Sisterly bonding at Red’s Java House.

Though Slow Food Nation was certainly the main purpose for my recent visit to San Francisco, this richly diverse city is one of the best places to eat (and drink) any day of the year. I felt extremely fortunate to be there for many reasons, especially to enjoy an opportunity to hang with my seees-stir, Lauri (and also to crash on her sofa for 4 nights). As the trusty and most excellent General Manager of Range Restaurant (our dinner there during the first evening of my visit was a sublime treat), she is dialed into the local food scene on many levels….. from street food to fancy pants, she knows ooodles of great places to sip and nosh in the city she has made her home since 1996. Because there was an ongoing heat wave, plus the fact that I was walking about 10 miles around town each day and am perpetually hungry during any vacation I take….. it seemed that it was always either ‘beer o’clock’ or time to eat something yummy (or both)!

Lauri orders us lunch at El Cachanilla.

Red’s Java House (on the Embarcadero, top) is a great pitt stop for cheap, cold draft beer, free homemade chips & salsa and an ocean view. Situated next to a working boatyard overlooking San Francisco Bay, The Ramp offers more beer, a diverse crowd and pretty decent calamari. The fresh and authentic fish tacos in the Mission’s, El Cachanilla (above) proved especially convenient, being only a one block waddle from Lauri’s home. Chow (Church Street location) is one of my all time favs; its super friendly staff serve up consistently delicious, hearty, rustic fare that always satisfies (try the home made, warm gingerbread cake with caramel sauce and pumpkin ice cream- lordy!!). Every Saturday is the Alemany Farmers Market which is far more extensive and casual than the Ferry Building’s Farmers Market. Though its industrial location is not nearly as scenic, its prices are certainly far more reasonable. Get there early and stock up for the week. Not only will you have had an opportunity to meet and buy from the growers directly, you will head home with a stunning bounty of locally grown, healthy food that will cost you less than a buggy full from Safeway.

The Fish Pavilion at Fort Mason

I am continually in awe of those who speak eloquently. You know the ones- always able to effortlessly find the perfect turn of phrase at the perfect time, managing to articulate a thought or an idea with both precision and poetry. Regrettably, I simply ain’t one of those people. During my first 2 days at Slow Food Nation’s ‘Food for Thought Speaker Series’ I was usually so overwhelmed by the inspired speakers, I spent more time teetering on the edge of tears than I did able to construct a sentence.

Sunday’s Taste Pavilions provided quite a departure from all them there big thoughts…..not to mention a rip snortin’ good time. Imagine 15 distinct pavilions within the 50,000 square foot pier at Fort Mason (on a spectacular sunny day): Beer, Bread, Charcuterie, Cheese, Chocolate, Coffee, Fish, Honey & Preserves, Ice Cream, Native Foods, Olive Oil, Pickles & Chutneys, Spirits, Tea and Wine.

…..“The Taste Pavilions present an unprecedented opportunity to sample the regional foods of America, with products from every state hand-picked by ‘curators’ who are nationally recognized experts in a particular type of food.”…..they weren’t freaking kidding! Honestly, I’ve never seen anything like it. In addition, over a dozen of the Bay Area’s most celebrated architects worked pro-bono to design each of the Taste Pavilions. The end results not only provided backdrops to the unique and delicious foods- each thoughtfully created environment also contributed enormously to the experience of the space at large.

The ‘Wall of Bread’, which housed the Bread Pavilion, was basically a global bread museum, complete with a comprehensive history and illustrations on the subject. It also included 4 massive outdoor wood-burning ovens which cranked out literally hundreds of pizza slices and Indian breads each hour, plus a 7’ tall SF Snail sculpture made entirely from loaves of real bread. The outdoor Beer Pavilion offered 100’s of artisan beers to sample. My favourite visual detail of this space was the material used to make the bar’s counter tops- crushed beer bottles set into concrete. The Fish Pavilion served a trio of samplers, including a fantastic calamari, bread and basil salad. The Wine Pavilion offered 454 American made options to taste (and yes, you could take your wine to the cheese and your beer to the charcuterie), while the Cheese Pavilion handed out a fantastic artisan cheese sampler and provided hay bale seating and lots of great dairy related quotes such as “Cheese; Milks’ leap into immortality”- (Clifton Fadiman). In the 4 hours that I was there, despite my steady consumption of food and drink, I still managed to work my way through only half of my $45 punch card. It should be noted that, despite the bad rap events like this get for being elitist and inaccessible, over a 3 day period I was able to partake in 4 sessions of the speaker series, the ‘Best of Slow Food on Film’, linger each day through the Victory Garden at Civic Centre (free) plus enjoy the day’s grazing and sipping at Fort Mason for a total cost of $175.

