"The French revolution made all of us aware of individual rights," he said. "History is calling for collective rights: the right to water, the right to clean air ... the right to biodiversity, the right to peace."

Italian President Georgio Napolitano officially opened the meeting, saying he was "deeply struck by the strength and the warmth of this assembly, so representative and so motivated."

He praised the delegates for their "important role in preserving the environment, often devastated by ruthless growth."

Napolitano urged "recognizing the importance of the poorest countries by opening up our markets, starting with European markets, to their produce."

Aminata Traore of Mali, a co-founder of the African Social Forum, spoke out against a collective failure to address the problems of the world's poorest continent, pointing to the thousands of African boat people willing to risk their lives in rickety vessels to reach the shores of Europe each year.

Speaking to AFP afterward, she said: "People don't make the link between globalization and the shipwrecks -- in both senses of the word -- and the destruction of Africa's economic and social fabric."

Traore added: "The partnership accords are asymmetrical and amount to the looting of African resources."

The gathering of some 1,600 "food communities," 5,000 farmers, breeders, fishermen and other producers, 1,000 cooks and 400 scholars is taking place alongside Turin's Salone del Gusto (Taste Expo), a biennial international quality food fair in its sixth edition this year.

Small local producers offer vanilla and red rice from Madagascar, mullet from Mauritania, dates from Egypt, argan oil from Morocco and black pepper from Malaysia, rubbing shoulders with growers of organic wine in Italy or Romania, "real ale" from Britain and dozens of other products made the Slow Food way.

Michael Pollan, bestselling author of "The Botany of Desire: A Plant's Eye View of the World," said the hundreds of delegates represented "a great world wide parliament of species."

He said: "A mere eight species now supply three-quarters of the world's food. It's not enough to nurture genetic diversity in your fields. ... There needs to be a local food economy." Earlier Thursday, Takehisa Matsubara, mayor of Nagoya, Japan, read out the convention's manifesto stating: "Each of us is called upon to practice and disseminate a new ... concept of food quality."

The pledge begins with goodness, "the fruit of the competence of the producer and of choice of raw materials and production methods," the manifesto states, adding that quality food is also "clean" -- respectful of the environment and sustainable practices -- and fair in terms of social justice.

"Everyone can contribute to good, clean and fair quality through their choices and individual behavior," it says.

American restaurateur Alice Waters described the Slow Food Movement as "a global counter-culture, a way of thinking in dynamic opposition to existing values."

She added: "Our governments are not responding to the real needs of their citizens."

Urging "universal public education in eco-gastronomy," Waters told the delegates: "Most Americans have no idea where their food comes from."

Recalling her first travels in Europe in the 1960s, the chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California, said she was "overwhelmed by what I ate. Europe was still a slow food continent. ... I wanted to open a restaurant that served that kind of food."

Thirty-five years later, she said, "We have become economically involved with scores of suppliers, mostly small farms ... some with multiple crops, some with only one peach tree."

She added: "Finding the right ingredients, I believe, is 85 percent of cooking."

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