"Cursed is he who doesn't believe eating is an act of love."

As he trumpeted these words - which struck me as beautiful and true as any sentence I've ever heard - across the picnic grounds, Carlo Petrini's entire body, from his shoulders down to his knees, jerked and shook in a way that only a true Italian can make look natural and graceful. He spread his arms out wide, as if attempting to embrace the entire audience of 500 or so members of the international organization he founded, Slow Food.

The charismatic leader of the sustainability movement spoke, through translator/food writer Corby Kummer, to his faithful followers at Sunday's "Slow Food Fast Food Picnic" in Windsor, a small town in the Sonoma wine country.

I joined the winemakers, farmers and foodies in trekking to the picnic grounds on a gorgeous, sunny autumn afternoon to see our movement's Pope and his High Priestess, Alice Waters (both pictured below), to eat "fast food" made the slow way, and to raise money to preserve a local heirloom variety of apple, the Gravenstein (which happens to be my favorite variety of apple).

Alice, who spoke first, promoted her Edible Schoolyard program, which has successfully spread the message of sustainability to to a diverse group of 1,000 public school children at Martin Luther King Junior Middle School in Berkeley for the past decade. She shared some of the intentions of another program, the School Lunch Initiative, which hopes to expand the lessons of the King School program into the entire Berkeley school district. She enthusiastically told the farmers in attendance that in a few years "we're going to buy your entire crop of Gravenstein apples."

But the afternoon really belonged to Carlo Petrini. His overall theme was that you can't separate gastronomy and agronomy. Beyond considering whether the food we eat tastes good (which is vital), we have to also ask if it is "clean" and "just." Was the food grown and raised sustainably, in such a clean way that it does the least damage to Mother Earth? Were the farmers, fisherman, ranchers and artisans paid justly?

He particularly stressed the importance of paying farmers well. The multinational corporations that feed us processed and convenience foods and tell us that we can eat cheaply are, in his words, "enemies of the people."

He also debunked the notion that the developing nations of the southern hemisphere need genetically modified foods and pesticides in order to increase food production and end starvation. He blames the policies of the multinational corporations, in particular the creation of seeds that can only produce once, as the true culprit behind starvation. In fact, he boldly suggested that the South, with its far greater variety of seeds and cultivated plants, is richer that the North, which has allowed agribusiness to destroy its own biodiversity.

All of these political and economic issues are a part of gastronomy. If you are either a gastronome who doesn't care about these issues or a farmer who isn't interested in gastronomy, in Carlo's words, "you are an idiot."

Our lunch was set at long picnic tables tucked amongst vineyards and pumpkin patches and under the shade of generous trees. The chefs of Syrah Bistro in Santa Rosa and former chefs of Chez Panisse cooked up American favorites like hamburgers and fried chicken. The Slow Food twist was that the beef came from grass-fed cattle and the chickens were organic and free-range. There were also plates of beans, heirloom tomatoes, potato salad and jars of homemade ketchup, mayonnaise and pickled vegetables. (Alice, visibly embarrassed, apologized that the mustard came from Maille in France and not the far more local Mendocino Mustard). Local artisans provided cheeses, brewers poured their ale, and winemakers uncorked their juice from the nearby appellations of Chalk Hill, Alexander Valley and Dry Creek Valley.

My friends Kathleen and Ed Weber of Della Fattoria baked dozens of buttery Gravenstein Apple Galettes. Kathleen confided to me that her bakers had to slice and freeze the gravenstein apples a few weeks ago, because the gravenstein season had ended and the delicate variety doesn't store well. She could have used another variety, but wanted to use the variety that we were all hoping to preserve. From my (several) samples, I'd say she made a good judgment call.

If you would like to learn more about the mission and efforts of Slow Food in your part of the world, please click here. If you would like to become a member or make a contribution, please click here to join.

Food|and Drink|Slow Food|Carlo Petrini|Alice Waters

Comments

[Kalyn]

I really love the idea of Slow Food and support the concept of local eating, despite my serious addiction to Costco. I joined Slow Food in Salt Lake, but it was disappointing when I started getting notices of the events. All of them were seriously beyond the budget of a public school teacher like me. They seemed to go out of their way to schedule things at the most expensive restaurants in town, with expensive wine pairings to boot. It was pretty disappointing. I didn't renew, but I still support it in principle.

[Barbara]

I originally joined slow food as I support the principle. All the events organised in NZ seemed to be money making ventures for restaurants. Like Kalyn I din't renew my subscription. This picnic event looks fabulous though.

[Brett]

Kalyn and Barbara, it's far more important to be supporting the principles of Slow Food than joining the organization. The only events I mainly attend are movies or lectures the group sponsors or ones where I go as a volunteer.

[Jennifer]

Sounds like a fabulous afternoon. We are living vicariously through you, Brett. I am such a huge fan of the school lunch reform. Who knows what could happen if today's schoolchildren were being nourished with something other than processed sugar, white flour and soda? Viva la Alice!

[Tana]

Hi, Brett,

I was there, too! Someone gave me a ticket at the very last minute.

I wrote up part of it on my blog ("Slow, Slow, Quick, Quick, Slow"). I had been to another Slow Food event the night before, and it was a fabulous weekend indeed.