Bar counter made from crushed beer bottles

Dairy wisdom at the Cheese Pavilion

Honey and Preserves Pavilion

Wall of bread at ‘The Hall of Bread’.

Charcuterie wallpaper! (prosciutto and salami)

Alice Waters (photographed by Annie Lebowitz)

What can $100 buy you these days? A designer sweatshirt, dinner for two, a tank of gas…..or 4 tickets to see 4 sets of guest panel speakers blow your mind at the Herbst Theatre. Below is the line-up I chose to see during my 2 days at the Slow Food Nation’s ‘Food For Thought Speaker Series‘. Needless to say, I am still in the process of digesting it all…..

#1- Opening Session- The World Food Crisis

“It’s widely acknowledged that we are in the middle of a world food crisis. Skyrocketing food and fuel costs, water scarcity, and population explosions have communities worldwide in the grip of hunger and dire food shortages. Come listen to four of the foremost authorities on the subject as they share forecasts and potential solutions for this immense global challenge.”

Michael Pollan (Moderator)- Author and the John S. and James L. Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.
‘In Defense of Food’ and ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma’

Raj Patel- Author and Director of San Francisco Food Systems.
‘Stuffed and Starved’

Dr. Vandana Shiva- Physicist, environmental activist and author.
‘Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply’ and ‘Soil Not Oil’

Corby Kummer- Journalist and author.
‘The Pleasures of Slow Food’

Carlo Petrini- Founder of the International Slow Food Movement (1986), co-creator of The University of Gastronomic Sciences and author.
‘Slow Food (A Case For Taste)’

#2- Building a New Food System: Policy and Planning

“Urban planning, food policy, health and education initiatives – government policy at all levels can contribute to food systems that support the whole community. Learn from leaders in the field as they explore the first steps that governments—from municipal to state and beyond—can take to support and build a sustainable food system.”

Timothy LaSalle (Moderator)- Executive Director of the Rodale Institute.

Paula Jones- Director of San Francisco Food Systems.

Marion Nestle- Author, Paulette Goddard Professor, Department of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health, NYU.
‘What To Eat’

Andrew Kimbrell- Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Food Safety.

AG Kawamura- Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Founder of ‘Incredible Edible Park’ in Irvine, which links nutritional education and interaction between schools and food banks.

#3- Re-Localizing Food

“In addition to preserving precious fossil fuel energy, buying food locally saves money and supports local economies. So why does everyone coast-to-coast buy their oranges from Florida? This panel explores the challenges of building a local food system, and compares the environmental and social impacts of both a local and global approach to food.”

James Oseland (Moderator)- Editor of Saveur Magazine.

Gary Nabhan- Founder of Renewing America’s Food Traditions (RAFT).

Dan Barber- Chef & Co-Owner of Blue Hill Restaurant and Creative Director of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture.

Winona LaDuke- Native American activist, environmentalist, economist, author and Founding Director of White Earth Land Recovery Project (WELRP).

Michael Pollan- Author of In Defense of Food and Omnivore’s Dillemma.

#4- Edible Education

“In a nation where far too many people harm their health and the environment by eating poorly, public school lunch presents an enormous opportunity: right there, in the middle of the every child’s school day, driven by his own hunger and his own taste, lies all this time and energy set aside and devoted to food.” This panel will discuss the potential and challenges of creating a national policy around Edible Education – a means of educating all children about stewardship, sustainability and the connections between food, health and the environment.”

