An Interview With Our US Delegates

7 US delegates tell us about their hopes for Terra Madre and International Congress 2012

Slow Food seeks to help us connect to the story behind our food –its cultural and historical context, the politics of its production, and the diversity of our ecosystems and communities.  As 2000 delegates from 130 countries prepare to attend Slow Food’s Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre and the International Congress in Torino, Italy from October 25th to October 29th, we thought we’d check in with some of our delegates to hear what’s on their minds.  The delegates we interviewed, like so many others who will be at the global gathering, are the everyday food movement leaders who are “feeding the planet in a good, clean, and fair way”, this year’s theme for Terra Madre.

Greg Boulos
Age: 37
Hometown: Pittsburgh, PA
Slow Food Connection:Mid-Atlantic Regional Governor, farmer (Ark of Taste)

Cynthia Hayes
Age: 62
Hometown: Savannah, GA
Slow Food Connection:Slow Food Savannah Board of Directors

Lauren Lin Howe
Age: 21
Hometown: Easthampton, MA
Slow Food Connection:Co-Founder and Co-Leader of Slow Food Hamilton College

Esperanza Pallana
Age: 38
Hometown: San Francisco, but has resided in Oakland, CA for 8 years
Slow Food Connection:My connection to Slow Food is in the work that I do and my colleagues. I work for Oakland Food Policy Council where we work to establish an equitable and sustainable food system. Personally I believe one of the most powerful ways to affect food choice is to awaken, explore and practice one’s food heritage. I appreciate the message of Slow Food yet also see an opportunity to bridge the dialogue of food injustice to the message of sustainability.

Jim Embry
Age: I am 63 years old but I represent 2 million years of human evolution, 4.5 billion years of Earth evolution and 14 billion years of Universe evolution…so I am as old as dirt!
Hometown: Lexington, KY
Slow Food Connection:I have been a member of Slow Food Bluegrass since 2008, a Terra Madre delegate in 2008 and 2010, delegate to the International Congress in 2012, supported hosting the Slow Food USA National Congress in Louisville, KY this past April, and speak about Slow Food in some 40 talks each year.

Vince Vang Lee Xiong
Age: 38
Hometown: Plymouth, MN
Slow Food Connection: Minnesota Food Association (a friend of Slow Food Twin Cities), farmer

Frances Roberts-Gregory
Age: 22
Hometown: East Coast of the United States (NJ, NC, and VA)
Slow Food Connection:SAAFON, SoGreen Network, Slow Food Atlanta, and I want to start a campus Slow Food chapter at Spelman College

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African American and African Farmers Unite In Turin, Italy for a Global Discussion

SAAFON (Southeastern African-American Farmers Organic Network) will host this historic meeting of African and African American farmers at Terra Madre.

SAAFON (Southeastern African-American Farmers Organic Network) will host this historic meeting of African and African American farmers at Terra Madre. Never before has a Black grassroots organization had the opportunity to connect to the African diaspora and African Farmers on the Terra Madre global platform.

This global meeting will unite farmers of African descent for a discussion on food access; climate change and its impact on farmer’s ability to grow, deforestation, and the importance of maintaining seeds and ancient African growing techniques that continue to thrive in the 21st Century. 

Read below about two delegates to Terra Madre from SAAFON!

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Creative governance: Slow Food Vermont deploys regional captains to expand its reach

Learn about Slow Food Vermont’s unique form of governance.

By Deirdra Stockmann, Slow Food USA volunteer

For many of us, mention of Vermont fills our mind with nostalgic visions of verdant hills dotted with small farms and sugarbushes and populated by cheesemakers and seedsavers. Of course, there is much more to Vermont than fall colors, maple syrup and artisanal cheese. But according to the chapter leaders I talked to, most of whom are also farmers or chefs, Vermont’s food culture and identity has only been growing stronger in recent years. This is great news for the state, and for Slow Food Vermont. The only trouble is that movement is so pervasive that it is hardly possible for the chapter to connect with all of the passionate growers, producers and eaters who want to be a part of it. Hardly possible. Over the last year, the Vermont chapter found a way to empower leaders, build networks, and expand its reach

The challenge

Leaders in Vermont agree that the slow food philosophy, the commitment to growing and supporting local food traditions and economies, runs deep in the veins of many Vermonters. There is a lot of interest in Slow Food Vermont’s full calendar of classes, tastings and potlucks. But over the last few years, local leaders became increasingly aware of a major barrier to engaging with current and potential members and friends of Slow Food in Vermont: geography.

Slow Food Vermont is based in Burlington, which makes sense because it is the state’s largest city (pop. 42,417). About one in three Vermonters lives in the greater Burlington area as do 60 percent of the Slow Food Vermont members. There is a strong critical mass of active members who help plan and participate in the chapter’s many activities. And yet, two thirds of the Vermont population, and 40 percent of chapter members are spread throughout the state’s many other small cities and towns and in every hill and valley.

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Food Day is Around the Corner!

Food Day, a nationwide celebration and movement toward more healthy, affordable, and sustainable food, is around the corner.

Food Day, a nationwide celebration and movement toward more healthy, affordable, and sustainable food, is around the corner. Food Day is October 24 every year, and is driven by a diverse coalition of national organizations and food movement leaders, including Slow Food USA, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, Farmers Market Coalition, and many others.

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Fresh From Maine

Slow Food leaders from Maine describe the unique partnership that has made Maine what it is today, a Slow Food mecca for chefs, growers/producers, farmers, and anyone who loves good food.

