Friday, August 29, through Monday, September 1, will be Slow Food Nation weekend in San Francisco. Plans are developing for the event, which will bring together farmers, food artisans, consumers, commentators, and others for a weekend focused on good, clean, and fair food and food production. As described in the San Francisco Chronicle:
Two venues - the Civic Center and Fort Mason - will be in play. At Civic Center, it will be all about the farm, and a farmers' market of 60 to 100 vendors. "Slow on the Go" stands will sell slow fast-food-like tacos made with homemade tortillas, dosas and grass-fed hamburgers. Speakers will illuminate issues that affect the food we eat, and activists and nonprofit groups will gather to develop ways to make the American food system more sustainable.An enoteca devoted to wine is on the agenda, as are taste workshops, dinners, and educational seminars. We look forward to sharing more information as it becomes available.Fort Mason will be mainly about eating, with hundreds of American producers offering tastes. Each food type will be organized by a local specialist - Acme Bread's Steve Sullivan will gather the bakers, for example, and Tom Worthington of Monterey Fish will curate the seafood.
Attention will turn to Turin this October, where the Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre, Slow Food's biennial international gatherings, will be held from October 23-27. News about Terra Madre, which is open to approved delegates and observers, is now available on the 2008 Terra Madre website. Information about the Salone del Gusto, which is open to the public, will be available soon, and we'll share links and additional information.
For Slow Food members and friends in the community:
† Slow Food Nation, the four-day event originally announced for May 2008, has been changed to Labor Day weekend, August 29 through September 1, 2008.
The Slow Food Nation team changed the date in response to input from farmers who were eager to show their produce at its peak in late summer, as well as opportunities to use some of San Francisco's most emblematic public spaces, including Fort Mason on San Francisco Bay and the Civic Center Plaza in the heart of the city.
Information will be made available here and on the Slow Food Nation website, but mark your calendars in the meantime!
† Slow Food USA has just launched the Slow Food USA blog, now available at www.slowfoodblog.org. The blog is already a source of articles, opinions and commentary, and news, and we encourage you to take a look and visit it frequently.
† Something GOOD for Slow Food: Slow Food USA has also announced a partnership with GOOD as part of GOOD's partnership program with 12 nonprofit organizations. The monthly magazine focuses on social, political, and environmental issues, and will donate 100% of its subscription revenue to nonprofit groups. If you sign up for a subscription to GOOD you can designate your $20 subscription fee to Slow Food USA, a win-win situation. Visit the subscription page and consider adding GOOD to your monthly reading list.
† Slow Food's Fifth International Congress was held from November 8-11 in Puebla, Mexico and brought together nearly 600 delegates from over 130 countries to discuss business issues and strategies and to explore new opportunities for cooperation among Slow Food's national organizations. Southern California was represented by four delegates, and highlights and information will be posted shortly.
Based on the Salone del Gusto, Slow Food's biennial event, Slow Food Nation is being planned for May 1-4, 2008 at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, California.
Slow Food Nation's aim is to bring people into a new relationship with food through a market of artisan products, tastings, demonstrations, films, and lectures. The Slow Food values of good, clean, and fair will be the guiding principles of Slow Food Nation, and programs will seek to dispel the myths that good food is expensive, that America lacks culinary traditions, and that good food is a privilege for the few.
Slow Food Nation promises to be an incredible social and gastronomic event, and we hope you'll both mark your calendar and check back with us for more details as they become available. In the meantime, you can also visit the Slow Food Nation page of Slow Food USA's site.
Several members of the Los Angeles convivium, along with friends from the Los Angeles area, have been attending the Salone and Terra Madre for the last five days.
Although technology has cooperated, we've been so busy with taste workshops, scheduled events, last-minute opportunities, and trying to see as much as possible that we've had little time to type up coherent entries to post here. We plan to do so in the coming days as we make our way back to Los Angeles via various routes, but in the meantime, you might find this piece from the San Francisco Gate of interest.
Several members and friends of the Los Angeles convivium will be heading to Turin during the next week to attend two international Slow Food gatherings: Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre.
