PROJECTS – SLOW FOOD USA & GLOBAL
Showcasing the Events & Projects of Slow Food USA
Slow Food USA Events
- May, 2007 — "Slow Food Nation (The Book) – Book Tour"
"Slow Food Nation:
Why Our Food Should Be Good, Clean and Fair!"
"Slow Food Nation will change the way you think about food! Slow Food founder Carlo Petrini describes how we can take back control of our food by outlining three central principles: food must be good (healthful and delicious); it must be clean (produced sustainably in ways that respect the environment), and it must be fair (produced with respect for social justice). Petrini’s philosophy includes teaching gastronomy–the science of all knowledge revolving around food’in our schools. Instead of consumers, today we should become co–producers, active participants in the production of our food."
"Carlo Petrini will also help launch a year-long campaign that will culminate in the event Slow Food Nation, in San Francisco in May 2008. Slow Food Nation’s mission is to change America’s consciousness of how food is produced and distributed. The event will be a four–day eco–gastronomic gathering that will feature tastings, demonstrations, lectures, an international film festival and a market of artisanal American foods."
"Join Carlo Petrini at a Slow Food Nation book event this May! We hope to see you at one of the below events. Books will be sold at all Book Tour events."
- Slow Cities:
What are the Città Slow (Slow Cities)? Slow Food has encouraged the growth of the Cittaslow movement, an autonomous group of towns and cities committed to improving the quality of life of their citizens, especially in regards to food. Città Slow adhere to a series of guidelines to make them more pleasant places to live, such as closing the center of town to traffic one day a week and adopting infrastructure policies that maintain the characteristics of the town. Città Slow seek to safeguard traditional foods, creating spaces and occasions for direct contact between consumers and quality producers. Città Slow have sprung up everywhere from Norway to Brazil, with several dozen in Italy alone. For more information on Città Slow, visit www.cittaslow.net.
(From the publication: "The Slow Food Companion.")
- "Creating Ordinary Places: Slow Cities in a Fast World,"
(By Paul L. Knox, College of Architecture & Urban Studies, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA. Published by: Journal of Urban Design, Vol. 10. No. 1, 1–11, February 2005.)
ABSTRACT: "This paper explores the interdependence between urban design and the social construction of place. Following the recent contribution to the discussion of sense of place, authenticity and character by Jivén & Larkham (Journal of Urban Design, vol. 8, 2003, pp. (67–81), it is suggested that architects, planners and urban designers should be attentive to the theoretical underpinnings that are relevant to place–making. The emphasis here is on the relationships between the pace of life and the capacity of urban settings to facilitate the routine encounters and shared experiences that underpin the intersubjectivity that, in turn, leads to the social construction of place. These issues are placed in the context of the ‘fast world’ of globalization and of grass–roots reaction to its consequences, as illustrated by the Slow City movement."
[Webmaster’s Note: This paper provides an interesting examination of the ideals behind the Slow Food Movement and provides an interesting example of re-thinking our sense of place in an urban setting. It’s "food for thought."]
- Slow Fish:
Why Slow Fish? Awareness, knowledge, education, everyday life: these words encapsulate the essence of Slow Fish 2007. It is not just a fair but an event that also aims to make people think and become aware of issues relating to our waters, fishing and fish consumption."
Slow Food Educates, with activities for young people and adults, such as Taste Workshops, seminars and meetings;
Slow Food Promotes, where you will be able to purchase carefully selected foods, books published by Slow Food Editore and much more besides;
Slow Food Protects, where the association will invite you to join the Fare’s Fair campaign, to sensitize the market on rules for consuming fish sustainably, and where you can meet the Presidia and Terra Madre food communities.
"Slow Fish is a 4–day conference (May 4 – 7, 2007) that brings together fishermen, researchers, retailers and policy makers from all over the world to participate in workshops, discussions and tastings. Several fishers from around the country will attend Slow Fish to represent the U.S.
- Slow Food ARK & PRESIDIA:
The Slow Food Ark and Presidia projects go hand–in–hand to preserve food heritage and products. "Saving Cherished Slow Foods, One Product at a Time."
