At first glance, it seems like a distant connection from the wood-paneling-and-mirrors saloons of 1860s New York, where the mustachioed, vested Jerry Thomas mixed drinks, to the sleek modern bars of the Tenderloin and North Beach, where a fresh crop of bartenders are making concoctions with seasonal fruit and fresh herbs. But ask Allen Katz, one of the curators of the Jerry Thomas American Cocktail Bar—also known as the Spirits Pavilion at Slow Food Nation—and the connection between bartenders of old and the modern cocktail is very real.

“Thomas reminds us that there is cultural value in the heritage of the American cocktail,” he says. “It occupies a germane and unique place in American gastronomy.” Cocktails are wholly an American art, originating at the hands of great mixologists like Thomas—and the thousands of thoughtful people who craft cocktails behind bars from coast to coast. Modern mixologists carry on a tradition and further develop the art with creativity and reverence for classic ingredients and formulas.

At Slow Food Nation, these mixologists will be the main attraction. A cast of San Francisco bartenders from the local chapter of the United States Bartenders Guild will be making original cocktails using sustainably-made spirits. Katz and co-curator Greg Lindgren have worked hard to include distilleries that exemplify Slow Food’s ethic. “Spirits are made from the same commodity ingredients that the Slow Food conversation is about,” Katz says. “These same issues—fuel, grain shortages, et cetera—drive the spirits industry.”

To that end, the pavilion will showcase examples of distillers that source organic ingredients and those whose operations incorporate sustainable practices, from recycling and energy usage to anaerobic heat production for distillation.

“This pavilion is about engaging in a conversation to define what Slow Food is for Americans—cocktails are a natural part of that conversation,“ says Katz, who also serves as the president of the Slow Food USA board of directors.

Co-curator, Greg Lindgren, has been a strong proponent of Slow Food values in his trio of celebrated San Francisco bars: Rosewood, Rye and 15 Romolo. His attention to fresh ingredients and small-batch spirits has garnered him national attention and puts him in excellent stead to develop a list of craft distillers for the pavilion including Charbay, a family run distillery in Napa; St. George Spirits, the craft distillery behind Hangar One Vodka and a long list of eaux de vie, whisky and liqueurs; and gin producer Distillery 209 (so named for the patent number assigned to an accomplished 1880s distiller William Sheffler, whose winery property in St. Helena now belongs to Distillery 209 founder Leslie Rudd).

Small craft distillers will have a strong presence, but Lindgren and Katz are giving equal space to distilleries large and small, as long as their practices fit within the mission of Slow Food. Visitors to the pavilion will be able to taste and talk with reps from such giants as Maker’s Mark, Wild Turkey and Plimoth Gin, as they make their way from the bar to the cocktail history museum. There, visitors can check out antique bar tools and rare distilling equipment, original cocktail recipes and books, most likely including the world’s first drink guide, “The Bon Vivant’s Companion,” penned by Jerry Thomas in 1862.

In the Spirits Pavilion, the link to history is strong—but the tradition of innovation that Jerry Thomas began more than a century ago is thriving now more than ever. My guess is that Thomas would be thrilled that this gathering bears his name—but he’d probably rather just get behind the bar with his colleagues and see where the mix is going next.

Photos, from top, by Aya Brackett, Kenn Christ and coba

At a Slow Food dinner seven years ago, native foods chef John Farais and California native landscaper Alrie Middlebrook began an ongoing conversation about the importance of integrating native plants into our daily lives and diets.

One fruit of that conversation is the Eating California class sponsored by the California Native Garden Foundation. The goal of the class is to inspire a movement of passionate native food lovers, and in the process start an ecological revolution.

Native foods are, by definition, adapted to the places in which they grow and as a result have a far smaller environmental load on the land. One of Alrie’s dreams would be to transfer food production to urban areas – on rooftops, in city gardens – freeing up farmlands to be reclaimed as native habitat. The ultimate result, she reasons, would be greater biodiversity with less energy use and pollution.

And greater culinary diversity, as well.

