Slow Food Nation '08

Location: Herbst Theater | Friday, August 29, 9:00am – 10:30am | Ticket Price/Student Ticket Price: $25/$15 | Student ticket holders will be requested to show valid student identification at the door.

It’s widely acknowledged that we are in the middle of a world food crisis. Skyrocketing food and fuel costs, water scarcity, and population explosions have communities worldwide in the grip of hunger and dire food shortages. Come listen to four of the foremost authorities on the subject as they share forecasts and potential solutions for this immense global challenge.

Featuring: Vandana Shiva, physicist, environmental activist and author; Carlo Petrini, founder of the International Slow Food Movement; Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved; and Corby Kummer, journalist and author of The Pleasures of Slow Food.

Moderated by Michael Pollan, author, In Defense of Food, and the John S. and James L. Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. Mayor Gavin Newsom has been invited to give opening remarks.

Location: Herbst Theater | Friday, August 29, 11:00am – 12:30pm | Ticket Price/Student Ticket Price: $20/$10 | Student ticket holders will be requested to show valid student identification at the door.

Urban planning, food policy, health and education initiatives – government policy at all levels can contribute to food systems that support the whole community. Learn from leaders in the field as they explore the first steps that governments—from municipal to state and beyond—can take to support and build a sustainable food system.

Featuring: AG Kawamura, Secretary of the California Department of Food and Agriculture; Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard Professor, Department of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health, NYU; and Andrew Kimbrell, Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Food Safety; and Paula Jones, Director of San Francisco Food Systems.

Moderated by Timothy LaSalle, Executive Director of the Rodale Institute.

Location: Herbst Theater | Friday, August 29, 1:00pm – 2:30pm | Ticket Price/Student Ticket Price: $20/$10 | Student ticket holders will be requested to show valid student identification at the door.

In addition to preserving precious fossil fuel energy, buying food locally saves money and supports local economies. So why does everyone coast-to-coast buy their oranges from Florida? This panel explores the challenges of building a local food system, and compares the environmental and social impacts of both a local and global approach to food.

Featuring: Michael Pollan, author, In Defense of Food and the John S. and James L. Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism; Dan Barber, Chef & Co-Owner of Blue Hill Restaurant and Creative Director of Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture; Gary Nabhan, Founder, Renewing America’s Food Traditions (RAFT) Alliance; and Winona LaDuke, Native American activist, environmentalist, economist, author and Founding Director of White Earth Land Recovery Project (WELRP).

Moderated by James Oseland, Editor, Saveur.

Location: Herbst Theater | Friday, August 29, 3:00pm – 4:30pm | Ticket Price/Student Ticket Price: $20/$10 | Student ticket holders will be requested to show valid student identification at the door.

Many consumers have no idea what is takes to get their food to the table. This panel will focus on current conditions and the future potential for the millions of men and women who harvest and process the food we eat each day. Activists who campaign on behalf of farm and meatpacking workers will discuss how to create a system in which eating well and treating people right lead to success, sustainability and profitability for all.

Featuring: Lucas Benitez and Greg Asbed, representing the Coalition of Immokalee Workers; Jose Padilla, Executive Director, California Rural Legal Assistance; Agustin Ramirez, ILWU Northern California Lead Organizer; and Maricela Morales, representing CAUSE, the Central Coast Alliance United for A Sustainable Economy.

Moderated by Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation.

Location: Herbst Theater | Saturday, August 30, 12:00pm – 1:30pm | Ticket Price/Student Ticket Price: $20/$10 | Student ticket holders will be requested to show valid student identification at the door.

Climate change and our food system are inextricably linked, yet most people are unaware of the ways in which our everyday choices about food affect the environment. Conversely, while we are focused on how climate change may affect global temperatures and the polar ice cap, we have not spent much time discussing how climate change may severely impact our food system. This panel will focus on future food production and the importance of land stewardship, biodiversity, urban planning, and much more. Come to learn how every person—whether a consumer or a policy-maker—can address climate change through how and what we eat.

Featuring: Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club; Wes Jackson, Ph.D., author and President and Founder of The Land Institute; Aaron (Ari) Bernstein, MD, co-author of Sustaining Life with Eric Chivian, MD; Patrick Holden, Director of the Soil Association; and Anna Lappé, author and co-leader of the Small Planet Institute.

Moderated by Mark Hertsgaard, journalist and author of the forthcoming Living Through the Storm: Our Future Under Global Warming.

Location: Herbst Theater | Saturday, August 30, 2:00pm – 3:30pm | Ticket Price/Student Ticket Price: $20/$10 | Student ticket holders will be requested to show valid student identification at the door.

“In a nation where far too many people harm their health and the environment by eating poorly, public school lunch presents an enormous opportunity: right there, in the middle of the every child’s school day, driven by his own hunger and his own taste, lies all this time and energy set aside and devoted to food.”* This panel will discuss the potential and challenges of creating a national policy around Edible Education - a means of educating all children about stewardship, sustainability and the connections between food, health and the environment.

Presented by Alice Waters, founder of Slow Food Nation, international vice president of Slow Food, owner of Chez Panisse Restaurant and founder and president of the Chez Panisse Foundation and featuring Dr. Tony Recasner head of Green Charter and New Orleans Charter Middle schools; Van Jones, Founder and President of Green For All; Craig McNamara, President and Founder at Center for Land-Based Learning; and Josh Viertel, Director of the Yale Sustainable Food Project.

Moderated by Katrina Heron, writer, editor and a Director of the Chez Panisse Foundation.

*excerpted from Alice Waters forthcoming book, The Edible Schoolyard, chronicle books, 2009.

Location: Herbst Theater | Saturday, August 30, 4:00pm – 7:00pm | Ticket Price/Student Ticket Price: $25/$15 | Student ticket holders will be requested to show valid student identification at the door.

Wendell Berry, Vandana Shiva, Michael Pollan, Alice Waters, Eric Schlosser and Carlo Petrini join together in conversation about the local, national and global impact of the philosophy and practice of Slow Food.

Moderated by Corby Kummer, author of The Pleasures of Slow Food.

Location: Herbst Theater | Saturday, August 30, 7:45pm – 10:00pm | Ticket Price/Student Ticket Price: $20/$10 | Student ticket holders will be requested to show valid student identification at the door.

A special screening of award-winning short films and documentaries that promote a new critical awareness of food culture selected by Slow Food on Film, the International Festival of Cinema and Food. In collaboration with Cineteca di Bologna.

Hosted by Alice Waters and Dieter Kosslick, Director of the Berlin International Film Festival.

Featuring: Along Came the Rain, Silent Snow, The Price of Sugar and Cry Sea.