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Food for Thought
The Slow Food Orange County Newsletter
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Welcome
Welcome to the April issue of "Food for Thought." We're so glad you've chosen to receive our newsletter and share exciting news of our events.While you will find the most current information about our chapter in this newsletter, be sure to visit our website. Learn more about excellent local restaurants and markets, and find out how to share your talents and play a larger roll in the Slow Food family. We would love to hear from you. Send us an email. Our fundraising efforts support the Monkey Business Cafe in Fullerton.
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New to Slow Food?
Slow Food is an idea, a way of living and a way of eating. It is a
global, grassroots movement with thousands of members around the world
that links the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the
environment. For more information, visit their website.
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How are we doing?
We welcome additions to and comments about this newsletter. Please send us an email
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 Our Next Event
May 30, 5:00 p.m.
Slow Food Orange County will hold its first barbeque in Bommer Canyon, in the City of Irvine, at One Bommer Canyon Road. The barbeque is an event for the whole family and will focus on awareness of good, clean and fair food. The barbeque will begin at 5:00pm and will be prepared by Chef Thomas Ryan, Executive Chef of the Big Canyon Country Club, and a team of Slow Food members and culinary students from Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa. The main course will be chicken from Mary's Organic Free-Range Chickens in Fresno, CA.
The event is graciously sponsored by Slow Food Orange County, with contributing sponsors Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe's. Tickets are $25 for members of Slow Food Orange County, $35 for non-members and $15 for children under 12, and may be purchased online at Brown Paper Tickets. Ticket price includes dinner and wine. Be sure to purchase tickets in advance, as space is strictly limited and there will be no on-site ticket sales To date the event is over half sold out. For more information, visit our website.
Proceeds go to help our non profit involvement in Monkey Business Caf�, a project of Hart Community Homes foster care kids training program.
There will be raffle drawings with prizes that include a personal cooking class by Haley Nguyen owner and chef at Xanh Bistro, an excellent Vietnamese restaurant in Westminster, two seats at the table of our now famous October Slow Food Chefs dinner, hosted at several private homes where you will be served excellent food and wine in keeping with the slow food principles.
A one-mile hike, appropriate for adults and children, will be led by an Irvine Ranch Conservancy docent. Hike leaves barbeque site at 3:30 PM and returns at 4:30 PM.
Breaking News! The Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture, AG Kawamura, will also attend and talk about the future of California agricultural policy.
Directions to Bommer Canyon.
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Produce of the Month
How fortunate we are to live in a place where so much fresh produce is available year round.
While much produce that fills the local supermarket has been shipped from all over the world, a few local farms and farmers markets allow us to eat well close to home.
Visit our website for a listing of local farmers markets, and the website of South Coast Farms in San Juan Capistrano.All kinds of delicious information is available at NRDC - The Earth's Best Defense, and Local Harvest - real food, real farmers, real community.
Tomato Mania
April is the month when local gardeners begin planting tomatoes for their summer bounty. Get all the information you need here.
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CALENDAR
MAY
May 5-18 Cooking for Solutions - Monterey Bay Aquarium
This event is a signature culinary gala featuring sustainability grown seafood and produce designed by chefs
from around the globe. Read more about it on our website.
May 30 - Slow Food Orange County Barbeque and Potluck in Bommer Canyon, Irvine
Slow Food Orange County will hold its first barbeque in Bommer Canyon, in the City of Irvine, at One Bommer
Canyon Road. It is an event for the whole family and will focus on awareness of good, clean and fair food.
Be sure to purchase tickets in advance, as space is strictly limited and there will be no on-site ticket sales.
More information is available on our website, where you can purchase tickets.
Come to the Slow Food Orange County Barbeque, enjoy the rustic setting of Bommer Canyon, dine on
delicious, sustainable fare, make new friends and learn about the Slow Food movement!
Mark you calendars today. This is an event you won't want to miss.
