Posts Tagged ‘Slow-Food’

Fundraising for Terra Madre 2008

// July 20th, 2008 // Comments Off // Activism, Interests

In an effort to participate in a global community, support our friends and peers abroad, we ask for your help.

Helping the region reconnect with it\'s heritage, tradition, and regrowing our food sources.

Slow Food Charlotte

Robin and I have been members of Slow Food Charlotte now for 3+ years. We were brought in through friends who showed us that quality also meant good, clean, and fair. Through this time we have matured our world views, understand an inequality and systemic issue is in the air, and have tried to foster a local organization that informs, bridges, and raises up these concerns.

If you are unaware of Slow Food, or the premise, we are a group that defends biodiversity.

We believe that everyone has a fundamental right to pleasure and consequently the responsibility to protect the heritage of food, tradition and culture that make this pleasure possible. Our movement is founded upon this concept of eco-gastronomy – a recognition of the strong connections between plate and planet.

Slow Food is good, clean and fair food. We believe that the food we eat should taste good; that it should be produced in a clean way that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health; and that food producers should receive fair compensation for their work.

We consider ourselves co-producers, not consumers, because by being informed about how our food is produced and actively supporting those who produce it, we become a part of and a partner in the production process.

Terra Madre 2008

Terra Madre, a gathering, a convening of the worlds food communities. 30k square feet, over 300 activities, workshops, lectures, educational series over a five day period starting October 23rd to 27th.

By giving voice to all those who are not prepared to accept the standardizing, inhuman, totalizing model that applies the rules of industry to living matter, the event promotes ‘positive globalization’. The Terra Madre communities meet to proclaim food production’s need to maintain a harmonious relationship with the environment and assert the cultural and scientific dignity of traditional practices. When they return home to their countries of origin, they are fired by a positive feeling of being members of a ‘community of destiny’. The end-result is a new form of virtuous globalization that grows from the grassroots, from local identity.

Community Representation

Slow Food Charlotte has 13 delegates that will be attending Terra Madre. To be a delegate is an awe inspiring experience. Once their feet hit the ground they are taken care of. All they have to worry about is absorbing and sharing what information they can before it is all over.

We are extatic for our delegates and if you know one of them make sure to give them a hearty congratulations.

Reaching Out

While our friends and peers are taken care of, Robin and I would like to attend the event for the experience, support, and ability to capture the experience.

Slow Food has granted us observer status so that we may be there and participate when room allows. Our aim is to chronicle the event for our region and work to bring greater exposure to a regional and national level.

We need your help though.

While we support our network we need our networks support. To cover our airfare and stay we need cash to do so and that’s something that is hard for us to afford in this time.

Giving Value for Value

While we love donations and with great honor will accept any amount of kindness, we want to offer some incentives or rewards for helping us.

When the trip is concluded I will be building a book for national sales on our regions Slow Food / Terra Madre participation and the greater picture. Like all my works prior it will be a lovingly crafted photo essay book. A compilation of images and text for you to read, share, enjoy and enlighten with.

In this book we would like to dedicate a series of pages to those who were willing to help us get there, as well as offer discounts or even the book itself when published.

The Tiers of Change

We tried to come up with something equitable, fair, and rewarding for helping us. We truly appreciate anything that you can do. The following tiers are available.

  • $15 dollars
    • Honorable Friend
      • Your name in the book as an honored friend.
      • 10% off the printed book.
  • $25 dollars
    • Pathfinders
      • Your name in the book as a Pathfinder.
      • 25% off a printed book.
  • $65 dollars
    • Trailblazers
      • Your name in the book as a Trailblazer.
      • 50% off a printed book.
  • $125 dollars
    • Guardians
      • Your name in the book as a Guardian.
      • A thumbnail picture of yourself, family, or avatar.
      • 75% off a printed book.
      • A signed 5”x7” print from the journey.
  • $250 dollars
    • Defenders
      • Your name in the book as a Defender.
      • A small picture of yourself, family, or avatar.
      • Free printed book.
      • A signed 8”x10” print from the journey.
  • Commercial Sponsors
    • These will be taken on a case by case basis. If you would like to inquire or participate with our journey please contact us.

Payment

We will accept payments any way you can grant us them. If paying by Paypal you can use our ChipIn widget. No fees apply except my transaction costs with Paypal.

