Wednesday, February 21, 2007

What is Slow Food, or, "Do I have to be a vegetarian or stop eating French Food?"

Slow Foodies will know the answer to this question, but I wonder what the popular perception is. After all, lots of people roll their eyes or start to look nervous when I mention things like "sustainable agriculture" and "eating whole foods." Some of my friends wonder if I'm going to corner them with a rant about their shopping habits or criticize their parenting choices. Others seem to get the impression that this is a grubby arena -- culturally unrefined, naive, unshaven, simplistic. Some well-traveled individuals have complained about the scarcity of fine food and good ingredients in Tallahassee. To quote a friend complaining about a local dining establishment, "same old Southern-fried ....." I hope that that perception will diminish as a result of the efforts of Tallahassee's champions of good food. I believe it will.

Slow Food IS a great match for vegans, vegetarians, baby-wearers, and friends of the earth. It is also for fierce carnivores, global citizens, French-Laundry passionates, wine enthusiasts, and fat-loving hedonists.

It ain't just collards here.
(by the way, collards are so delicious and versatile when you buy them in the right season, at the right stage of development) In our own Tallahassee, in-season, you'll find pristine golden chanterelles, frilly, colorful little lettuces, arugula, heirloom tomatoes, fabulous cheeses -- any number of things to satisfy your lust for exceptional ingredients. Buy them from the farmer's markets, and your prizes won't have been squashed with plastic, dried out by refrigeration or bruised from excessive handling. Also, don't forget your proximity to local fishing communities. You have the luxury of dining out on or taking home some seriously fresh seafood. Classic panhandle seafood joints often stick with simple treatments: blackened, fried, steamed, or broiled (and unadorned), but Tallahassee and Apalachiacola also boast several restaurants that handle local seafood with exceptional flair. Take your pick.

Bridging the gap: Jennifer Taylor(FAMU small farms program) is helping to bridge the gap between community and local farmers by inviting prominent local chefs to the Lake Ella Grower's Market to demonstrate what can be done with the cornucopia of local, in-season ingredients. Spectators enjoy well-executed, palate-pleasing results for free at the end of the demonstration.

Dr. Jennifer Taylor: Coordinator, Small Farms Programs
Florida A&M University (850) 412 5260
Jennifer.Taylor@FAMU.edu

Grower's Market: Lake Ella, behind the Black Dog Cafe. Wednesdays 3:00-dusk.

Back to the original question, "What is Slow Food?": Read the Slow Food Manifesto (it's SHORT and DELICIOUS!). OR, Slow-Foodies, tell us what it means to you.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hello Slow Foodies, my name is Dillon and I organize TalVeg. I just wanted to post here to try an inspire others to start posting.

www.talveg.com

Food and Brew Love said...

Hi, Dillon

Thanks for posting and welcome. We're happy to have a connection with Talveg, and want to encourage our readers to visit our website (Slowfoodtallahassee.org) and engage us with their own knowledge and questions Slow Food on the Slow Food blog!

Vegetarians and vegans will naturally share some of Slow Food's concerns about the global and local environmental, economic, social, and health issues relating to food and food production. Please feel free to introduce Talveg, and for now, I hope my summary will provide a bit of background for interested Slow Foodies!

Talveg is a vegetarian/ vegan group in Tallahassee with a thriving and dynamic membership. The community desire for such a group has been strong enough that although Talveg has been around for less than a year, it has quickly developed into a fabulous resource for local vegans and vegetarians. Enjoy getting together with like-minded people for vegetarian and vegan feasts, learn about local resources (including shops, restaurants, workshops, educational sessions etc) for vegetarians, share recipes, and engage in healthy online discussion about all things vegetarian and vegan.

Visit Talveg: www.Talveg.com