Friday, July 13, 2007
Mark your calendars!
OK, this is still 10 months away, but I am seriously excited about it...
www.slowfoodnation.com
Four days of tastings, demos and all-around reveling in the glories of American slow food. Plus some serious chances to organize and discuss the politics of food. Highlights from my point of view:
--the coffee and tea house
--the food film festival
--a talking rooster
I am also a huge fan of Slow Food's emphasis on getting healthy, sustainably produced foods into schools. And I'm a big believer in one of their core tenets: healthy, delicious and artisanal foods should not just be the province of the wealthy. A fully ripe, succulent organic cherry should not be a specialty food item. Nor, for that matter, should good coffee.
(Not to digress too far, but why do we subsidize corn and soy production but not vegetable and fruit production? This is basically the equivalent of subsidizing the junk food industry - high fructose corn syrup and soybean oil - and has meant that the cost of fruit and vegetables relative to junk food has gone up and up and up over the past 20 years. So... what? You only have a right to eat foods that are fresher, better for you and better tasting if you have a six-figure income?? Slow Food has been active in working against that by working to change the Farm Bill. Check it out.)
And best of all, the Slow Food Nation expo is happening literally right down the street from my house. So... I have one guest spot on my couch. Make your reservations now.
www.slowfoodnation.com
Four days of tastings, demos and all-around reveling in the glories of American slow food. Plus some serious chances to organize and discuss the politics of food. Highlights from my point of view:
--the coffee and tea house
--the food film festival
--a talking rooster
I am also a huge fan of Slow Food's emphasis on getting healthy, sustainably produced foods into schools. And I'm a big believer in one of their core tenets: healthy, delicious and artisanal foods should not just be the province of the wealthy. A fully ripe, succulent organic cherry should not be a specialty food item. Nor, for that matter, should good coffee.
(Not to digress too far, but why do we subsidize corn and soy production but not vegetable and fruit production? This is basically the equivalent of subsidizing the junk food industry - high fructose corn syrup and soybean oil - and has meant that the cost of fruit and vegetables relative to junk food has gone up and up and up over the past 20 years. So... what? You only have a right to eat foods that are fresher, better for you and better tasting if you have a six-figure income?? Slow Food has been active in working against that by working to change the Farm Bill. Check it out.)
And best of all, the Slow Food Nation expo is happening literally right down the street from my house. So... I have one guest spot on my couch. Make your reservations now.
