Slow Food Nation '08

San Francisco kicked off another movement - slow food - with this inaugural three-day event. Living nearby, I was privy to a great deal of media coverage regarding the festival. After hearing interview upon interview, reading article upon article, a few things stuck in my mind.

I appreciated the spokeswoman who said that the goal of this festival is not to advocate for radical change, but rather to encourage people to spend perhaps 15 minutes more each day thinking about their food and to consider cooking one more meal at home each week. This sentiment paired well with a sentiment I picked up from reading Michael Polan's Ominvore's Dilemma and which was also a theme of the festival: that farmers markets, community supported agriculture farms (CSAs), and backyard victory gardens are a frustrated peoples' response to the industrial food system. And so in that sense, eating whole, local food is a political, even radical, act.

While you won't find me joining any slow food chapters or wearing a slow food tee shirt,I did enjoy my Sunday strolling through the amazing garden planted several months ago on the front lawn of City Hall and meeting small farmers from the bay area. My gratitude goes out to Marshall's Farm Honey for harvesting micro-local varietals of honey. I asked if they had any originating from Oakland, and sure enough, they served up a bottle of Oak Town Neighbor "Hood" honey. I bought a jar to inspire me to pursue my interest in beekeeping at the StayPut Farm. Sadly, I think the Nubian goats (along with goat milk, goat yogurt, and goat cheese) will probably have to wait until we move - or our neighbors move and we buy the property for farm expansion.