There are thousands of native edibles, many of which have superior nutrition and even taste than their cultivated counterparts. The problem at this point is that they can be hard to come by in our modern world. Some of them are being protected and supported by Slow Food USA’s Ark of Taste. The Ark’s goal is to catalog and protect forgotten foods before they disappear. Foods such as Desert Oregano, Pinyon Pine Nuts, Emory Acorns, and Mesquite Pod Flour are all represented.

Beyond the foods themselves are the lessons that they teach us. When ethnobotanist Kat Anderson, from U.C. Davis, talks about the Native Californian way of harvesting food, it sounds like poetry:

Do not take everything

Leave something behind

Ask permission

Give Thanks

What Kat is describing is simply a culture code of respect for the land that feeds them. And that belief isn’t necessarily gone, just perhaps forgotten.

She tells this story of the elders speaking about the decline of the native plants: “No one is talking to the plants,” they say, “and as a result they go away.” The elders say the plants miss us but are in hiding. They will return, but “only when we start paying attention.”

Slow Food Nation’s Native Foods Pavilion at Taste, curated by Bernadette Zambrano will be open Saturday, August 30 and Sunday, August 31. Foods available for tasting will include wild rice from the White Earth Land Recovery Project, posole with native corn hominy and buffalo.

Photos by Aaron French and Yosemite Native American

As the nation’s leading dairy state and second-largest producer of cheese, California is a natural location for Slow Food Nation’s Cheese Pavilion—an homage to all things cheesy.

And it’s only proper that the Cheese Pavillion be hosted by none other than Peggy Smith and Sue Conley, founders of Cowgirl Creamery in Point Reyes Station, along with Lynne Devereux, president of the California Artisan Cheese Guild, which promotes the state’s cheese-making community.

From raw milk cheeses to fresh-as-it-gets mozzarella to handcrafted Jersey cow milk yogurt packaged in charming, reusable, ceramic containers, attendees will get a chance to sample the best of the best from 54 producers across the country. It’ll also provide a rare opportunity to taste some extraordinary cheeses made on such a small scale that they’re not normally available to purchase in stores.

Throughout the weekend, the pavilion will host speakers who will give short presentations on everything from the importance of pastures to milk components to cheese production. Additionally, exhibits will illustrate the history of cheese-making in this country.

“We want to show people that good cheese comes from good milk, and how we actually get good milk,’’ says Smith, who worked in the kitchen of Berkeley’s Chez Panisse for 17 years before starting Tomales Bay Foods in Point Reyes Station. The facility houses the original Cowgirl Creamery, where award-winning cheese is made from local, organic milk from family-owned Straus Creamery on Tomales Bay.

“In order to get good cheese, you need vigilance throughout the whole process,’’ Smith adds. “The animals have to be well taken care of, the milk has to be well taken care of, and the cheese you make is actually dictated more by the environment than by the person trying to make it.’’

Smith is particularly excited that the pavilion will offer tasting plates of American raw milk cheeses, especially because there are many misconceptions surrounding raw milk cheeses. Yes, people can eat them, but the Food and Drug Administration requires that any domestic or international raw milk (unpasteurized) cheese sold in this country must be aged for more than 60 days in order to lessen the conditions in which pathogens could survive.

Those regulations don’t exist in France. As a result, it’s difficult to find a true Brie or Camembert in this country, Smith says, because those cheeses are at their optimum after aging 30 days. Unfortunately, when they arrive in the United States after 60 days, they are over-ripe.

So do keep an eye out for the American Raw Milk Cheese Presidium, as well as such notable producers as Dancing Goat Creamery of Michigan, Pedrozo Dairy and Cheese Co. in the Sacramento Valley, Uplands Cheese Company of Wisconsin, and Mecox Bay Dairy in New York.

Visitors will no doubt eat up this pavilion. After all, Americans have quite the appetite for cheese. Per capita consumption was 31.85 pounds in 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That’s an increase of more than four pounds per person in the past decade.

“It’s a wild bunch that makes cheese,’’ Smith says with a laugh. “They’re always fun to talk to. You will always learn something from them. And we all have a good time doing it.’’

