A Weekend for Foodies

Labor Day Weekend, San Francisco turned into the Woodstock equivalent for food lovers. And with the overwhleming presence of student supporters, Imprint had to be there.

Image Courtesy of Jordana Lynne Mosten 

"I want to start an on-campus food chapter," is anonymously written on a white tablecloth, along with 150 other pledges during a potluck dinner in San Francisco this past Labor Day Weekend.

The dinner was part of Slow Food Nation, a four-day event celebrating the progress of the Slow Food Movement in the U.S. More than 600,000 people were in attendance--a significant amount of which were students.

When Imprint spoke with Slow Food USA back in March, they were nothing but optimistic with the gaining support from campus slow food chapters. Students were taking initiative, and the press on the west and east coasts were spreading the word.  This event was the first concentrated display of its success--graciously hosted by the city of San Francisco.

"There was definitely a new energy this weekend," states Cecily Upton, Slow Food on Campus coordinator. "There was just such a presence of young, new energy on all the issues of slow food."

Hour after hour, the San Francisco city grounds were amassed with lectures (one led by Michael Pollan, author of The Omnivore's Dilemma), taste-pavilions (where guests could sample local food for around $50), marketplaces, cooking stations, and info-booths (on composting and the like).

The greatest feat was building a Victory Garden on the grounds of the Civic Center. "The city really came through," states Upton. The project began in early July and ended just before the weekend kick-off. The construction included the work of volunteers, especially for the Community Planting Day on July 12^th. All food harvested was then donated to those in need-mostly through local foodbanks.

At night, the grounds regrouped for dinner at several locations. One of which was The Market Bar which housed a full-course, family-style dinner, highlighting the food of local farmers (who actually came out afterwards--along with the chefs--to talk with guests about what made their dinner slow-food-appropriate).

Since the weekend was held in San Francisco, all the events highlighted food that is specific to this region--and specific to the season.

"It was important to have the first Slow Food USA event in San Francisco, since this is where the movement got its start in this country," states Upton. "We're actually talking about possibly doing it again somewhere else. It would be interesting to see what would happen because the menus would be completely different."

Since March, the movement has continued to gain support all over the country. "The gap is definitely starting to close," states Upton.

Stanford University law student, Jordana Lynne Mosten, quickly adapted the values of slow food, once she found out about it.

"It all started with fruit boxes from Farm Fresh to You; everything just tasted so much better," she says. "I had always been interested in the environment and eating well, and this movement just made perfect sense."

A good portion of the weekend was devoted to the Youth Food Movement, a subset of Slow Food USA geared towards food education.

In order to do this, Slow Food Nation included an overnight retreat for over 40 young people to meet up and camp out before the event began the next day. Then, over the weekend, there were workshops and free lectures geared towards the interests of young supporters.

"I hope they have more events," says Sara Christine McCleskey, a California resident, and attendant of Slow Food Nation. She still gets giddy about it now, and is thrilled to have been a part of it. "I would follow them anywhere!"

"You go in assuming to find some hippy event, but everything was executed beautifully," she says. "You could just tell they really thought about what they were doing, and they cared."

The event that probably best sums up the weekend is the potluck dinner, where San Francisco locals opened their doors and offered their kitchens to anyone who wanted to contribute.  And again, all the food that was used was local, seasonal and fair trade for farmers. 

"It's really the network we've all built that makes this movement such a success," states Upton.

Afterwards, guests wrote anonymous pledges on the long, white tablecloth. Many were not drastic, but rather simple changes they'd like to make: learning more about local food in their area; cooking more at home, or at school; starting a slow-food chapter at their school.

Slow Food understands that it's not going to change right away. It's more about the logical next step for each individual.