“Slow Food was founded in 1989 to promote the pleasures of the table and regional food cultures and to protect them from the homogenization of industrial food production. With gastronomy bound inextricably to agriculture, the environment and the health of communities, Slow Food has naturally broadened its focus over the years to actively support producers who demonstrate a small-scale, sustainable and local food production model.

In 1999, Slow Food launched the Presidia project which has since involved thousands of small producers across the world, strengthening local economies and saving cheeses, breads, vegetable varieties and breeds from extinction. The worldwide Terra Madre network was launched in 2004 to give a voice and visibility to these farmers, breeders, fishers and artisan producers, and to bring them together with cooks, academics, youth and consumers to discuss how to improve the food system and strengthen local economies. Today the Terra Made network is made up of more than 2,000 food communities.

Slow Food has chosen to celebrate its first 20 years with Terra Madre Day in recognition of these communities’ remarkable achievements and their crucial role. Terra Madre Day will be celebrated by food communities and Slow Food’s network of more than 100,000 members across 150 countries, grouped in 1,300 convivia – local chapters – who are working to defend their local culinary culture. The convivia have always formed the backbone of Slow Food, spreading the philosophy far and wide by organizing events and activities.

Slow Food develops countless activities, projects and events all around the world, at the local, national and international levels. Most of these actions revolve around four key themes: food biodiversity, food and taste education, connecting producers and co-producers (shortening the food supply chain)and developing networks.”

Just a follow up to Sunday’s  ”Eat-In” article. Hannah Wallace writes for The Faster Times about her experience at one of the Brooklyn eat-ins. Sounds like a great time!

Read Hannah’s article

Time for Lunch is a Slow Food initiative to get better (and real) food in America’s public schools through the Child Nutrition Act that is up for reauthorization this year. The CNA governs the National School Lunch Program that feeds over 30 million school children each day. Do we want healthy kids? Do we want focused leaders? Do we want motivated and positive members in the community?  Do we want healthy land and citizens who care about the health of the land? Yes! Emphatically, to all of the above. What do all these things have in common? Good, decent, fair, chemical-free food and food-growing practices. If you are what you eat, then you better start being the best that you can be at a young age. Our kids need healthy food as much as they need supportive mentors and safe communities. Support the Campaign!

On Labor Day, Sept. 7, 2009, people in communities all over the country will sit down to share a meal with their neighbors and kids. This National Day of Action will send a clear message to Congress: It’s time to provide America’s children with real food at school. An Eat-In (part potluck, part sit-in) takes place in public and gathers people to support a cause – like getting real food into schools.

Getting Congress’ attention is a big job, and we need your help. On Sept. 7, attend an Eat-In taking place near you. If you can’t make the Eat-in, you can still sign the petition for better food in public schools.

I’ve had the window for The Chez Panisse Foundation open on my browser for over two weeks now. I keep meaning to post about their projects, but I keep getting sidetracked reading Alice Waters’ cookbook The Art Of Simple Food (and I’m totally distracted by the sunny summer days outside the window and the simple food galore that’s coming out of our garden). Finally today, enough is enough. The Chez Panisse Foundation is a non-profit organization created in 1996 in Berkeley, California in commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Chez Panisse Restaurant.

The founder of both the restaurant and the foundation, chef and author Alice Waters, has been a pioneer in the Slow Food movement, and has always maintained a commitment to using local and sustainably farmed food and supporting independent, organic and fair farming practices. In many ways Alice Waters has effectively shaped the food and farming community from her base in Berkley outwards to what is now an international movement that is gaining momentum daily. Her perseverance to her craft (“gourmet” cuisine) and dedication to her community’s health and well-being through food has led the way for countless community gardens, farm-to-table initiatives, Slow Foods chapters, and CSA’s to form and flourish nation-wide.

The Edible Schoolyard (ESY), established in 1995, (a program of the Chez Panisse Foundation) is a one-acre garden and kitchen classroom at Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School in Berkeley, California.

“The garden started as a cover crop in a vacant lot with once-monthly student participation. More than a decade later, it is a thriving acre of vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers. Now, each student at King Middle School attends 12 to 30 sessions in ESY kitchen and garden classrooms, depending on grade level. ESY reaches each of the nearly 1,000 students at King Middle School.

The visibility of ESY has also increased. The program hosts over 1,000 visitors each year—from educators, to health professionals, to international delegates—and has inspired countless kitchen and garden programs. In 2005, ESY launched the first affiliate program in New Orleans, Louisiana. Today, there is a small network of Edible Schoolyard affiliate programs in cities across the country.” -excerpt

Awareness of food, nutrition and ecosystems can be learned at any point in life, but developing sensitivity and understanding of one’s own body as relates to the body of the earth and learning that to take care of one is to take care of the other is best learned at a young age. ESY provides an opportunity to cultivate this awareness at an early age for youngsters who may not otherwise have a strong connection to nature, and in doing so these kids will grow up with the seeds of mindfulness already planted and hopefully continue this good work (and good eating) for the rest of their lives.