Josh Viertel- Director of the Yale Sustainable Food Project.

Craig McNamara- P
resident and Founder at Center for Land-Based Learning.

Katrina Heron (Moderator)- Writer, editor and a Director of the Chez Panisse Foundation.

Van Jones- Author and founder/president of Green For All.
‘The Green Collar Economy’

Alice Waters- Founder of Slow Food Nation, international vice president of Slow Food, owner of Chez Panisse Restaurant and founder and president of the Chez Panisse Foundation.

#5- The Best of Slow Food on Film

“A special screening of award-winning short films and documentaries that promote a new critical awareness of food culture selected by Slow Food on Film, the International Festival of Cinema and Food. In collaboration with Cineteca di Bologna.”

Featuring: Along Came the Rain, Silent Snow and The Price of Sugar.

This was the scene that greeted me as I made my way last Friday to day #1 of the ‘Food For Thought Speaker Series’. WOW!! Erected smack in front of San Francisco’s City Hall, this ornamental edible garden provided a striking juxtaposition to its stately civic backdrop. Created in collaboration with Victory Gardens 2008 (planted on the same site as the World War II Victory Gardens of 1943), Slow Food Nation Victory Garden featured a wide variety of heritage organic vegetables suited to the Bay Area microclimate, while also displaying the diversity of urban food production practices through a truly inspiring format. The garden was scheduled to be harvested at the end of last (Labour Day) weekend. The produce was to be donated to those with limited access to healthy organic produce via local food banks and meals programs.

Several people have asked me this question lately. For those who have not heard the term before, ‘Slow Food‘ seems to conjure up images of crock pots simmering soups and stews at about the same speed paint drys. Here is the simple answer:

“Everyone has a universal right to food that is good (tastes delicious), clean (was sustainably grown) and fair (those who produce it are sustained as well, and that people from every community can enjoy it).”

San Francisco Chronicle Arts and Culture Critic Steven Winn explained it in far more detail (Putting Key Issues on the Menu-August 29): ”As both Slow Food disciples and outside observers see it, the growing international movement’s underlying principles have implications that reach far beyond the dining rooms of the fad-chasing upper middle class. In its rebuke of fast food, agribusiness and global distribution and its embrace of local products, biological diversity and the sensual delights of the table, food is a touchstone for everything from energy policy and net-roots politics to the ways Americans both seek and sabotage pleasure…..The Slow Food mind-set fosters local communities of people with shared interests…..Ideally, it summons people back to the table awakened to the power of personal choice across a broad spectrum of issues.”

Perhaps Slow Food Nation Executive Director Anya Fernald said it best: “This is all about a response to industrialization and a reclaiming of what feeds and nourishes us. It’s a push back against a global system bent on the commodification of everything.”

Though, admittedly, there is certainly an annoying, elitist segment within the movement. While I was sipping at the wine bar during last Sunday’s Taste Pavillions at Fort Mason, I overheard a man behind me remark to his friend “Not much of a red selection”. (There were 454 American made wines available to taste, 259 of them being red) I turned to face them, somehow managing to curb my strong impulse to bitch slap him for his pretentious arrogance, instead asking “compared to what?” His (seemingly embarrassed) friend mumbled in response “France, maybe?”…..

My own definition of Slow Food reaches far beyond the subject of food itself, as I see its objectives as being both broad and inclusive. SF’s principles affect many of the choices I make in my own daily life…..doing my best to avoid riding the consumer train means working less, spending less and living more (creatively). I also believe passionately in the importance of teaching our children values that respect our food systems, our health and our environment. I am truly convinced that Edible Education, in combination with other like-minded programs, could quite literally become a key contributor to saving our planet.

The irony of blogging is that the more exciting and interesting things there are happening to experience and write about, the less time there is to actually write about them. Having just finished up 2 weeks assisting at a kid’s culinary camp (more on this later), I’m off to San Francisco to experience Slow Food Nation….3 days of lectures, taste pavillions, films, farmers markets and even a victory garden that has been created downtown….right in front of City Hall. God knows, there will be lots more to write about….