We will also accept checks:
Andy & Robin Ciordia
336 Pine Creek Dr.
Charlotte, NC 28270

If you have any further questions please don’t hesitate to ask, contact us.

While it is unlikely these rewards/incentives are subject to change.

Thank you for your time and caring. We hope to make this a memorable event in our lives and turn that around into something we can all take to heart.

Kind regards,

Andy & Robin Ciordia
Robin and Andy Ciordia

Table Talk with Ciao Italia’s Mary Ann Esposito

// October 14th, 2007 // Comments Off // Culinary

Ciao Italia's Mary Ann Esposito (by ciordia9)

[Charlotte Shout](http://charlotteshout.com) culminated it’s month long September activity list with a [culinary arts showdown](http://charlotteshout.com/nav.cfm?cat=44&subcat=211). One of the guest chefs for the event, Mary Ann Esposito of [Ciao Italia](http://ciaoitalia.com/). Mary Ann and her daughter-in-law / scheduler extraordinaire Jennifer Esposito met with me for a lunch at [Ratcliffe on the Green](http://ratcliffeonthegreen.com). The conversation coursed around [Slow Food](http://slowfoodusa.org), world views, horticulture, and more; making for one of the best discussions I’ve participated in of the year.

If you’re a cook, a chef, or a watcher of our [public broadcasting station](http://www.wtvi.org) you have to have heard of Mary Ann Esposito. [Ciao Italia](http://ciaoitalia.com) has been on the air for almost two decades teaching the Italian way of cooking. She’s produced volumes of books, and is steeped in the Italian culture that was her grandmothers heritage.

Mary Ann has seen the division of cultures from American to Italian. As well being a Slow Food member who has enjoyed dinner and discussion with Slow Food founder [Carlo Petrini](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlo_Petrini) this wonderful woman is honed when it comes to food choice understanding. She spoke of our cultures lost nature and how we’ve inadvertently let companies build our culture for us.

“We’ve lost respect for our food; many don’t even understand where food comes from.”, said Mary Ann. Her thoughts of change rest with our children, the seeds of the future. By bringing food back into the education system we bring attention from the beginning. That’s not all though we should be gardening for ourselves. Mary Ann and I reminisced on the Italian way of life where most if not all homes had some form of a garden from edible to herb. There is profound learning that comes from tending and toiling in the soil.

Mary Ann also talked of the breaking of the modern family unit and how bringing it back together started with meal preparation. It is an often asked question “How do two working parents and kids that are zinging around to after school programs have a normal dinner?” Ms. Esposito’s response was that the responsibility doesn’t fall to one individual, it’s the duty of the family as a whole. Let everyone participate. Book yourself for dinner, let it be an activity for your children. Children love to be put to work and explore; stage it so they can. Family meals require a little preparation and life is made easier if you use the three cupboard’s your house has; the pantry, refrigerator & freezer.

A funny moment happened when Ms. Esposito made a sweeping gesture when speaking of the “Stress for Thanksgiving”. She explains that we go through these giant gyrations to cook this once in a year meal when the reality is a [Thanksgiving](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgiving) meal is not really that different from any other meal. It’s the homes lack of general cooking that makes it such a stressed day. To which we with quick humor broke down the meal into fowl (or pork), casserole, bread, dessert. In a general sense that shouldn’t freak anyone out, right?

Not us foodies!

One thing on the mind of a local [Slow Food](http://slowfoodcharlotte.org) member dealt with the difference in agriculture zones and how should a Northerner deal with a shortened growing cycle compared to their southern counterparts. Mary Ann, while wishing she could plant earlier than May said we had to become more mindful of our regional foods. If the area has a longer winter the area must learn to conserve more. Canning and the harvesting of root or hard vegetables that can be stored for long periods of time. I can attest from holding winter squash an entire year (without preservatives heh) before turning it into a gratin that it’s possible to keep a crop. We also skimmed over food miles, gas usage, and the decay of the rail lines. I did mention that this woman has her chops up didn’t I?

On a softer note I asked her if she would ever publish children’s books. To me if we can’t get into the school system right some might see early readers or parent read books as a wonderful segue to it. Mary Ann said that she had a love for stories and that she had included a few in her book Celebrations, Italian Style. Her biggest roadblock seemed the publishers which is no surprise. Luckily publishers are having a harder time keeping afloat while self-publishing is rising fast. It’s my hope that Ms. Esposito will distill more of her love, history, and culture of her own into books for the little ones.