JUNE
June 28, 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Canning & Potluck (Potluck starts at 4pm)
Summer is fruit time. Here in our
neighborhoods and at our farmers' markets we have so much local fruit
that
it is hard to enjoy it all at once. So let's bring some of our
bounty - or use a bunch of the provided homegrown
Santa Rosa Plums -
and JAM and CAN at the Stein's. We will have slow martinis or other
drinks (BYOB)
and potluck dinner after jamming. To make this event even
more local and low carbon footprint, Diane and
Richard welcome you to
bring your own jars. You will go home with some of the spoils of the
night.
Event will take place at 8 Colonial in Irvine, CA. Please RSVP
to slowfoodoc@yahoo.com.
Details to follow.
Visit our website for future events.
PLEASE NOTE:
Workshops that may be substituted throughout the year include a tortellini and sauce making workshop
and chef demonstrations. Please contact us if you would like to conduct a workshop.
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Recommended Reading
"Slow Food Revolution: A New Culture for Dining & Living"
By Carlo Petrini & Gigi Padovani
The setting is Rome, 1986. In the historic Piazza di Spagna, McDonald's opens a franchise.
A small group, led by Carlo Petrini, stages a protest. It's the start of a revolution, the Slow
Food revolution.
Today, the Slow Food organization counts more than eighty thousand members around the world,
dedicated to reviving the pleasures of the table. To slow down, to know where one's food comes
from, to preserve the taste of real food-this is the mission. The movement promotes agricultural biodiversity,
sustainable farming, local producers, and heritage foodways.
Slow Food Revolution tells the fascinating story of how this powerful international coalition sprang from such a
small seed. Equal parts gastronome and conservationist, Petrini started with a diversified grassroots approach
that included a pirate radio station, a cooperative food store, and a line of gourmet guidebooks. Eventually
Slow Food struck out into the rest of Europe and established the University of Gastronomic Sciences and
the Terra Madre events. Included here are testimonies from such notable figures as the chef Alice Waters
and His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales. The rise of Slow Food is an inspiration, not just for gourmets,
but for anyone who seeks to make the world a better place.
Also featured here, for the first time in print, is a complete catalogue of the special foods that Slow Food
protects through its Presidia projects. From the Cape May Salt Oyster to Moroccan Argan Oil, these are
heirloom varieties and heritage breeds endangered by the onslaught of fast food homogeneity. In tantalizing
descriptions of the more than three hundred delicacies from all over the world, you get a taste of what Slow
Food is all about-rediscovering the flavors of regional cooking.
Carlo Petrini, the founder and driving force of Slow Food, was recently included in Time magazine's
list of "European Heroes" as a great innovator.
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Food News
Earth Day is April 22Earth Day is almost here -- we want to know how you are planning to honor the earth
on that day, and every day! There are many ways to celebrate Earth Day, and a slew
of events that will highlight the connection between food and the environment
being planned by the Earth Day Network,the RAFT Alliance, local Slow Food chapters,
Organic Valley, and many more.
More Food News
America's apple traditions are being renewed
The U.S. has lost more than 14,000 named apple varieties, and at RAFT's recent
Forgotten Fruits Summit, people got together to revive "apple culture" and to
determinethe best means of restoring apple diversity to our farms, roadhouses,
backyards and kitchens. According to Tom Burford-an apple historian known as
Professor Apple-the American landscape is once again making room for apple
diversity and apple culture: "Even a decade ago, I would never have dreamed
that such a gathering could happen." For the full scoop, visit the SFUSA Blog, the Civil Eats blog, and
download the Forgotten Fruits Manual and Manifesto.
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Become a Member
We invite you to join the Slow Food movement! Slow Food OC is working hard to preserve
and protect local foods and food traditions. Our convivium plans events and programs in
places across OrangeCounty-anywhere from community gardens, taste education dinners,
and farm tours-join the network and become active in planning and participating in these diverse initiatives.
Click here for Benefits of Membership. Send us an email if you have any questions.
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