- "Slow Food ARK of Taste The ARK seeks, first and foremost, to save an economic, social and cultural heritage – a universe of animal breeds, fruit and vegetables, cured meats, cheese, cereals, pastas, cakes and confectionery. Our mission is to preserve endangered tastes – and to celebrate them, by introducing them to the membership and then to the world, through media, public relations, and Slow Food events."
- US Ark of Taste Product List
- Slow Food PRESIDIA: "If Ark products can have an economic impact, they can be saved from extinction. This is the simple reasoning behind the Presidia; small projects to assist groups of artisan producers."
- 75% of European food product diversity has been lost since 1900.
- 93% of American food product diversity has been lost in the same time period.
- 33% of livestock varieties have disappeared or are near disappearing.
- 30,000 vegetable varieties have become extinct in the last century, and one more is lost every six hours.
- "With just thirty plants feeding 95% of the world’s population (currently 6.5 billion people), a global effort is needed to restore the earth’s agricultural biodiversity. We’re not going to restore our bounty tastefully, or sustainably, by applying biotechnology/molecular genetics to industrial agriculture. Just as Slow Food USA’s Ark of Taste project documents and promotes our forgotten and neglected foods to create a catalog of our diversity, our presidia projects directly support the needs of these foods and their small–scale food producers through marketing, production, and technical assistance.
While each of our presidia projects develop local economies in the United States, the projects also become part of a larger, global effort toward eco-gastronomic conservation. Slow Food USA is proud to advance the important work of the international Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity and encourages America’s farmers, fishers, and food processors alike to use Slow Food USA as a vehicle to further our shared goals of creating a good, clean, and fair food system."
- The Slow Food USA Presidia is a project in conjunction with the
Slow Food (International) Foundation for Biodiversity.
- Download a list of all Slow Food Presidia
- Slow Food "RAFT" — Renewing America’s Food Traditions Project
The RAFT Project works to "document, restore, and celebrate the incredible diversity of America’s edible plants, animals, and food traditions. Assessing the status of America’s endangered traditional foods, some of which have already been identified and boarded onto the Ark of Taste."
- Slow Food in Schools
"Slow Food in Schools is a unique national program of garden to table projects with children that cultivates the senses and teaches an ecological approach to food. These two important projects will build off of each other to create a positive, productive, and healthy educational experience for our public school children."
- Links related to Slow Food in Schools.
- Model Wellness Policy Guide for public school communities, that "addresses the quality of meals served at school, the regularity of physical education, and instruction connected to diet and health.
The federal government has issued a mandate, through the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004, that provides the opportunity to establish standards for diet and health in our nation’s public schools. The requirement calls for each school district to form a Wellness Committee and draft a district Wellness Policy that addresses the quality of meals served at school, the regularity of physical education, and instruction connected to diet and health. These school Wellness Policies went into effect at the beginning of the school year in 2006.
- The Center for Ecoliteracy, in collaboration with Slow Food USA and the Chez Panisse Foundation, has prepared this downloadable Model Wellness Policy Guide, available in PDF format. The Guide provides language and instructions for drafting a Wellness Policy that places health at the center of the academic curriculum."
- Read the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 to more fully understand the guidelines set forth by the U.S. Government. The full text of the Act is available through the Library of Congress.
- Visit the U.S.
Department of Education website to search by state for contact information
regarding contacting your Superintendent and District Health
Coordinator to get involved with drafting the Wellness Policy in your
area.
- Slow Food USA’s Take Action!
The Take Action! section of the Slow Food USA Website is updated weekly to highlight a current issue from the news, along with creative solutions for how you can do something in response.
If you feel frustrated sometimes because you care
about an issue but don’t know what you can do to effect change—check
out the red snail icon and ....click!
For example, for the week of March 11, 2007, read about bottled water vs. tap water—did you know that the federal standards for tap water are higher than those for bottled water, and that 40% of all bottled water is the same as tap water?!
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