Before I reluctantly let Mary Ann and Jennifer go I asked how she stays motivated. She responded that she eats, thinks, and sleeps food. She loves to cook and pushes that out in every direction she can. It was an honor to break bread with these women and I hope I can spend more time with them in the future. If you would like to watch her in action [check here](http://www.pbs.org/stationfinder/index.html) for your local PBS affiliate. If they don’t have her on in your area let the station know your interest!

Down the Rabbit Hole, Alice in Charlotte

// October 4th, 2007 // Comments Off // Activism, Culinary

>In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.

Luckily our Alice had the company of some adoring fans from our own celebrity chefs, the [Slow Food community](http://slowfoodcharlotte.org), and the [public at large](http://www.charlotteobserver.com/192/story/303217.html). From September 26th through 27th, Chef Alice Waters visited Charlotte, North Carolina gave talks, went on walks, and ate some of the best seasonal regional culinary fare the Queen City could muster.

North Carolina has lush land and when not suffering serious drought is a land of plenty. We’re overdue getting on the band-wagon of smart food choices for ourselves, our children, and supporting those that feed us. Alice Waters coming to Charlotte and delivering her [ideals](http://www.chezpanissefoundation.org/) to our city, our region, is a swift way to draw focus to the importance at hand.

Alice Waters at JWU (by ciordia9)

Chef Waters was brought to Charlotte via the Grateful Growers, Slow Food Charlotte, and Charlotte Shout. Her first stop on her tour was the Johnson and Wales campus where she had a lunch with school officials and Compass Group associates. She gave about a 45 minute [lecture](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciordia/1443584153/in/set-72157602163643386/) speaking of the importance of food in our culture, lack of food culture, obesity in America, and how very few are taking the correct initiatives to change it because of the bottom line. It was a fantastic discussion where she laced a few beautiful provocative statements which went towards the Compass Group (the Compass Group is a mega-multinational-conglomerate with a hiring capacity over 500k, King Kong of the commercial restaurant business).

Alice at Ratcliffe: Speech from above (by ciordia9)

For the evening festivities [Slow Food Charlotte](http://slowfoodcharlotte.org) held a lottery seating for it’s members at [Ratcliffe on the Green](http://ratcliffeonthegreen.com/). There Mark Hibbs, Executive Chef of Ratcliffe, and Owner Zach Goodyear pulled out all the stops for a regional and seasonal Carolina tasting menu. Heirloom gazpacho, [Local salads](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciordia/1455086938/in/set-72157602163643386/), cheeses, [coastal fish](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciordia/1454221093/in/set-72157602163643386/), [stuffed chicken](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciordia/1455091552/in/set-72157602163643386/), [grateful pork](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciordia/1454226591/in/set-72157602163643386/), and a perfect soft [apple dessert](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciordia/1455095666/in/set-72157602163643386/) ending.

Alice at Grateful Growers: Shitake (by ciordia9)

The next day she was greeted by Lell Trogdon of Slow Food Charlotte, and Kathleen Purvis of the Charlotte Observer and taken to [Grateful Growers](http://ggfarm.com) located in Denver, North Carolina. There she met many local sustainable farmers, chefs, and instructors from the area. The farmers of Grateful Growers, Natalie Veres & Cassie Parsons did the full tour explaining their raising of tamworth hogs, breeding program, how they raise chickens (the chics even get a good dose of classical music), and the movement cycles of the coop pens for the betterment of the land and the fowl. They ended their tour at the shitake logs which many Slow Foodies and friends helped last November to plug. They had just bloomed a few days before we got there and they plucked one off a log for Chef Waters. By the looks of it she really enjoyed her time with the farm girls.