Photos by Aya Brackett, NiinaC and a75

“A meal without wine is like a day without sunshine.”

–Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste (1825)

When most of us think of American wine regions, myself included, we think Napa, Sonoma, Willamette Valley and Walla Walla. But did you know that Pennsylvania makes a great ice wine? Or that you can get a sparkling wine from New Mexico or Missouri?

Slow Food Nation’s Wine Pavilion curator Renato Sardo, 150 Slow Food U.S. chapters and a steadfast team of volunteers have canvassed the country looking for wines which best represent our own American terroir and Slow Food’s founding values of good, clean and fair. By the time you leave the Wine Pavilion at Taste, you will be well versed in American Viticulture Areas (AVA). Or maybe you will just be able to tell everyone that you sampled a Tempranillo from Inwood Estates in the Texas High Plains that rivals the vineyards of Spain.

With 450 wines, from 40 states and 150 appellations, poured by professional sommeliers, this is the first time that wines from nearly every state in the country will be available for sample in one venue. Well-known wineries such as Brick House, Cain Vineyards, Joseph Phelps, Robert Sinskey, Rubicon, Stags’ Leap and Tablas Creek will be in attendance alongside wineries from unexpected locations, such as Arkansas (Chateau Aux Arc), Kansas (Holy-Field), Missouri () and New Mexico (Gruet Winery).

The Wine Pavilion will be both informative and interactive. Participants can sample any of wines on the list as well as ciders and meads (honey wines) and learn about American Viticulture Areas, the different wine appellations and the various types of certifications. Participants will also have the opportunity to meet and learn from winemakers and experts during facilitated tastings, including Katrina Fetzer, of the Ceago winery and leader in the biodynamic wine movement; and Katrina Frey, of Frey Vineyards.

There’s no other place to sample Pacific Star’s Charbono from Mendocino County, Tabor Hill’s from Lake Michigan, and Tiger Mountain Vineyards’ Norton (an American native varietal) from Georgia.

For a complete list of participating wineries, please visit: slowfoodnation.org/events/the-main-event/taste-pavilions/wine-abundance-and-diversity.

Each ticket gains entry to all 15 Taste Pavilions, including the Wine Pavilion and Green Kitchen demonstrations for the entire four-hour period. Participants can purchase tickets to the Taste Pavilions for one of the four sessions, Saturday, August 30 and Sunday, August 31 from 11 am – 3 pm and 5 – 9 pm. To purchase tickets, please visit tickets.slowfoodnation.org.

The Wine Pavilion is designed by David Winslow of Winslow Architecture and Urban Design and sponsored by Lead Wine Sponsor Medlock Ames; Wine Partners, La Jota Vineyard Co and Mendocino County; and Supporting Wine Partners, Cain Vineyard and Lodi Wine Country.

Images, from top, by Aya Brackett, KRob2005 and loresjoberg

Pickling and fermentation were probably invented out of necessity, as pre-industrial societies needed ways to preserve the harvest and provide sustenance through the winter. In more recent times, pickling and fermentation have become ways to create new flavors, enliven a meal, eat locally throughout the year, or improve the nutritional value and digestibility of a set of ingredients. Recent feature articles in the food sections of the San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times point to a new popularity for pickles in restaurants and home kitchens.

At the Slow Food Nation pickle and chutney pavilion, visitors will be able to take a tour of the world’s pickles and chutneys, with some of the expected offerings to be Japanese pickles like kazu-zuke, pickled figs from Alabama, American regional sauerkrauts, bread and butter pickles, and sun-cured lemon pickles.

To get some more insights into pickles and chutneys, I asked Michelle Fuerst, the “pickle curator”*, a few questions.

Marc: What initially drew you to pickles and chutney?

Michelle: I wanted to learn more about different methods of preservation, especially those in which the nutritive value of the vegetable actually increases. I also think they are integral to adding a diversity of flavors in a meal. What do you need when a meal is rich? Pickles to cut the fat and create balance. What do you need when you have a simple plain starch and vegetables? Pickles to spice or sweeten the meal. What do you need to improve digestibility? Pickles and fermented foods! What do you do when you have too many vegetables or found a great deal at the market? Pickles! This could develop into a cheer!

