Did you know that YOU are Slow Food Tallahassee? This is "Slowfood Tallahassee Talks." That means that you are part of what should be a dynamic conversation about Slow going in Tallahassee. You are inseparable from the earth in your dependence on food for life. You add richness, depth, complexity, color to the the earth that you are so dependent on for life. You are significant part of the equation that Slow Food attempts to address.
I implore you to join the conversation! Lets search the corners of our foodshed to eek out the precious little details, the "quirky, the rare," that we want to preserve. Lets explore the global and local obstacles to this preservation. Lets talk politics. Lets talk food. There is a side for everyone: this is a complex, multidimensional arena.
What interests you? Get answers to your questions about Slow Food. Help educate others. Share your Slow discoveries, your knowledge. Tell us what whets your appetite. Bring yourself to the table.
Talk, Slow Food Tallahassee, Talk!
4 comments:
Amen woman! I am here. Blogging. Ha. Ha. If you knew me this would seem a little far off but I like these topics, I subscribe so that I can "see" them as they come in too.
I'd like to hear some real deal truth from the "foodies" out there! Are we to really believe that everyone is shopping totally locally and totally from sustainable sources all the time?? I'm thinking not. This isn't an attempt to be critical but rather a way to open our conversation to struggles as well as triumphs.
I know that I've thought a lot about how much it takes to buck the food system and to take the road less traveled. Not easy by any means. I sometimes go a little nuts trying to do the right things in terms of food. Where are you having hardship? Quick food for your kids when you forgot to pack something? Dinner when everyone's totally tired and there's not much in the cupboard?
To me this is where Slow Food Tallahassee, as a union of like minded beings, comes in. In the form of ideas, support, general rantings.
It occurs to me that today our false sense of food costs has allowed us to take funds previously set aside for our food (buying and growing) and use it elsewhere. Homes. Cars. Child Care. You could name a bunch of real locations for those funds. Now the question is: if the money you need to devote to buying food at REAL food costs is ear marked else where in your budget how can you realign that balance? Certainly I am learning it is a SLOW process.
Some days I win. Some days I avoid the worst of the current food system and am thankful I realize I have a choice the matter. Still there is much debate even in the "real" food world. Is big organic as good as local? I'm sometimes struck by it all. Struck in the heart really. It's a push and pull to go against a tide of "normal" "modern" "convienent" things and keep your ground. This is where you come in for me.
One quick scan of a farm open house, one nice article about a foodie (Dr.Schzyny in the Demorat this week) or one little sprout in the garden beds and POOF....I am back in line, back on target, back feeling the relative ease of this "right thing" I am doing.
Today at my child's school field trip when I explained we'd lost power and out of fear of spoilage I had dared not to open the fridge and pack our lunches I had gone to Publix (the big green box) for some Boar's Head (supposedly no nitrate) sandwhiches instead they laughed..."oh," they said "you could have just run through McDonalds and gotten something." I haven't eaten real fast food in a good bit of time. (confession time: that damn cow at chick fil a and the free coupons kept me there longer than I care to admit) It never occured to me to do so now. My moral compass was so off by the "quick fix" of Publix sandwhiches I already felt wounded in some way. It made me feel little in the world of big food, fast food, our food system. Silly, yes in some ways, sure. Real situation faced by lots of us on lots of occasions, yeah. What do you do?
I think there are two paths in all of this foodie stuff....you can turn away from all the trappings of traditional society and live "outside" the norm OR you can live inside the "norm" and work to be some kind of positive energy or force in that world that will in some way make a difference for you and "them". Where are you falling?
Well, time to get off here and gaze at that almost full moon tonight. Go wish on a shooting star!
Wow! I was just talking with my husband about the pain of responsibility that I'm feeling me with every revelation along my Slow Food path, since this is all so new to me.
I'm feeling the same hardships, but I'm not bearing them anywhere near as well as you are! I still succumb to convenience every day in some measure (I still shop at the "big green box" about once a week)-- less all the time, but still... My concern for the health of my family is what's really, really driving me, so I feel guilty when I reach for something quick and easy that I know (with this new education) will not nourish them well. I just keep trying to move forward.
I took heart in hearing that even for you it has been a SLOW process! Thanks for articulating all of these things.
Speaking of debate in the "real" food world, I just read letters between John Mackey (Whole Foods CEO) and Michael Pollan (Omnivore's Dilemma). The letters precipitated a public debate between the two. By the way, I first saw this book mentioned on the Slow Food Tallahassee website, and now I see it everywhere.
I found the letters between Mackey and Pollan after reading about the debate on www.welfed.net, in the Grower's and Grocer's section (check it out!). I haven't read The Ominvore's Dilemma yet, but I'm going to get over to the library to check it out! I found the letters especially interesting because my primary grocery store when I lived in Atlanta was Harry's Farmer's market (owned by Wholefoods). If you haven't read the letters, I think you may enjoy them (even though Tallhassee doesn't have a Wholefoods). Talk about a healthy dialogue!
Oh, by the way , I also read the article about Dr, Schzyny in the democrat (a feature called "One fine cook" that the democrat is running -- you, the reader, get to nominate someone who you think is a great home cook, for the democrat to interview). Imagine this doctor baking bread and bringing biscotti to his staff -- Sure beats donuts and hershey's kisses! A busy man who slows down enough to cook something slow and delicious for his friends -- he's creating a bond with his community through food.
Yes, happens...
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