Thank you for your interest in starting a new Slow Food chapter! Local chapters are the heart of Slow Food USA. We are first and foremost a network of individual chapters with individual desires and needs. Chapters promote good, clean, and fair food through a range of activities, such as supporting farmers markets and CSAs, creating school and community gardens, and joining members from disparate ends of the food system in debate and common cause.

The central goals of a chapter are: (a) to inspire members of the community to practice Slow Food values; (b) to organize events that celebrate the local farming, marketing, cooking, eating, and other culinary practices of the area; and (c) to serve as the local anchor for national and global Slow Food initiatives.


How to Start a Chapter:
Starting (and leading!) a chapter is a time-consuming process, so before all else, consider whether this is a realistic option for you given your lifestyle. Our most successful chapters are invariably led by passionate, committed leaders who make running their chapters a central key activity in their daily lives.

If you haven’t done so already, please check our list of local chapters to make sure that a chapter in your area does not already exist. If one does, then you can join your chapter and get involved! If a chapter is “looking for new leadership,” then get in touch with us to find out how to restart the chapter. If no chapter exists in your area, follow these steps to begin the application process:

1. Make sure that you are already a member of Slow Food USA. If not, join Slow Food USA today!
2. Familiarize yourself with Slow Food USA’s organizational structure by reading this excerpt from the Chapter Guidelines.
3. Reach out to your community. You will need to organize a team of 5 or more people to get going. At this point, you should also contact your Regional Governor. He or she will provide you with valuable information about other people in and the dynamics of your larger region. Your Regional Governor will be an important link between your chapter and the national office, so we encourage you to establish a good relationship with him or her.
4. Once you have assessed the needs in your community, formed an enthusiastic team (including a potential board), and have talked to your Regional Governor, then fill out the form at the bottom of this page, which will generate an inquiry for our Leadership Development team. If you have any questions, email us.

Contacting the national office is only the beginning of the three-to-six-month-long process of officially forming a chapter! We will likely call you soon after you have submitted your email in order to discuss the specifics in more detail. You will then proceed through the two main parts of the New Chapter Application. To preview these parts of the application process, take a look at these two documents: Part I and Part 2 of the New Chapter Application.

Thank you again for your enthusiasm about Slow Food USA! We hope that you will form a robust and exciting Local Chapter. Please stay in touch with both your Regional Governor and the National Office for support throughout this process.