Held every other year, the Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre are opportunities for Slow Food members and colleagues to meet, not only for the social pleasure and the convivial spirit, but also with the aim of increasing awareness of Slow principles and goals. Information on these events can be found at their respective web sites via the links above.
This year, the theme of the Salone is "good, clean, fair." These are the essential components of a new concept of food quality, reference points that mark the path that all participants in the food chain (producers through and including consumers) should follow. This year, the "Manifesto of Quality According to Slow Food" will be launched, and Slow Food is asking all participants to put into practice the dietary principles that are respectful of taste, the environment, and social justice. As noted in the Manifesto,
Good, Clean and Fair is a pledge for a better future... an act of civilization and a tool to improve the food system as it is today. Everyone can contribute to Good, Clean and Fair quality through their choices and individual behavior.
In tandem, Terra Madre will reflect the remarkable diversity of Slow Food and provide opportunities for thousands of delegates to share their experiences and to discuss agricultural issues and putting "good, clean, and fair" into practice. This year, Terra Madre will reflect the input of 1,600 food communities from five continents and 150 countries. Five thousand farmers, breeders, fishermen, and traditional food producers plan to attend, as well as 1,000 cooks and representatives from approximately 200 universities.
Both events will run concurrently, from 26-30 October. Technology permitting, we will be posting updates, photos, and announcements from Turin shortly after the events begin on 26 October.
As noted in the latest edition of "The Food Chain," Slow Food USA's e-Newsletter, October will be the month for the second annual Slow Wine for Slow Food fundraising program. As the newsletter notes:
Throughout the month of October Slow-spirited restaurants, wineries, and wine shops across the country will donate a portion of their wine sales to Slow Food USA. The money will go toward ongoing Slow Food USA programs as well as to a special fund initiated for the small farmers, fishers, and food producers affected by Hurricane Katrina.California restaurants participating in the program are:Among the millions of people affected by Katrina are hundreds of small farmers, fishers, and food producers. The struggle to stitch back together their businesses and their lives will take months, even years.
As an organization that has long worked to build viable relationships between food producers and consumers, Slow Food USA will use the funds raised during Slow Wine for Slow Food to strengthen the network of food communities in the South and across the United States. Slow Food USA believes that an alternative to industrial food production exists: one where food quality and variety are valued, small farmers thrive and links between producers and consumers are strong.
++ Dover Canyon Winery, 4520 Vineyard Drive, Paso Robles, CA (805.237.9191);
++ Magnolia Pub & Brewery, 1398 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA (415.864.7468);
++ The Restaurant at Wente Vineyards, 5050 Arroyo Road, Livermore, CA (925.456.2489);
++ A.O.C., 8022 West 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA (323.653.6359); and
++ Lucques, 8474 Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, CA (323.655.6277).
A full list of participants is on the Slow Food USA site. If you know of a winery, restaurant, or wine retailer who subscribes to the Slow philosophy, please encourage them to join the ranks of Slow Wine for Slow Food supporters by contacting Josh Alper at Slow Food USA's office (718.260.8000).
Evan Kleiman, leader of the L.A. convivium and Slow Food's governor for southern California, will be a contributor and panelist at the second annual International Women's Fiction Festival, September 28 through October 1, 2005, in Matera, Italy.
Food and wine play such a large role in today's novels. At this year's Festival, learn how to write lyrically and accurately about them with Evan the Slow Food way, sensually, taking your time. This may be one of the few courses you can take where you eat and drink your curriculum--the finest food and wine this side of heaven! In addition to introducing the program, Evan will speak on several subjects, including "How to Drink Wine and Write About It," "How to Write What You Eat," and "Shopping and Writing."
Program and attendance information is available here. The schedule offers plenty of opportunities for both published writers and aspiring ones to develop or market their writing, to workshop manuscripts, and to meet with others who share your interests. In addition to the scheduled events, the food, wine, and spectacular sights of Matera make this an exciting opportunity.
Slow Food USA has emailed members regarding Fertile Ground: A Benefit for Slow Food in Schools, and invites members and friends to support Slow Food in Schools by donating an item to the online auction, which will run from May 13-22. Your generosity will allow Slow Food to help these existing programs grow and to expand the project's reach into new communities.