Simply put, pickles are the answer to many of the world’s problems.

Marc: How do you see pickles and chutney fitting into the Slow Food philosophy?

Michelle: I just might be able to start my own movement and philosophy based on pickles and chutney. Pickles and Chutney demand that you engage with your food. Pickles say, “Pay Attention!” If you make them, you have to pay attention to quality of the vegetable, cleanliness of your kitchen and the storage temperature. Some methods even require daily tending. If you eat them, they can be very assertive like an Indian style pickled lime or subtle like some Japanese pickles. With either a shout or a whisper, pickles demand to be noticed.

Pickles also have bigger implications: they allow you to eat locally all year long by preserving the bounty of the season, and they express regional preferences and food traditions. They connect you with people and traditions across economic and cultural lines. Most people have one story of a relative who made pickles or at least a vestige of a family recipe. I have started many of a conversation with, “What kind of pickles are part of your culture or tradition?”

Marc: What was the process for finding the “exhibits” for the pavilion?

Michelle: My philosophy was simple: choose pickles and chutneys that could be made by the home cook. Then, I thought I would write every farmer’s market in the country. This did not happen. However, I did find out that there are thousands of farmer’s markets all over the U.S. So, the next, more manageable thing I did was to write to each Edible Communities magazine across the country and ask for recommendations. I also asked other picklers for their suggestions and spent a lot of time on the internet. I talked about pickles to a lot of different people, probably to the annoyance of those who are regularly and frequently in my company.

Marc: What are some of the most unusual things that you have pickled or fermented?

Michelle: Earlier this summer, when friends were making nocino [a green-walnut liqueur], I got a Victorian recipe for pickled green walnuts. I really love the idea that pickling food can take something initially inedible and transform it into something delicious. Just think of pickled watermelon rinds!

Marc: What are some lesser known pickles that you think people should seek out?

Michelle: Basically, I want people to think beyond the cucumber and beyond just hot water canning. I do however celebrate those methods.

Marc: Will we be seeing any collaborations between pavilions, like a chutney-containing cocktail or kimchee-stuffed naan bread?

Michelle: The Bread pavilion will be making fresh corn bread and the Charcuterie pavilion has a line on a ham from Virginia for a delicious snack of corn bread, country ham and relish. Charcuterie is also getting a batch of spiced muscadines from South Carolina from our pavilion.

Marc: Finally, if the Top Chef producers called and wanted your advice on setting up a cooking challenge based on pickles and chutney, what would you tell them?

Michelle: I would ask them to create a challenge that would not only be entertaining but useful for the viewers at home. I would ask each challenger to not just make a pickle or chutney but to create an entree or dinner that featured their creation. Basically, make the pickle or chutney and then incorporate it into a delicious meal. They could create a menu from appetizer to dessert which features pickled products. Perhaps they could even make pickles or chutneys that use different methods, i.e., not just vinegar pickles!

The Slow Food Nation Taste Pavilion runs on Saturday, August 30 from 11am – 3pm and 5pm – 9pm, and Sunday, August 31 from 11am – 3pm and 6 pm – 9pm.

* Although the title “pickle curator” sounds unique, Michelle is possibly not the only pickle curator in the world, as there is a kim chee museum in Seoul, South Korea, a gherkin museum in Lehde, Germany, and a “pickle wing” at the New York Food Museum.

Photos by gorgeoux, SiFu Renka, Accidental Hedonist and racreations

Tea, Camellia sinensis, is one of the most amazing plants used by humans. There are few foods that offer up such a wide variety of flavors from a single part of the plant (the leaves) with a single preparation method (steeping in hot water).

People have used the tea plant as a drink for thousands of years, but it still retains an air of mystery. There are five general varieties of tea: white, green, oolong, black and pu-erh. The difference comes from how old the leaves are when they are picked and how they are dried or processed.

