Dispatch from Slow Food Nation: The Marketplace
Photograph from Slow Food Nation
Slow Food Nation was held in two major locations in San Francisco. The Taste Pavilion and classes were held in Fort Mason, at the northern end of the city. Simultaneously, the Civic Center played host to the Marketplace.
Of all the parts of the Slow Food Nation program, I found the Marketplace to be the most in line with a goal to reach out to the general public. The Victory Garden was the cornerstone of the location—it is a quarter-acre vegetable and herb garden with pathways for visitors. It had been originally planted in July, so by this weekend, plants were high and the garden was lush.
At no charge, participants could watch presentations on an outdoor stage and wander through the garden. A farmers' market showcased select farmers from around California. The farmers mostly brought one or two items for sale, and many samples were available. For a reasonable charge, folks could get a plate of prepared foods, which ranged from rotisserie chicken to hand-pulled noodles to New Orleans iced coffee.
My best bite of the entire weekend was ham and biscuits from Scott Peacock of Watershed Restaurant in Decatur, Georgia. Holy heaven, this was delicious. Two small biscuits with Benton Country Ham were all I needed to be happy. Mr. Peacock was apparently present for most of the weekend, making the biscuits. Finding the chefs, artisans, and farmers available at most booths was not unusual at Slow Food Nation. I spent some time at the market early on Saturday morning and enjoyed catching up with some farmers who I don't see often—many are so busy on the farm that they usually send their employees to market.
The Civic Center, where the Marketplace took place, is in the shadow of City Hall, and the area is host to many homeless people and near some of the more low-income areas of town. It was an interesting parallel to be at the Marketplace on Sunday, when the Heart of the City Farmers' Market was taking place a block away. The Heart of the City Market is more than 26 years old and caters to low-income people, families, and customers looking for a bargain. It's a scruffy, vibrant market that I happen to love. Christine Adams is the hard-working manager of the market. I asked her if she thought Slow Food Nation would make a difference in the sustainable food world. "So many people were there, I think it has to make a difference," she said. But there is a disparity between the people attending the Slow Food events and the area in which the event was held. "I wish they had tried to help more of the people that were here," she said, referring to the constituency she is trying to work with at her market. She would have liked to see work setting up urban gardens in the area.
The energy of the Marketplace was busy and fun. I hope that some of the people who came had never heard of Slow Food, and that they learned something about sustainable food in between delicious bites.
Related
Dispatch from Slow Food Nation: Speaker Panels
Dispatch from Slow Food Nation: The Taste Pavilion
About the author: Jennifer Maiser writes about locally and sustainably grown food. She is the founder and editor of the Eat Local Challenge website and writes at Life Begins at 30, her personal weblog.
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3 Comments:
Hopefully the homeless and low income residents were able to benefit via a food bank or donations at the close of the event.
Boscompb at 9:12AM on 09/02/08
Slow Food is not meant to serve social needs. You can do that wherever you are.
Slow Food is meant to save the food supply from the madness that has overtaken us. Slow Food is meant to point a finger at who is growing, making, cooking and serving real food instead of additive filled pre-prepared products of agribusiness.
You need Slow Food not to feed poor people but to ensure that you have a choice in the marketplace and that you know how and why to make that choice.
Judith in Umbria at 8:30AM on 09/03/08
You wrote that Christine Adams from the Heart of the City Farmers Market "... would have liked to see work setting up urban gardens in the area." That's already part of the plan for the future. Some of Slow Food Nation's partners are very active in urban gardens -- both public and private -- and will be working to help create backyard vegetable gardens and community gardens. These partners include City Slicker Farms in Oakland, the Victory Gardens 2008+ organization, and someone from the San Francisco backyard gardens project (I think it's housed in the Department of the Environment).
When the garden is removed from its current location, the garden equipment (soil, burlap borders, drip irrigation equipment, etc.) will be donated to people who want to grow food in their backyard.
But as you suggest in your final post on SFN, it would have been great to harness the energy of the attendees to build gardens all around the city.
Marc at 2:01AM on 09/13/08