Auction items are already being donated by restaurants, wineries, kitchen equipment manufacturers, travel companies, and more. The fundraiser will culminate with a live auction and gala event in New York on May 25. Alice Waters, executive chef of Chez Panisse, will host this benefit honoring the work of pioneering school nutrition consultant and chef Ann Cooper, author of Bitter Harvest and In Mother's Kitchen. Full tables and individual tickets will be available for purchase for the gala.
A growing program comprising more than 20 garden to table projects across the country, Slow Food in Schools helps children develop an appreciation for real, wholesome food and an understanding of sustainable food practices. Not only are these projects teaching valuable lessons about nutrition, personal and environmental well-being, and an appreciation of the pleasures of the table, they are also instilling the values of leadership, community and responsibility.
Please consider donating an item to the Fertile Ground Auction in support of these and other amazing Slow Food in Schools projects. Merchandise, gift certificates, services and special tours and tickets all make wonderful items. For more information about the online auction, the Fertile Ground gala event, or to donate an auction item, please call Sara or Ragan 718.260.8000 or email membership [at] slowfoodusa [dot] org.
For more information on how transformative these programs can be, visit The Edible Schoolyard or read Alice Waters' statement, "Slow Food, Slow Schools: Transforming Education Through a School Lunch Curriculum." (And thanks to The Edible Schoolyard site for the lovely carrot illustration.)
A World of Presidia dinners, which will raise funds for the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity, will be held in six American cities in February and March:
Philadelphia: February 28Six adventurous chefs have agreed to create menus based on the unusual and delicious products of the Presidia. They will feature products selected by Slow Food for promotion through Presidia projects in France, Italy, Madagascar, Ecuador, Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Ireland. In addition, rare American breeds like corriente cattle and Navajo Churro sheep will be featured on the menus, accompanied by the wines of Oltrepo Pavese.
New York: March 1
Chicago: March 7
Minneapolis: March 8
Los Angeles: March 13
Portland: March 14
A World of Presidia will be the American launch of Slow Food’s international projects to protect agricultural biodiversity. If you are near any of these six cities, we welcome you to savor this initiative!
The cost for members will be $80 (with member number and confirmation of membership status); $100 for nonmembers.
For more information, or to make a reservation, visit www.slowfoodusa.org or call (718.260.8000) or email Sara [at] slowfoodusa [dot] org.
Terra Madre delegates & Slow Food Twin Cities members Steven & Jodi Ohlsen Read lost nearly 600 head of sheep in a barn fire early in the morning of January 24th. Arson is suspected.
Any amount of help you can provide would be welcome. Please send checks and letters of support and encouragement to:
Shepherd's Way Farm
Steven & Jodi Ohlsen Read
8626 160th St. E.
Nerstrand, MN 55053
The Slow Food Forum has also shared with us a news report of the fire, from the Star Tribune
After barn fire, newborn lamb is a symbol of hope
Donna Halvorsen and Tom Sweeney
NERSTRAND, MINN. -- With her neighbor's barn in flames early Monday, Lynn Reeck was there, trying to push sheep out the door, when she felt something bump against her feet.
It was a lamb, newly born, with its umbilical cord still attached.
Reeck took the lamb home, warmed it and fed it from a baby bottle. When she brought the lamb back later, it was cuddled and fussed over as a kind of miracle baby--the only one of 225 lambs to survive a massive fire that killed about 550 sheep at Steve and Jodi Read's farm in Rice County, about 45 miles south of the Twin Cities.
It was a bright spot in an otherwise grim day.
The Reads' Shepherd's Way Farms is the largest farmstead raising dairy sheep in North America. They turn sheep's milk into award-winning cheese, which they distribute throughout the country. But on Monday, most of the animals and a big chunk of the barn were gone.
The state fire marshal's office and the Rice County Sheriff's Office are investigating. Arson has not been ruled out, said Rice County Sheriff Richard Cook. Anyone with information about the fire is asked to call the Minnesota Arson Hot Line at 1-800-723-2020.
More than 100 sheep were burned but survived. As neighbors stopped to offer condolences Monday, veterinary students from the University of Minnesota and the farm's staff examined the animals to decide which could be treated and which would have to be destroyed.