For example, the white teas are made from young buds and new leaves that are gently steamed and dried – the least processed form of tea. White tea flavor can be sweet and light, and it is very low in caffeine.

Black tea, on the other hand, is made from a variety of more mature leaves, and is dried and oxidized with temperature and humidity before it is dried. Black tea flavor can vary greatly with handling differences, but it will undoubtedly be stronger in flavor than it’s white tea sibling.

Alice Cravens, chef / owner of Modern Tea is curating the Tea Taste Pavilion and is looking forward to the opportunity to reach a broad audience of tea lovers, “I’m excited about it because it’s really hands on.” Alice describes the layout of the event as “podular” with up to seven people per table brewing, smelling, learning about, and tasting the entire range of tea possibilities. “What’s wonderful about it is that it’s a chance to have so much stimulation and connect with ourselves” through the tea.

A wide range of tea experts will be presenting their favorite varieties, including David Lee Hoffman. David was one of the original Westerners who actually snuck into China and connected with tea farmers, becoming one of the first Western tea experts. He will be joined by tea masters from Silk Road Teas, Rishi Teas, Teance, Imperial Tea Court and many others.

In addition to the wide variety of teas, people will have a chance to experience different tea brewing methods, from western style teapots and professional tasting cups to classic Chinese gaiwan sets.

Cravens writes in her blog: “We are coming from the viewpoint that tea is probably one of the most original slow foods. Not necessarily because we sip it slowly, but because the most memorable cups of tea are the ones that connect – connect you to the past, to the earth, to the weather, to the grower.”

Enjoy this opportunity to sip, smell, and experience one of nature’s uniquely simple gifts.

Photos by Kanko*, stephcarter and dimi

When Peggy Knickerbocker, curator of the upcoming Slow Food Nation’s Olive Oil Taste Pavilion, was traveling in Morocco years ago, she became inspired by the endless groves of olive trees and their extraordinary beauty. She decided to write her book Olive Oil: From Tree to Table to capture the love that people have around the world for producing and consuming this “liquid gold,” as Homer put it, several thousands of years ago.

Though we are no longer slathering our bodies with it, as Roman athletes did, Americans’ love for olive oil has surely strengthened as our Californian producers present undeniable talent and taste which equals their European peers. All of the growers featured at the taste pavilion are California growers, certified by the California Olive Oil Council, which adheres to the good, clean and fair tenets of Slow Food. These growers have made a proud commitment to the COOC, a council that has flourished independently alongside the European Union’s International Olive Oil Council (IOOC), which aims to guide producers in the making of the finest quality olive oil while considering the importance of socioeconomic, conservationist, and trade issues.

In America today, olive oil is not merely something to cook, but a glorious indulgence, to be enjoyed on its own, as the experts at Peggy’s pavilion will enthusiastically suggest. Don’t look for recipes or food pairings or signs indicating “fruity” or “grassy” varietals at the heart of this pavilion, says Patricia Darragh of the COOC, who will be waiting alongside numerous other experts behind the initial tasting stage (which actually will offer traditional bread cubes). They’ll be there to give you a “discovery experience” in olive oil; one which will lessen the anxiety you will feel on your next trip to the market as you stare up at the spectrum of colored bottles ranging from chardonnay to emerald, wondering which will win your heart. If your interest continues past the cursory tasting, you will be ushered through a small olive grove donated by Sonoma’s Olive Ranch, to an exploration not only into the taste, but the culture of olive oil, as masterfully presented in an atmosphere of graphics and photographs by architect Brett Terpeluk.

Peggy emphasizes that all of the featured oils stand apart from your standard workhorse cooking oil. The oils featured from such producers as Apollo Olive Oil and Long Meadow Ranch are extra virgin (or as is common on bistro menus and in Food Network lingo, EVOO) and will require you to tune into your taste buds, search your vocabulary, and share in the wonder, with the guidance of experts, of this nectar of the Gods.

There’s no need to book tickets abroad to find a taste experience that feels otherworldly—come for a free taste experience on August 31 at the Olive Oil Taste Pavilion. Get used to an exotic taste that comes from California’s own rich olive groves.

