The Gourmet Q + A: Joshua Viertel

Tracie McMillan
November 21, 2008

By the time Joshua Viertel took the helm of Slow Food USA this fall, the 30-year old already had a quiet reputation for mixing a refined palate with grassroots sensibilities. The former farmer’s résumé would make most recruiters pause: There are stints in Sicilian sheep pastures, hurricane-ravaged towns in Honduras, and small New England farms; a philosophy degree and protester bona fides from Harvard; and a job history that includes a reference from Alice Waters. If it seems like a no-brainer to hand the reins of the country’s most prominent food-culture group to this man, some of Viertel’s other passions—grassroots organizing and social justice—suggest where the next generation of American foodies may be headed. Writer Tracie McMillan spoke with Viertel, fresh from Slow Food International’s Terra Madre conference in Italy, to talk about founding Yale’s landmark farming initiative, whether we should be paying more for our food, and finding inspiration in a bodega.

To read full article click here.

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Advertising

THE SNAIL: Slow Food USA’s member-only magazine is published quarterly with a circulation of more than 26,000.

Winter 2010:

Distribution date: Jan. 29
Ad closing date: Jan. 15

Spring 2010:

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FOOD CHAIN: Slow Food USA’s e-newsletter is published monthly with a circulation of more than 90,000.

2009-2010 advertising costs:

One month: $350
Three months: $945
Six months: $1,680
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All ads link to an advertiser-specified URL. Ad size is 3"H x 2"W.  Advertising close for all monthly e-newsletters is the first of the month.  FOOD CHAIN is distributed by the middle of each month.

For more information, contact us .

Rates and distribution dates are subject to change.

Staff Bios

Josh Viertel, President
Josh Viertel is working to make a good, clean, and fair food system.  He previously worked as a shepherd, a teacher, a vegetable farmer, an activist, a fisherman, and a baker.  Before coming to Slow Food, he co-founded and co-directed the Yale Sustainable Food Project which brought local and sustainable food into Yale’s dining halls, created a farm on campus, and built programs in and out of the classroom on sustainability, food and agriculture.  His work has been written about in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Monthly and numerous other publications, and he has presented at, or worked on projects with the American Academy in Rome, The Guggenheim, The Smithsonian Folk Life Festival, and the 2008 Venice Biennale.  Josh lives in Brooklyn in an ex-chair factory, with his partner, Juliana Sabinson, who is an artist.

Jenny Best, Special Assistant to the President
Jenny joined Slow Food USA in 2010. Jenny’s passion for sustainable food and agriculture began one day when she realized she had eaten the same pre-packaged lunch at work for four years.  Jenny now spends her Saturdays buying real food from real farmers and her Sundays cooking from scratch.  Jenny was previously Chief of Staff at the NYC Department of Buildings, a member of Mayor Bloomberg’s City Hall staff, and a dancer with the New York City Ballet.  Jenny graduated from NYU with a degree in politics.  She lives in Brooklyn with her husband Michael.

Deena Goldman, Program Manager, Leadership
Deena holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Tulane University.  She began her career working as an editor at an educational publishing house before her interest in food sustainability brought her to Slow Food in 2005.  Deena’s work has included planning national and international conferences, coordinating organizational communication, and overseeing the national membership program for three years.  Her current primary focus is developing a new program that includes training and professional development for Slow Food’s national network of leaders.  She credits her interest in food from a childhood spent in the kitchen that led to an adulthood spent eating, cooking, baking and making chocolate in amazing places including Italy, New Orleans, and now New York. She and her husband can usually be found at the farmers market in their Manhattan neighborhood. 

Gordon Jenkins, Advocacy Program Manager
Gordon joined Slow Food USA in 2009 to help organize the Time for Lunch campaign. He grew up in Berkeley, CA, eating happy meals and boneless skinless chicken breasts. In college, he worked as a student farmer at the Yale Farm, where he began to see food activism as a very local, personal solution to the world’s many crises. He has worked in Alice Waters’ Office at Chez Panisse and as Content Coordinator for Slow Food Nation, the big event that took place over Labor Day 2008 in San Francisco. He also manages http://eat-ins.org.

Sheila Karaszewski, Membership Coordinator
Sheila holds a Bachelors of Science in Marketing with a minor in international business. Prior to working for Slow Food USA, she had been immersed in the world of restaurants, where she spent her time cultivating her wine knowledge and pestering the chefs for cooking advice. An avid reader, taster, and lover of all things food related, her driving goal is to bring the opportunity to enjoy fresh, delicious food into everyone’s lives. She recently learned how to make the best pierogies ever, courtesy of her grandma’s recipe and her mom’s adaptation.