It was the second fire at the farm in five days. A fire Thursday night burned 30 huge bales of hay that were in a field close to the road, not far from the sheep barn that was burned early Monday.
The Reads and their four sons were roused from sleep about 2:30 a.m. Monday when a neighbor called to tell them about the fire. The barn, made up of several attached buildings, was engulfed in flames when the Nerstrand Fire Department and sheriff's deputies arrived 15 minutes later. Firefighters from Fairbault and Kenyon helped battle the blaze, but two of the barn units were a total loss, the Sheriff's Office said.
Steve Read said he has insurance but didn't know how much of his loss will be covered. Replacing the sheep will cost $350 each, he said. The feeding operation, the cheese factory and an office were spared, as was the family's house behind the barn.
The Shepherd's Way sheep are not like most sheep, which are typically raised for meat or wool. They were all born at the farm and are tended constantly. Because the ewes' milk is used to make cheese and butter, the lambs are bottle fed twice a day, and staff and visitors become attached to them.
"Our sheep are very socialized and very tame and very good girls," Steve Read said, adding that the loss is "terrible. You put your head down and go to work. That's what we're doing right now."
What the Reads do is very specialized. Most cheese is made from cow's or goat's milk. "There aren't a lot of people who are milking sheep, and even fewer who are making cheese [from it]," Steve Read said.
He said their farm is part of the "slow food movement," made up of people who want to know where their food comes from--and who have palates for specialty cheeses, such as the Big Woods Bleu, one of three of Jodi Read's products that won top awards from the American Cheese Society last year.
"They have a lot of people who believe in what they're doing here," said the Rev. David Lechelt, the Reads' pastor at East Union Lutheran Church near Chaska, who stopped by to offer prayers and support. "They've worked so hard, and this is such a beautiful place."
The surviving baby lamb became the symbol of the day. She was named Esperanza, which is Spanish for hope. Her ears and coat were singed by fire, but otherwise she seemed fine, drinking from a bottle held by Reeck, the neighbor who rescued her.
"She was a brand-new baby amid all that chaos," Reeck said. "Somehow she managed to get free of all the fire."
The incomprehensible magnitude of this disaster compels us all to help. Below is an updated short list of agencies now accepting secure, online donations. Please alert your friends, or contact your local relief agency.
Google is offering a list of sites already set up to provide information and to handle donations for victims throughout the region.
See also:
Oxfam's Asia Earthquake & Tsunami Fund
American Jewish World Service
Network for Good's expanded list of relief agencies
and Operation USA, a Los Angeles organization
News from the national office: The RAFT sets sail!
RAFT stands for "Renewing America's Food Traditions," and is a new coalition of seven allied organizations all working toward preserving biodiversity in food, including:
Slow Food USAFirst brought together by Gary Nabhan of the Center for Sustainable Environments, the seven coalition organizations of the RAFT have many goals, but the first one has already been achieved: the publication of the first ever "Redlist" of over 700 endangered American foods--including all 250 Ark USA foods and many others which are being researched and documented for eventual boarding onto the Ark (in some cases, it takes a Raft to get to an Ark!).
The American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
The Center for Sustainable Environments at Northern Arizona University
Chefs Collaborative
Cultural Conservancy
Native Seeds/SEARCH
Seed Savers Exchange
All convivium leaders will receive a copy of the RAFT book called Renewing America’s Food Traditions: Bringing Cultural and Culinary Mainstays from the Past into the New Millennium. The book not only lists all foods on the Redlist but also provides in-depth profiles of the top ten endangered foods, and the top ten success stories of foods that have experienced a rebirth, like the American chestnut, Creole cream cheese, Iroquois White corn, Navajo Churro sheep, Hand-harvested wild rice and those famous beloved turkeys (Bourbon Red, Jersey Buff and Narragansett, just to name a few).
It's no coincidence that many of these foods have been revitalized thanks to their promotion by convivia at events, local markets, restaurants and in partnership with farmers, and especially thanks to the tastebuds and buying power of Slow Food members everywhere. The Ark of Taste is also a major source of inspiration for the RAFT Redlist, and while the Redlist and the Ark are not meant to overlap completely, we honor the important role of Ark & Presidia in helping the RAFT come to fruition.
