Slow Food update

**"Sharon Gordon" g*@one.net**

In the past there's been some discussion on the list that the Slow Food
movement is more accessible to people in the upper half of the income
spectrum.  However one of the goals of Slow Food is to bring good real food to
everyone.  In 2004 the group asked each Slow Food group to partner with a
local school to create a school garden.  This was to connect children with
gardening and healthy eating at a young age.

Recently the founder of the Slow Food movement was visiting the US from Italy
for meetings.  While eating a meal with Alice Waters (a Slow Food
International VP, restaurant owner, and long term promoter of good natural
food) and the Mayor of San Francisco, the table was discussing how to bring
Slow Food's image and work more in line with its goals to bring good food to
everyone.  As they and the other five people at the table were discussing a
broad range of ideas, the mayor told the group about the large number of
complaints he gets about the food at one of SF's large homeless shelters.
They realized this was an opportunity and so Slow Food will provide expertise
and resources to the shelter to both feed people better and teach them about
eating well.

They are working out the details this week, and hope their plan can be
replicated at other public health places including a couple of local
hospitals.  Their initial planning looks like it won't cost any more.  As the
Slow Food founder points out, food doesn't have to be expensive to be good. It
doesn't have to be fancy food, he says; it has to be good, clean and fair.

So I don't know how things will work out over the short or the long term, but
it seems likely that this could be another opportunity to connect Slow Food
people with community gardens through
1) Creating more community gardens where Slow Food people and people eating at
shelters and soup kitchens can grow food for the kitchens.
2) Rotating community groups can grow food for designated places such as the
garden that Jim works with.
3) Community gardeners might serve as good sources of recipes for regional
food made from natural ingredients and emphasizing fresh seasonal produce.
4) Other ideas?

Sharon
gordonse@one.net

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