Patrick Keeler, Development Coordinator
Patrick came to the sustainable food movement through a rather circuitous route after majoring in French and European Studies. While it’s true that as a child he enjoyed baking holiday cookies with his mother and pastries in French class, his organic epiphany didn’t strike him until his first semester in the Environmental Policy Masters program at Clark University. Patrick has worked throughout upstate New York on organic farm CSAs in Poughkeepsie and the Finger Lakes region, and in Rochester as the urban School Garden and Farm Manager for a non-profit. In 2007 he helped launch Rochester’s South Wedge Farmers’ Market. Although his mother no longer bakes, Patrick carries on the cookie tradition with valor. He dreams of retiring on the coast of Greece where he’ll dine solely on feta, tomatoes, olives and wine for the rest of his days. 

Jerusha Klemperer, Program Manager, Networks and Partnerships
Jerusha holds an undergraduate degree in Religion and Women’s Studies from Swarthmore College and an MFA in Acting from Columbia University. She spent five years at Population Council, an international non-profit that performs reproductive health research and implementation around the globe. Also a writer of all kinds of things including book reviews, plays and blog posts, she is the editor of the Slow Food USA blog and a contributor to the Huffington Post, Civil Eats and her personal blog eathere2 (http://www.eathere2.blogspot.com). Here at Slow Food USA she coordinated the US delegation to Terra Madre 2008 and before that served as the Assistant to the Executive Director. In her free time she cooks up food and fun with Conni’s Avant Garde Restaurant (http://www.avantgarderestaurant.com) and she credits Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation with first opening her eyes way back when to some of the dark underbelly of our nation’s food system.

Kate Krauss, Director of Development
Kate Krauss joined Slow Food USA in 2009 after working in major gift fundraising at The Nature Conservancy, with primary responsibility for the organization’s China program and climate change initiative. Kate began her career in television journalism, working in production for the ABC News programs World News Tonight and Nightline. A native of southern Ohio, Kate has loved having the opportunity to live on the east coast and in California, but she still has a soft spot for Midwestern summer thunderstorms and fresh-picked sweet corn.

Nathan Leamy, Acting Director of Operations
Nathan came to Slow Food USA via his work at Slow Food Nation in San Francisco. Nathan’s agricultural education truly began when he attended Deep Springs College where he studied politics and managed 152 acres of organically grown alfalfa. After Deep Springs, he attended Oberlin College.  There he spent time working with the student cooperative association, eventually developing a housing and dining cooperative which focused on educating students to eat well. Nathan has spent time working for the government and various non-profits.  Post college, Nathan completed a Watson Fellowship studying how global changes in agricultural and economic policy have altered the consumption of traditional breads in Mexico, India, France, Italy, and Egypt.

Erika Lesser, Director of Operations & Special Projects
Erika has worked for Slow Food USA since its founding in 2000, and also spent a year working at Slow Food’s international headquarters in Italy for the University of Gastronomic Sciences, before returning to New York in 2004 to take on her current position. A native of Boston, Erika graduated from Brown University with a BA in Italian Studies and Art History, and worked in the food and nonprofit sectors while earning a MA in Food Studies from New York University. Erika also serves on the boards of Community Food Security Coalition and Slow Food International.

Julia Middleton, Acting Youth Programs Manager
Chicago born and bred, Julia credits her parents for her initial interest in food, her father ground up the eclectic family meals into bite sized pieces to nurture her young palate, while her mother was responsible for the foreign food adventures. After establishing that indiscriminate palate, Julia headed off to Southern California to soak up the sun and study environmental sustainability, with a particular focus on agriculture. She has also spent time in Australia eating from community gardens, frequenting farmers markets and honing her interest in, and passion for, the youth food movement.

Brian Sinderson, Director of Marketing & Communications
With more than 20 years of marketing and public relations agency experience, Brian manages the branding, marketing and communications efforts for Slow Food USA. He is a self-proclaimed foodie and a restaurant junkie, who seeks out chefs preparing meals with locally-grown, sustainable ingredients. He previously owned his own consultancy focused on corporate social responsibility and sustainability where he educated corporations on the need to tread lightly on the planet.  When he isn’t writing, blogging or twittering about food, sustainability or the environment, you can usually find him behind the lens of his camera.