The Olive Oil Taste Pavilion is supported by McEvoy, Corto Olive Oil, Pasolivo, California Olive Ranch and the California Olive Oil Council.

Photos by roboppy, Thomas Hawk and ‘SeraphimC

There is a new meat culture sweeping the country – a culture that delights in an “All American” bologna sandwich, as long as the bologna is made from pastured animals raised with care. In this new tradition, Old World craftsmanship is respected but also used as a springboard for modern meat interpretations. And the mantra shared by all in this society is the desire to eat the whole animal, nose to tail.

The general name for a range of cured and prepared meats is Charcuterie. Charcuterie techniques like dry-aging and curing were originally used for meat preservation, but since the advent of refrigeration remain popular for the unique and varied flavors that these methods produce.

Charcuterie Taste Pavilion curator Marissa Guggiana’s voice lights up when she starts talking about the producers she’s working with. President of Sonoma Direct Meats, Marissa has strong relationships with many Charcuterie producers. “I tried to pick people who were creating a new American tradition, as well as people who are sustainably minded,” she says. But then adds: “It’s coming from a different place – there’s sort of a rebellious spirit about it.”

Part of this rebelliousness comes from creating unexpected synergies of method or taste. An excellent example is Caw Caw Creek‘s Country Prosciutto. Seasoned with classic Southern country ham flavors, then dry-cured like an Italian prosciutto. Producer Emile DeFelice uses heirloom pigs he grows himself, and calls his hams “just ridiculous,” claiming that they last for years and get better with age. This truly is slow food.

Berkeley Salumi producer Paul Bertolli of Fra’ Mani also likes to take things slow. “A lot of stuff happens seemingly by magic,” he says, referring to the curing and aging process that meat undergoes. Like all modern producers, he has the latest in temperature and humidity controls, but adds, “These are stupid tools compared with the stone cellars in Italy that I initially worked with.” It is the intuition and knowledge of the curemaster that really matters.

Charcuterie producers from throughout the United States will be bringing their best to sample at Taste. Producers include:

Marche Provisions (Eugene OR)
eccolo (Berkeley CA)
Bovolo (Healdsburg CA)
Cafe Rouge (Berkeley CA)
Fra’ Mani (Berkeley CA)
La Quercia (Norwalk IA)
Fatted Calf (Napa CA)
Sensuous Farms (Sebastopol CA)
Salumi (Seattle WA)
Black Forest Bison Co. (Colorado Springs CO)
Zuke’s Charcuterie (DurhamNC)
Edwards Virgina Ham (Surry VA)
Caw Caw Creek (Columbia SC)
Col. Bill Newsom’s Country Aged Hams (Princeton KY)

Photos by Aya Brackett and Elizabeth Tichenor

“As the principal source of intense sweetness for humankind until the mastery of the crystallization of sucrose, honey has carried an immense symbolic, mythic, and psychological load. This has been conditioned in part by the somewhat mysterious nature of its production, as a by-product of the survival of plant-species by insect pollination” (Sydney Mintz, 1996).

Honey was the original locally available sweetener before sugar was elevated from spice to essential cash crop in the eighteenth century. Now, in understanding the burden sugar places on the land and local economies abroad, we can turn to the same sweetness famously sought by bears in order to be locally-minded again.

The honeybee is an essential partner in fruit-bearing, as we were reminded after the recent threat to bees that manifested in hive disappearances last year. Priscilla Coe, apitherapy expert and beekeeper, is the curator of the Honey Pavilion at Taste August 30 and 31. She is currently involved with The Melissa Garden, a 40-acre bee sanctuary in Healdsburg, planted with botanicals that offer native year-round nectar and pollen sources honeybees are known to favor. Always a gardener, Ms. Coe sees beekeeping as an extension of a healthy garden.

The Honey Pavilion at Taste will be a celebration of this industrious and mysterious creature, including two beeswax quilts on loan from local artist Jehanne Hale, a sealed observation hive so visitors can experience a honeybee colony, and molds of the inside of a hive and beeswax bees on display, which are being made for Taste by Second Office Architects in San Francisco. Information will also be available on honeybee plants and pollination.

