Food, politics mix at Slow Food Nation

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Food, politics mix at Slow Food Nation
FOOD FESTIVAL DRAWS CROWD FROM NEAR, FAR
Dana Hull
Mercury News
08/29/2008

Eating is an environmental and political act. Just ask the throngs sampling olive oil, peaches and goat cheese in the summer sun Friday, washing it all down with tap water — no plastic bottles needed.

Welcome to Slow Food Nation, a celebration of sustainable agriculture and politics that kicked off Friday in San Francisco with food, food and more food.

Though most of the 50,000 festivalgoers are Bay Area residents who already shop at the region's numerous farmers markets, several others traveled into town just for the occasion.

"I'm very interested in food, and I'm really impressed by what they've done here," said Jill Silton, 71, who flew up from Los Angeles and toured the edible Victory Garden, a vegetable garden planted in front of San Francisco City Hall. "I've heard about Slow Food and knew it was from Italy. But this is amazing. The garden is beautiful, and it should always be here."

The Slow Food philosophy wants Americans to "vote with their fork": eat locally grown and organic food; rediscover the joys of cooking; enjoy meals with family and friends; support local farmers. But in a nation that invented large-scale farming, fast food and TV dinners, that's been an uphill battle.

"We all eat every day," said Alice Waters, a sustainable food advocate best known for Chez? Panisse, her Berkeley restaurant. "There are public consequences to every decision we make."

The term "Slow Food" was coined by Carlo

Petrini, who was outraged when a McDonald's opened near the Spanish Steps in Rome nearly two decades ago. The Slow Food movement now has 85,000 members in 132 countries and is beginning to catch on here; this weekend's Slow Food Nation event is an American coming-out party of sorts.

"Everyone said that Slow Food can't work in the United States," said Petrini, who wears a snail lapel pin — the international symbol of Slow Food. "But it can. Food, farming and environmental issues are closely linked."

The weekend features several free events that are subsidized by pricier tasting workshops, tours of local wineries and ranches and swanky restaurant dinners that can cost up to $250.

In "taste pavilions" set up at Fort Mason, tickets cost $25 to $65 to sample artisan cheese, coffee and pickles. But tickets sold out so quickly that desperate pleas are posted on Craigslist.

"Wanted, ticket to Slow Food Nation food pavilion!" reads one of 70 Craigslist posts Friday. "Looking for one ticket for Friday food pavilion and also looking for two tickets to Sunday's food pavilion at Fort Mason. Will pay $50 a ticket!!!!"

But plenty of other events are free. The plaza in front of San Francisco's City Hall features dozens of California vendors selling dry farmed tomatoes, local honey, cheeses, corn and fruit. Activists are handing out seeds, and backyard gardeners can take home bricks of organic compost made from worm casings.

Charles Franklin Swift, creator of Charlie Frank's pies, stood in a broiling sun selling his famous sweet potato peach pies. Swift used to give the pies out to friends and relatives for Christmas, and then realized he could turn it into a business. Part of the Slow Food philosophy encourages consumers to get to know the people who grow, harvest and prepare the food we eat.

"In my family everyone loves sweets, but no one wanted to cook," said Swift, as he talked about his special recipe — one part peach, four parts sweet potatoes — to customers.

"Every holiday I was in the kitchen making cobblers and pies, so now it's a little business."

Some critics have derided Slow Food as being little more than the latest fad for wealthy foodies. But Swift said the spirit of the weekend is inspiring.

"This is wonderful," the Oakland resident said, as passersby returned to buy seconds. "It's about enjoying the cooking process."

Across the plaza, Casey Gustowarow sat in a big yellow school bus that's known as TheWhoFarm: The White House Organic Farm Project. TheWhoFarm is gathering petition signatures to urge the next president to plant an organic farm on the grounds of the White House.

"There's 17 acres at the White House," Gustowarow said. "At least some of that land could be turned into productive use. Food is an important issue, and we need to support supporting local agriculture in a big way."

Slow Food Nation officials say they will measure the festival's success by the small changes people make in their lives, whether that's inviting friends over for dinner or deciding to give up that drive-through breakfast.

"I went to a lecture about the global food crisis, and it was very powerful," said Bob Bela, 68, of Lenox, Mass., as he munched on Bronx grapes, grown in San Joaquin County.

"When I go home, I will support my local farmers more intentionally than I used to."

For more information on the festival or the movement, visit slowfoodnation.org

Contact Dana Hull at dhull@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-2706.