Emily Stephenson, Operations Assistant
Emily joined Slow Food USA in the 2009 as an intern. She grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and developed a love of cooking and a habit of reading cookbooks like novels. Her interest moved from cooking to sustainability and food politics as she delved deeper into the issue. She graduated with a degree in international relations from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Emily is thrilled to be able to combine love of cooking and learning about food with her interest in the bigger picture of the food system.

Corporate Partners

Slow Food USA and Anolon:
Creating a Delicious Future

Cooking is making a comeback as more and more people realize the need to understand where their food comes from and how it is prepared. Anolon, an industry leader in cookware, bakeware, cutlery, tools and gadgets, is dedicated to bringing back the simple art of eating delicious food prepared at home using fresh, seasonal, local ingredients through its “Creating a Delicious Future” campaign.

Slow Food USA has entered into a corporate partnership with Anolon, so members can get more involved in Anolon’s inititiative and also secure Anolon cookware to support chapter programs. Please visit Anolon’s “Creating a Delicious Future” site for more information.

As part of our partnership, Anolon is offering free cookware and tools to chapters creating cooking events and garden-to-table projects.  If your chapter would like to be considered, please submit a request via email to with the subject line “Anolon Cookware Support.” This request should include a list of requested Anolon products to support your program, a description of the program/project, size and scope, targeted participants (e.g., youth-only, families, general public, members, etc.), impact on the local community or specific need being addresses, as well as any potential media attention your program might secure.  Create your desired product list (within the $250-$500 range) from Anolon’s site.  Chapter programs are awarded kitchen products on a first-come, first-served basis and supplies are limited.

Employment and Internships

Slow Food USA is not currently hiring. Winter internships are currently in progress, we are now accepting applications for spring internships. Instructions and details follow.

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Slow Food U.S.A. Employment

There are currently no paid positions available. Please check back here or search for us on Idealist.org for future openings. No phone calls please.

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Slow Food U.S.A. Internships

An internship with Slow Food USA provides the opportunity to be involved with the organization and coordination of local, national and international events and projects, and to make contact with international leaders in the food sector. We are a fun and busy non-profit organization with an open-minded, friendly staff. Every season we take on a group of interns to help build the movement. Each intern spends time helping with general office tasks, as well as working within dedicated program area. This spring we will be looking for interns in the following areas:

Advocacy Interns: Slow Food USA is recruiting a team of interns to work on our national grassroots campaign, Time for Lunch. We are seeking enthusiastic and professional undergrads, grad students or young professionals with a strong interest in building a movement with the power to fix our food system. Experience in leadership development, policy, advocacy and/or grassroots organizing a plus. General tasks and responsibilities include providing guidance and resources to volunteer leaders via phone and email, outreach to potential new leaders and collaborators, research and writing.

Leadership Programs Internship: The leadership program intern assists the Leadership Program Manager with external communications to volunteer leaders of the movement. Specific duties include: draft web copy and e-newsletter copy; set up and participate in conference calls; design PowerPoint presentations, research leadership training modules and topics; process chapter annual reports; assist in managing inquiries from volunteer leaders; contribute to online leadership guide and best practices index.

Marketing & Communications Interns: Slow Food USA is searching for multiple interns to work as a part of our communications team. These interns will: assist with writing news releases, media alerts, backgrounders, Q&As, web copy, etc; support social media efforts posting information to Facebook, Twitter and the Slow Food USA blog; pitch story ideas to support publicity campaign, including print and broadcast opportunities; develop, implement and track email marketing campaigns; update media lists and track coverage on a daily basis. This is a great opportunity for someone who wants to learn the "ins" and "outs" of a comprehensive marketing campaign.

Membership Programs and Development Intern: Assist with Membership & Development Programs and learn about fundraising and member cultivation within a national member-based non-profit. The major focus will be engaging in a redesign of our membership program, which will include market research, growing our membership base, engaging our members and plenty of creative thinking. The ability to work under limited supervision, strong computer experience (Mac preferred), attention to detail, and excellent research, communication and writing skills are essential. Interest in food and/or social justice

New Chapter Internship: The new chapter intern manages the process of opening new chapters around the country. Currently, between 2-5 new chapters open per month. Specific duties include managing inquiries from prospective chapter leaders around the country; overseeing the paperwork and communication involved in the new chapter application process; being in constant contact with new chapter leaders via phone and email; connecting volunteer leaders to each other via phone and email; working extensively with Excel and Filemaker Pro database. A great opportunity to learn about how a membership-based non-profit works.

Office of the President Internship Ensure the smooth functioning of the President of Slow Food USA’s daily activities. Work hand in hand with the senior leadership team to prepare research briefings, logistical arrangements, and communications with the top players in the food and agriculture movement. Outstanding attention to detail, ability to work in a fast-past environment, facility with disseminating complex research, and sharp time management and interpersonal skills are essential.