Producers at Taste will include Katia Vincent, owner of the Beekind honey and beekeeping supply store in Sebastapol, who will be present on Saturday to debut two of her infusions, chai honey and lavender honey. Also on Saturday, coffee and peppermint infused honeys from Mockingbird Meadows in Ohio. On Sunday, Rebeca Krones of Tropical Traders Specialty Foods will be at Taste with her organic Hawaiian varietal honeys, including Christmas Berry, Lehua and Macadamia Nut Flower.

Earlier on Saturday at the Honey Pavilion, “Taste of Bay Area Terroir,” will be introducing tasters to Bay Area multi-floral honeys. There will be honey from San Francisco, Napa Valley, Sonoma County and Contra Costa County. “Many Bay Area honeys taste prominently of eucalyptus, a widely prevalent tree in the Bay Area which honeybees start visiting in the winter,” said Ms. Coe. Later in the weekend, the tasting will include popular American varietal honeys such as clover, alfalfa, tupelo, buckwheat, and California Sage.

I asked Ms. Coe how honey acquires its flavor. “The honeybees are the original gastronomes. They have excellent taste in combining various nectar sources into multi-floral honeys. The bees will fly up to five miles distance from their hives, and seek out high volume nectar sources to insure food for the hive,” She said. “They also have a refined appreciation for nectar from many plants, including culinary herbs such as oregano, thyme, basil, cilantro and all the mints.”

Honey cupcakes will be served at the Honey Pavillion at Taste. Ms. Coe also enjoys using honey to make an easy Greek spread, Tahinomelo, made from a blend of two parts sesame tahini, and three parts honey, with pistachios sprinkled on top just before serving. Make it at home, and enjoy it with an herbal tea, such as lemon verbena or mint, which she said, make great accompaniments to honey.

Photos by BugMan50, jamesmorton, Jehanne Hale and kthread

The art of preserving the season’s bounty has been an important concern since the advent of agriculture. Enjoying fruits and veggies in the dead of winter required perfecting methods of stopping the aging process, creating a flavorful still life. Casey Havre, owner and producer behind the Bay area’s preserves company Loulou’s Garden, is curating the preserves pavilion at Taste.

“I wanted artisans from all over the country represented. I looked first and especially for small producers who were themselves farmers, but then branched out to those producers who use their local produce,” she said in a recent interview. “Also, I looked for regional specialties – I wanted the whole “nation” to be represented.”

Producers include an artisan from North Carolina, Farmer’s Daughter, who makes local products like Pumpkin Chip and Scuppernong Preserves; from Alaska, Kahiltna Birchworks, who makes Wild Mixed Berry Fruit Spread; from Oregon, Ayers Creek, with their Loganberry Preserve; from Colorado, High Desert Fruit, with their Sour Cherry Confiture; from Oregon, Queener Fruit Farm, with their Black Currant Jam; and from the Bay Area (Healdsburg), Dry Creek Peach with their Peach Jam. Also coming to SFN from near the Bay Area are June Taylor, Blue Chair Fruit, We Love Jam, Lagier Ranches and Sensuous Farms.

As a specialist in making preserves herself, I asked Casey why she started her company, Loulou’s Garden.

“So that I could share my passion with as many people as possible. I love my job! My absolute favorite part is working with the season’s bounty. I love the sorting, cutting and cooking. I try to use our own organic fruit as much as possible but when I do buy from fellow farmers I love the conversation that happens as the boxes of fruit trade hands. I get to catch up on everyone’s news. It’s a beautiful way to make a living. Plus, selling at the Farmer’s Market in Berkeley gives me a chance to talk to my customers face to face and discuss their preserving successes as well. We talk about their recipes, ways to use preserves, beyond toast.”

Look for curator Casey Havre and the unique preserves she selected at the Slow Food Nation Taste Pavilion, Saturday, August 30 11am – 3pm; 5pm – 9pm and Sunday, August 31 11am – 3pm; 6 pm – 9pm.

Photo by Aya Brackett