The RAFT campaign is therefore an unprecedented opportunity for Slow Food to become an even stronger catalyst for this kind of food revolution--one in which we choose flavor and quality over shelf-life and price, and we support fair prices for farmers and ecological sustainability rather than the lowest common denominator and the industrialization of agriculture.
With the allied organizations of the RAFT campaign, Slow Food will begin organizing major initiatives starting in 2005, so we encourage you to stay tuned for more information on how to get involved!
One more interesting news item: Patrick Martins, founding president of Slow Food USA, has started a new company, Heritage Foods, in order to create a market for and awareness of many of the Ark foods. Check out his e-newsletter and learn more about the mission and products of this new venture.
Carlo Petrini sent the following message to convivium leaders regarding an event that will be held in conjunction with this year's Salone del Gusto. Read on...
Dear Convivium Leader:In another action aimed to reshape the world's food and farming system, Slow Food is holding an international gathering for 5000 food producers from 120 nations, in Turin, Italy, October 21-23, 2004, concurrent with Salone del Gusto. Entitled Terra Madre, the event reflects some basic beliefs: Mother Earth is food; human and ecological health are inextricable; producers are the under appreciated link between the natural world and the human race.
Our goal is to highlight the contribution of the diverse range of producers, to celebrate their value, and to support their empowerment. Slow Food will provide a forum to those who cultivate, raise, catch, craft, distribute and promote food in ways that respect the environment, human dignity, and the health of consumers.
The conference spans three days. Activity will be structured around: --Debates and presentations of environmental issues linked to agriculture: desertification, salinization, effects of pesticide use, etc. --Debates and presentations political issues related to sustainability and agriculture: the organic movement, community supported agriculture, fair trade, etc. --Seminars on individual crops and products: corn, beef, coffee, etc. --Meetings among producers from geographic regions linked by common challenges to agriculture: Rocky Mountains, Chilean Altiplano, Mediterranean Islands, etc.At Terra Madre, Slow Food hopes to weave a community among individuals working in sustainable agriculture from around the world -- to provide a meeting place for a California apricot grower to speak with a Peruvian orchardist, for Italian and Spanish coastal fishermen to share ideas, and for Canadian and Ethiopian wheat growers to share meals, discussions, and friendships.
The conference will use six official languages: English, Italian, Spanish, French, German, and Russian. Slow Food is recruiting 2000 farmers from Western Europe; 500 from those nations formally known as the Eastern Block; 400 from Africa; 500 from Australasia; and 1300 from North and South America. The United States seeks 500 representatives of as many diverse agricultural communities as possible.
The meeting is sponsored by an alliance of Slow Food, Italian Minister of Agriculture, the Piedmont Regional Authority, and the City of Turin. This alliance will pay for lodging, registration, ground transportation, and food for all participants during Terra Madre. National Committees and Slow Food members within the developed world are asked to contribute some funds to organize participation within their own nations and to ensure transportation to and from Turin.
To organize participation of the United States, Slow Food is partnering with AG Innovations Network, a nonprofit organization founded by Slow Food USA Chairman, Michael Dimock. AG Innovations (www.aginnovations.net) will act as the contact point for communications in the United States regarding Terra Madre and will lead the effort to raise funds for three pre-events and farmer memberships in Slow Food USA. We have chosen to work with AG Innovations because its mission and expertise are perfectly aligned with our aims. For over a decade, Michael and colleagues have offered education and assistance to agricultural and environmental organizations, and implemented awareness campaigns that improve understanding of agriculture and its role as a cornerstone of sustainable civilization.
This month, you will receive a package by post about Terra Madre. It will include instructions and forms for nominating your favorite local producers; brochures describing the event; a press release; and further information about how you can assist us to make Terra Madre a great success. If you have questions or would like to enlist as a volunteer to help organize this historic event, contact Michael Dimock (info@aginnovations.net or 707.528.2222).
Warm regards and best wishes,
Carlo Petrini