Welcome to Slow Food Nation

June 3, 2008

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of Slow Food Nation’s website. Slow Food Nation was founded in 2007 with a mission to organize a national community event that would celebrate the principles of Slow Food. With the unveiling of this site we’re officially entering a new phase of progress, picking up the pace as we fast approach the festivities during our inaugural event on Labor Day weekend.

Slow Food Nation will bridge San Francisco’s uniquely passionate and active food communities—those who live for the taste and beauty of local, seasonal cuisine; and those who advocate for social justice and equal access to healthy, sustainable food.

Slow Food Nation will feature, among other things, a marketplace, abounding with fresh produce, prepared foods and artisanal creations from California producers. In addition to tasting the bounty and buying food to take home, attendees will have the opportunity to meet and speak with farmers and with each other about the growing movement to build a fair and environmentally responsible food system.

Another exciting element of Slow Food Nation is Taste, a grand celebration of good, clean and fair food made by outstanding producers across the nation. Visitors will be able to taste freshly baked bread, hand-crafted cheeses and sustainably produced wines and will learn about the history and bright future of American food. Tickets are on sale now.

The Slow Food Nation office in San Francisco is abuzz with activity as we plan numerous activities, tastings, parties, tours, lectures and workshops. We’ll be hosting a series of exciting programs leading up to Labor Day, including several discussions at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco this summer, and the design and early planting of a huge Victory Garden in Civic Center Plaza, curated by brilliant local artist/activist Amy Franceschini and landscape architect John Bela in collaboration with our partner non-profit Garden for the Environment.

Slow Food Nation is about community, justice, agriculture, health and food systems, while celebrating delicious food and the pleasure of eating. We hope you’ll join us in celebration of the exceptional taste of good, clean and fair food.

We are actively seeking volunteers for all stages of preparation, as well as at the event. If you’d like to volunteer, email us at info@slowfoodnation.org.

Keep an eye on this blog for updates, special features, and interviews with featured farmers and food advocates, and with some of our speakers, including Michael Pollan, Gary Nabhan and Alice Waters. You can read us via RSS. We also have a newsletter if you’d like to get updates and announcements delivered straight to your inbox.

Come to the table!

Architect’s rendering of Slow Food Nation’s Taste at Fort Mason. Image courtesy of Stanley Saitowitz/Natoma Architects Inc.

Sarah Rich is an editor at Dwell magazine, where she specializes in sustainable design and architecture. She was the managing editor of the Slow Food Nation blog leading up to the inaugural 2008 event in San Francisco. She was also the managing editor and co-author of the book Worldchanging: A User's Guide for the 21st Century (Abrams, 2006). Sarah lives in the Mission district of San Francisco where fog is scarce and tacos are not. Read more >

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Food Woolf
June 25, 2008
I'm so excited about your new website! It's great to have a place to go to get up to date information about the California Slow Food Movement!
Kathy DeMaggio
June 30, 2008
I am very happy that SF is sponsoring this event. I am a registered dietitian, home food grower/chicken and egg producer and I wonder when we will address the issue of the giant vitamin/mineral supplement industry. As a dietitian I constantly promote actual, real food and home cooking with my patients and yet they are seduced into buying pills for their nutrients by the giant supplement folks. I find it ironic that many of the vitamin/mineral stores call themselves "health food stores". (and just an aside, I loved Michael Pollin's book the Omnivore's Dilemma, but deeply saddened by the next book "in Defense of Food" as dietitians were erroneously combined with those who push supplements rather than real food for medical treatment).
Ryan Miller
July 11, 2008
Is it just a California slow food movement? I'd like to think it's nation-wide, at least! I can tell you from up here in Seattle that we're paying attention and I see people responding to real food quality more and more. Sharing plates, choosing the kind of plates that feature seasonal and interesting ingredients presented simply over others, becoming more interested in food origins.

No offense Food Woolf! I've actually only lived up here in Seattle for a couple of years; I'm from Sacramento! But as a cook up here, I suggest, with evidence, that the Slow Food Movement is happening at the same time in lots of places.
sarah
July 11, 2008
Hi, Ryan,

Slow Food is in fact an international organization, with many smaller organizations around the world including a significant one in the US, Slow Food USA. Most states have their own branches (called convivia) in various regions and cities. Seattle definitely has one, as do other Washington state areas. Slow Food Nation is its own organization, which was founded for the purpose of throwing an event by the same name this coming Labor Day weekend. The event will take place in San Francisco, which is why the introduction to Slow Food Nation focuses on California. But Slow Food Nation is a national event and there will be people coming from all over the country and the world to attend and participate.