Alice at Art Institute: Chef Waters & Artisan Manager Ron Smith (by ciordia9)

With the sights and sounds of a farm in our heads many of us caravaned over to the Art Institute of Charlotte to follow Ms. Waters to her next visit. At the Art Institute she signed books and met more of our local chefs and dignitaries. Then [Chef Joe and Chef Tany](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciordia/1467877431/in/set-72157602163643386/), with the help of their culinary students, produced a magnificent six course meal that left us all wobbly. [House cured charcuterie](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciordia/1468717854/in/set-72157602163643386/), [butternut squash soup](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciordia/1467870803/in/set-72157602163643386/), [goat cheese puff pastry](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciordia/1467868997/in/set-72157602163643386/), [local pork belly & shank](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciordia/1467872927/in/set-72157602163643386/), [beef short-ribs](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciordia/1467845631/in/set-72157602163643386/), and a great [sweet potato cheesecake](http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciordia/1467875251/in/set-72157602163643386/). Again all local, all in season, all wonderfully presented.

Alice at Blue: Chefs (by ciordia9)

After a short reprieve there was a reception for Ms. Waters at [Blue](http://www.bluerestaurantandbar.com/) with Executive Chef Gene Briggs. Alice got to meet some other regional Slow Food chapters and had a bit more face time with chefs of the area. Once again fantastic fare and enjoyable conversation followed her and this was no exception. There wasn’t as much time to relax and socialize as her main lecture at Queens Universities Dana Auditorium was coming up fast.

Alice at Dana (by ciordia9)

When she arrived at Dana I heard that she was amazed at the turnout. Thom Duncan said that Chef Waters was used to speaking to small groups of people and to have 500+ people show up to hear her talk was fantastic. We had groups from all over the eastern seaboard from New York to Florida that wanted to learn about the work Alice has been doing with the [Edible Schoolyard & School Lunch Initiative](http://www.chezpanissefoundation.org/work.html).

She went through a great speech calling out the education system for a lack of perspective. How were we teaching kids about their own and our planets emergencies. There was an urgency in her tone while she explained how food was culture and that we had for far too long relegated food to maintenance. The growing, cooking, serving, and eating of food is culture. That the more we separate ourselves the more we lose empathy, responsibility, integrated mathematics, design, biology, etc.

Living the fast food lifestyle of fast, cheap, and easy is driving us towards a sort of animalism. We teach by example and what we’re teaching is a dereliction of self and environment. Yet there was redemption in something as simple as a garden. How beautiful and poetic.

There are many things that stand in the way. The current farm bill promotes the food conglomerates getting cheap food, corn mainly, that allows them to make quarter sodas and feeding the population into obesity faster than we can walk. The farm bill should be a [food bill](http://slowfoodcharlotte.org/video/video/show?id=859287:Video:1383) and it should support farmers trying to create wholesome products raised through methods which produce a more nutritious, safer, food choice. It doesn’t, so get on the phone! The hidden cost of low cost fast foods is what balloons the health care bill while not at all making incentives for good business. The power of lobbyists.

Her solutions of getting kids graded on lunch, building gardens, bringing culinary ability back to the lunchroom, is a large endeavor with far reaching fantastic ramifications. It’s not insurmountable but it will require dedication and people, parents, teachers, turning on the lights of those above them. Everyone must see this for what it is, what it is doing, and wanting to not participate in the capitalising of Mother Nature via food conglomerates.

She left Charlotte with a standing ovation and chills running up many of our spines. Myself, and Slow Food Charlotte would like to kindly thank Chef Waters for gracing us and exposing us to better thoughts. As we carry this knowledge forward we would like to work with any group out there that is trying to facilitate change. Many activist, pro-humanist groups are working on the same problems and we need to touch base and support one another. Join us at [Slow Food Charlotte Online](http://slowfoodcharlotte.org) and participate in the discussion. Help move the needle forward.

Slow Food Charlotte Terra Madre Recap

// March 9th, 2007 // Comments Off // Culinary

SFC Terra Madre Talk, 4
On Wednesday the local Slow Food Charlotte convivia gathered at the Art Institute of Charlotte to hear about the travels of the delegates that went to Terra Madre. They tasted and witnessed a panorama of culinary delights. They also got charged by the passion of the thousands of agri people who were in attendance and great panels attended.

Thom & Nancy Duncan, Joe Bonaparte, Sammy & Melinda Koeningsberg, & Laura Beach gave recounts. Jump on over to the Slow Food Charlotte site and watch some of the footage I shot at the meeting.

As always if you want to look through the window of your plate and grasp more of the story behind it join Slow Food today!