General tasks and responsibilities shared by all interns:

• Assisting with our ongoing projects about improving our food supply and taste education
• Answering phone inquiries on issues of sustainable and artisanal food production
• Researching, writing and fact-checking articles, features, event listings and other projects for our quarterly magazine, the Snail, as well as our blog
• Assisting in fulfilling merchandise orders and requests for promotional materials
• Attending to various member service issues, such as member comments and questions
• General administrative tasks and other office duties

Qualifications:

• A keen interest in food, food policy, nutrition, advocacy, and/or campaign-building
• Currently enrolled in or graduated from an accredited university or comparable experience
• Ability to handle multiple projects and meet deadlines
• Ability to work effectively independently, with minimal supervision, while also team-building via phone and email
• Professional, friendly, fearless phone demeanor
• Being a quick study and a curious learner
• Good writing skills
• Good general and internet research skills
• Creativity and willingness to have good ideas and share them
• Computer skills, including Word and Excel

Minimum 20 hours a week, 3 month commitment (April to June, flexible), with full time commitment preferred. Interns who can dedicate more time to the internship will gain more from it and be involved in more interesting work. Internships are unpaid at this time, however many students can earn academic credit for their time at Slow Food USA. Please send a resume and short cover letter to Nathan Leamy at . Please specify in your cover letter your first and second choice positions. Applications are due by March 22. No phone calls, please.

Privacy Policy

PRIVACY PRINCIPLES

This Web site is owned and operated by Slow Food USA. Our intention is to provide an informative tool for those interested in conservation and as a means of allowing our constituency to become more involved in our mission. We recognize that visitors to our site may be concerned about the information they provide to us and how we treat that information. Slow Food USA is committed to honoring our constituents’ privacy preferences.

To this end, Slow Food USA supports the following principles:

CONSUMER CHOICE

We believe a visitor to our site is the one to best determine:

• When—and under what conditions—to provide “personally identifiable information” (e.g. data that may be used to identify, contact, or locate a person).
• When such information may be shared with other organizations.
• When to remain anonymous.

Informed Consent

If personally identifiable information is collected, we believe a visitor to our site has the right to:
• Know when we are collecting personal information.
• Know what personal information is collected, and the purpose of collection.
• Expect the opportunity to choose whether or not personal information will be provided to any third parties.
• Expect reasonable steps to be taken to protect personal information from unauthorized use.
• Review the accuracy of personal information and update it.

PRIVACY POLICY

This policy covers Web sites owned or operated by Slow Food USA. We encourage you to take the time to read this privacy policy.

Personal Information Collected

In general, when you visit our Web sites and access information you remain anonymous. We do not require you to register or provide personal information to us to view our site. There are occasions when we will ask for additional information. We do this to better understand and respond to your needs, and provide you with services that may be valuable to you. For example, personally identifiable information will be collected in order for you to become a member of Slow Food USA online.

Use of Information

Personally identifiable information is not made available to other non-profit organizations or to for-profit organizations unless you request otherwise. We will not provide any of your personal information to other organizations.

Security of Your Credit Card Information

We will take appropriate steps to protect your privacy. We will also protect your personal information in storage. For example, if you supply us with your credit card information to become a member or make a donation, we encrypt the card number. Contributions may also be made by printing out the online form and mailing it to:

Attn: Member Services
Slow Food USA
20 Jay Street, Suite M04
Brooklyn, NY 11201

You can also contact us at or call us between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. EST at 718.260.8000.

Links to Third Party Sites

We provide links to third party sites. Since we do not control those Web sites, we encourage you to review the privacy policies posted on these third party sites.

Cookies

What are “Cookies”? “Cookies” are small files sent from a Web server to your computer through your browser program. There are two types of cookies: non-persistent and persistent cookies.

A non-persistent cookie enables a Web site to temporarily keep information on your computer as you travel from one page to another on our site. This cookie is automatically deleted from your machine when you close your browser. Because these cookies are necessary to provide some functions, failure to allow such cookies may make some of the functions on our Web site unavailable to you.

A persistent cookie is kept even when you close your browser. You can manually delete these cookies using commands specific to your browser and computer system. These cookies store information that would generally not change from session to session. They also contain information that would need to be reentered by you each time you visit the Web site. For example, a common use of persistent cookies is to allow a registered site visitor to enter the site without having to specify their user-id and password.

