he has covered its local restaurants and bars since 2018. He also writes and edits Abridged’s weekly food and drink newsletter, City of Treats.