Written by Michael Sanders, co-founder of Portland, ME’s Slow Food chapter

People “from away”—out-of-staters—often ask me, What’s up with Maine? How has such a cold and far away place grown such a vibrant food scene replete with farmers, fishermen, crazy-mad chefs and their restaurants, and farmers’ markets?

The answer is not so simple. First, Maine is a land of surprises. It has a coastline longer than England’s, more organic farms per capita than California, and a terrifyingly short growing season of just 125 precious frost-free days. Making the most of what we can wrest from the soil or fish from the sea or forage from the woods, this is what Mainers have always done, a rich tradition that, today, feeds the state’s vibrant and ever-evolving food scene, from our farmers’ market to our dinner and restaurant tables.

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Perennial Plate: La Minga

A “Minga” is a traditional form of organization from 600-700 years ago in South America. Today, Nelson Escobar coordinates a large urban farm in order to collectively survive in a competitive society.

The Perennial Plate is a fantastic documentary series that explores socially responsible, sustainable and adventurous eating across the U.S.  Slow Food USA has a video content partnership with Perennial to showcase one of our favorite films every month.

This Month’s Perennial Plate Feature: La Minga

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The Nopal Cactus: Prickly, but secretly succulent and sweet!

The Nopal Cactus, native to the Mojave Desert, has been used for generations as a food source with multiple uses and benefits that may surprise you.

Written by Robert Morris, co-founder of Slow Food Las Vegas and former Professor Emeritus from the University of Nevada

If you were to pair cactus with other foods you might want to consider pairing it with limes and paprika. This is a popular pairing in Mexico with the cactus food called nopalitos where Opuntia ficus-indica, the prickly pear or nopal cactus, is native. In the popular literature you might think that this cactus was native to Italy since this plant gets much more play there as a food than where it grows natively, the inland deserts of Central Mexico.

However, Mexicans have enjoyed this food in many prepared forms for centuries. In respect for its place of origin, I prefer to use the Mexican terms for the edible portions of the plant: tunas (fruit), nopales (immature whole cactus pads for eating) and nopalitos (cactus pads that have been prepared for eating or cooking).

In 2003, I established nopal cactus plots at the University Orchard located at the Center for Urban Horticulture and Water Conservation in North Las Vegas, Nevada. Faculty and my good friends at the University of Sonora-Hermosillo, Mexico (USON) donated cactus pads from USON’s agricultural farm just outside of Hermosillo and taught us how to plant and manage their production.

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Can Ark of Taste survive Katrina and Isaac?

Lester & Linda L’Hoste have been working to preserve the organic Ark of Taste satsuma on their citrus farm in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and now Isaac.

Written by Poppy Tooker, former leader of Slow Food New Orleans

On August 29th, exactly seven years from the day that Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the surrounding area, a new storm blew in.  Isaac was not expected to be much of a storm event as it came onshore as a mere category one.

Lester and Linda L’Hoste, organic citrus farmers in Braithwaite, LA and Crescent City Farmers Market vendors did not evacuate.  As lifelong residents of Southern Louisiana, they had ridden out many a storm and believed this one was just going to bring a small amount of wind and rain.

The family enjoyed dinner together and Linda had spent the evening baking cookies before losing power about 10 pm.  At 2 am Lester’s phone rang with the news that the levees were in danger of being overtopped and that they needed to evacuate.  The water was rising quickly as the L’Hostes joined fifty other Braithwaite families trying to get out.  Soon, it became apparent that it was too late as water rushed over the top of the levee reaching the floorboard of the truck, trapping them there.

Many Slow Food USA members will remember the L’Hostes from efforts made after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. At that time, chapters across the country came together in countless ways to help farmers, fishers and chefs of Louisiana rebuild the local food system following Hurricane Katrina’s devastation.  That fall, the U.S. Ark of Taste committee sprang into action boarding several indigenous Gulf Coast foods suddenly endangered in the storm’s aftermath including the satsuma.

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Perennial Plate: Dealing with Bounty the Garden or Farmer’s Market Dished Up

We’ve teamed up with Daniel Klein and the folks over at Perennial Plate to deliver monthly video stories, and our third dispatch features the art of pickling.

The Perennial Plate is a fantastic documentary series that explores socially responsible, sustainable and adventurous eating across the U.S.  Slow Food USA has a video content partnership with Perennial to showcase one of our favorite films every month.

This Month’s Perennial Plate Feature: Pickles

The Perennial Plate Episode 27: Pickles from The Perennial Plate on Vimeo.

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Albacore tuna, one at a time

Tuna, the ubiquitous canned food. But, what do you really know about it? Slow Food USA member & fisherman, Jeremy Brown on Seattle’s own Albacore tuna.

Written by Jeremy Brown, Fisherman, Slow Food member and 2008 Terra Madre delegate

Albacore, Thunnus Alolonga, are the only tuna that can be sold as “white meat’. In many ways the polar opposite of the Bluefin beloved of the sushi trade and poster fish for fisheries run wild. Albacore’s ecological niche is on the fringes- they swim further, faster deeper and more scattered into cooler waters than most tunas. This makes them less vulnerable to fishing pressure, and particularly hard to catch on an industrial scale.

Older fish swim deeper in more tropical water and are principally caught on pelagic longline gear, younger fish frequent the surface waters along the sub tropical convergence zones of the world’s oceans which is where they can be caught by jigs trolled on the surface or chummed up with bait in the classic pole-and-line fisheries.

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