Use of Cookies: Slow Food USA uses cookies for various reasons. Slow Food USA only reads cookies written by our site. It does not use cookies to obtain information on other Web sites that you may visit. We may use cookies to store some history about the parts of our sites that you have visited to help you navigate our site more easily or to alert you to related pages on our site that may interest you.

Electronic Mail sent to us containing personal information

You may decide to send Slow Food USA personally identifying information, for example, in a message containing information about your membership. We will only use this information to identify you as a member of Slow Food USA and to determine how to respond to the electronic mail. We will not use this information for any purpose other than to resolve the matter identified in the email.

Questions

Slow Food USA welcomes comments and questions on this policy. We are dedicated to protecting your personal information, and will make every reasonable effort to keep that information secure.

If you have any questions, please contact us at or call us between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. EST at 718.260.8000..

You can help Slow Food USA maintain the accuracy of your information by notifying us of any changes to your address, title, phone number or email address. To update your membership file, email us at , or write us at:

Attn: Member Services
Slow Food USA
20 Jay Street, Suite M04
Brooklyn, NY 11201

Terms and Conditions: User Conduct

You agree to abide by all applicable local, state, national and international laws and regulations regarding your use of our service.

Credit Card

You agree that you are an authorized user of any credit card that you supply to us, and you understand and agree that we have an obligation to fully investigate any possible fraudulent credit card use. If you are under 18 years of age, you must have parental consent in order to purchase tickets and participate in Slow Food USA.

Refund Policy

Slow Food USA will issue refunds at our sole discretion. Requests for refunds must be made in the following manner to be considered:
The refund request has to be in writing via letter; and that the customer shall have paid for by Visa or MasterCard or debit card via our website.
Refund Procedures
The letter should be sent to:
Attn: Member Services
Slow Food USA
20 Jay Street, Suite M04
Brooklyn, NY 11201

Information Required in the letter:
Contact person’s name
Copy of contact person’s ID
Contact person’s local phone number and address
Person’s local bank account number for refund, name of the bank and account holder’s name
Money order or postal note number or copy of the slip
Date and method of the purchase
Standard turnaround time for refund is within one month from the date we receive the customer refund request letter. We will notify the customer of its decision to refund or to reject the refund request for the reasons stated in this policy within one month from the date we receive the customer refund request letter.

Payment Page

The security of your personal information is very important to us, and we are committed to protecting the information we collect. While we cannot guarantee absolute security of your personal information, http://www.slowfoodusa.org uses firewalls and Secure Socket Layers for all personal data we collect from you. We also employ many different security techniques to protect personal data against loss, misuse, alteration, and unauthorized access.

The information you provide to us will also be covered by this policy.
Due to the rapidly evolving technologies on the Internet, we may occasionally update this policy. All revisions will be posted to this site. A revised Privacy Policy will apply only to data collected subsequent to its effective date.

National Statute

Vision

Food is a common language and universal right. Slow Food USA envisions a world in which all people can eat food that is good for them, good for the people who grow it and good for the planet. In essence, food that is good, clean and fair.

Mission

Seeking to create dramatic and lasting change in the food system, Slow Food USA reconnects Americans with the people, traditions, plants, animals, fertile soils and waters that produce our food. We work to inspire a transformation in food policy, production practices and market forces so that they ensure equity, sustainability and pleasure in the food we eat.

Preamble

Slow Food USA, as a full partner and integral element of Slow Food International, is a membership organization guided by values, principles, structures, and processes as embodied in the Slow Food USA Vision, Mission & Strategic Plan; the National Statute; the International Statute; and the Code of Use for Slow Food Logos.

Members recognize the difficulty in running a complex organization using a directly democratic process. Thus, Slow Food USA's governance rests on the concept of representation. Members elect or select through consensus leaders who shall represent the membership as they develop policies, priorities and programs to fulfill the mission.

To ensure that a diversity of views will be accessible to the organization as it makes decisions, members recognize the following governance entities: Chapters & Chapter Boards; Committees; Regional Governors; Executive Director; President; National Board of Directors; and International Board of Directors. By virtue of their association with Slow Food USA, individuals are also members of Slow Food International.

The following definitions are meant to aid members of Slow Food USA as they work to fulfill the organization's mission by exercising those powers and duties that accrue to them via their position within the governance structure.

The Board of Directors may consider amendments to the National Statute once per year, either before a National Congress or, in the years between Congresses, before the annual Governors’ Forum. Amendments may be proposed by any of the governance entities named in this Statute. Information on how to propose an amendment can be found in the Guidebook for Chapter Leaders.

Governance Entities