New Slow Food Header

October 2013 Newsletter

 



In This Issue
New Newsletter Format
SF California Regional Meeting
Terra Madre Day
Meat and the Slow Food Ideals
Volunteers Welcome
Persimmon Party
TMA Garden Workday
Tamale-Making Class
Central Orange County Food Swap
Join the Slow Food Movement!
We invite you to join the Slow Food movement! Slow Food Orange County is working hard to preserve and protect local foods and food traditions. Our convivium plans events and programs in places across Orange County-anything 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,  here to join or send us an email if you have questions.


New Newsletter Format

 

We are trying a shortened newsletter format with links to the full articles, as Slow Food USA does.  If you wish to comment on the format, please send your comments to Nina Macdonald at communications@slowfoodoc.org.



Recent Slow Food California Meeting (Message from the Chair)

 

Hello Slow Food OC,

November is off to an enthusiastic start!  Several members of our steering committee attended a Slow Food California Leadership meeting hosted by Slow Food Urban San Diego. These meetings always inspire enthusiasm and new ideas. Members from established chapters throughout the state, our newest California Region chapter from the Gold Country, and a chapter in formation from Fresno/Tulare attended the meeting. Several SFUSA staff members as well as Slow Food Mexico International Counselor Alphonso Rocha Robles attended the conference and offered presentations.  

 

Read more

 



Terra Madre Day, December 10th

 

Terra Madre Day, Slow Food's annual worldwide celebration of local food held on December 10, will take place in communities across the globe. We invite everybody, whether you are a member or not, to join this international day of celebration.

 

For one day, whoever and wherever you are, Slow Food invites you to put local food in the spotlight through a myriad of different activities: From community picnics and food festivals, to film evenings, rallies and farmers' markets, or even a simple dinner with friends. This year Slow Food Orange County will honor one of our local food traditions, with our tamale-making class.

 

 



Meat and the Slow Food Ideals
Ted Wright

 

How should we apply good, clean, fair - the watchwords of the Slow Food movement - to meat? Meat is at the center of much good food and many cherished food traditions. At the same time, meat raises real ethical dilemmas for many people. Much of the meat that is commonly available comes from a system that maximizes production and efficiency but often seems to abandon common sense, animal husbandry traditions, land and water stewardship, and animal welfare not to mention nutrition and taste. At the national level, in June 2014, Slow Food USA will assemble an array of policy experts, food system practitioners, and Slow Food leaders in Denver to identify practical points of intervention for local communities to adopt from field to fork. The resulting menu of actions will be field tested in Slow Food communities across the USA in 2014-2015; the experiences from these experiments will inform wider deployment in 2015-16. However, for now, those of us who eat meat are faced with the question of where to get meat that is good to eat and has been raised and slaughtered in a clean and fair manner. 

 



Slow Food Orange County Needs You

We are looking for active participants for our Events and Outreach Committees. No experience necessary, just a desire to effect positive change in our community and, of course, a hearty appetite for good food!

 

EVENTS COMMITTEE: Want to share ideas on how to promote good, clean and fair food? Then take the lead on one specific event or volunteer for the day and help out. To get involved email Stacey Blaschke, Events Chair, at stacey.blaschke@gmail.com.

 

OUTREACH COMMITTEE:  Are you interested in being an ambassador for Slow Food or working on garden projects, food policy or the Snail of Appreciation restaurant program? If so, join the Outreach Committee!  Contact Gillian Poe, Outreach Chair, at  gpoe@ocfoodaccess.org.

Upcoming Events 



The 19th Annual Persimmon Party

Date: Sunday, November 17th

Time: 12 Noon - 3PM

Location: Pitcher Park, Orange

Members and non-members welcome

The 19th annual Persimmon Party will be held at Pitcher Park in Orange on November 17th. This is a quintessential "slow food" event in which Orange residents gather together to pick persimmons from their neighbors' backyards (see pickers needed Nov 9-10), and then make them into treats to be sold at the party, the proceeds of which go to supporting the park and its Honey House and museum.



TMA Fall Workday

Date: Sunday, November 17th

Time: 9am-1pm

Location: Tustin Memorial Academy, 12712 Browning Ave, Santa Ana

Members and non-members welcome

Get in the dirt! Join Slow Food Members at the Tustin Memorial Academy for their Fall Workday at the Organic Garden and Nature Center. Sunday, November 17th from 9am-1pm at 12712 Browning Ave, Santa Ana 92705. RSVP to tmagarden@ocorganicgardenblog.com. Pictures



Slow Food OC Hands On Tamale Making Class to Celebrate Terra Madre Day

Date: Sunday, December 8, 2013

Time: 10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Location: Laguna Culinary Arts, 845 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach, CA 92651

Members and non-members welcome

Chef Octavio Montoya will be teaching us how to make authentic tamales. Come join as we celebrate Terra Madre Day, the holidays and the Mexican heritage of Orange County. Tamales are wrapped up like holiday gifts inside softened cornhusks and then steamed to perfection.This class will be extensive hands on cooking, as is all traditionally hand made tamale making.

Eventbrite - Slow Food OC Hands On Tamale Making Class

 



Central OC Food Swap

Date: Saturday, December 14th

Time: 2 - 4 PM

Location: The Village, 1505 E. 17th St., Santa Ana 92705

Members and non-members welcome

A Food Swap is part silent auction/part village marketplace/part fun-loving open house where your homemade creations (breads, preserves, special concoctions, canned goods, etc.) become your own personal currency for use in swapping with other participants. What better way to diversify your pantry and network with like-minded friends and neighbors?

We welcome everyone, as long as you bring something you made, grew, or foraged yourself. We will also consider other homemade non-comestibles (soaps, beauty products, etc) on a case-by-case basis.

 

 



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