Slow Food Nation '08

For Immediate Release

San Francisco, CA (August 13, 2008)—On Labor Day, Monday, September 1, Slow Food Nation and Outstanding in the Field will partner to bring together 250 students and young farmers, cooks, food artisans, activists and eaters for an Eat-In at one long, curving table in San Francisco’s Dolores Park. This extraordinary event serves to demonstrate that changing the way we eat can be simple, joyous and accessible to everyone. It closes six days of activities for Youth Food Movement participants at Slow Food Nation, the largest celebration of food in America.

The Eat-In is an opportunity for the generation of young people inheriting the food system to share stories, break bread and plant the seeds for a future that will bring good, clean, fair food to everyone. Participants will form teams to pick up produce from local markets on Saturday and Sunday, then take the farm-fresh ingredients back to private and professional kitchens across the city, where up-and-coming chefs will lead the groups in preparing food together.

“Slow Food Nation is a pivotal moment to address some of the most critical challenges facing our generation—climate change, public health, and global hunger among them—which are all related to the food we eat and the way it is produced,” says Laura Hess, a young farmer in Medford, Oregon, and former organizer for the Yale Sustainable Food Project.

Before the meal, young people from across America will gather around a hay-bale stage designed by Adam Reineck and Steve Kim of IDEO, a global design consultancy, to discuss building a global youth food movement.

Organizers expect a strong turnout for the Labor Day potluck feast. The meal is free, but participants must register on Slow Food Nation’s web site and join a cooking team or bring their own dish to the communal table.

Over the past eight years, Outstanding in the Field has staged dinners in farmlands across America, bringing together local chefs, farmers, food artisans and diners at its long, iconic table set between the soil and the sky.

“Our mission is to shine the spotlight on the people who labor to produce the good food on our communal plates,” said Outstanding in the Field founder Jim Denevan. “We’re very excited to partner with Slow Food Nation to honor today’s young farmers and food activists who are working to address the issues that will affect future generations of eaters everywhere.” Denevan will be at the Eat-In with his 16 year-old son Brighton, who will bring vegetables grown by Food What! In Santa Cruz, California, a youth empowerment program that grows, cooks and distributes sustainably raised food to the local community.

In keeping with Outstanding in the Field’s “tradition of the plates,” Eat-In participants will be asked to bring their own plates to create an eclectic table that represents the contributions of all participants.

Eat-In highlights and attendees include:

• Students from Mission High School in San Francisco will bake pies for the Eat-In with ingredients grown by Pie Ranch, a farm on the San Mateo coast, and baked with help from Mission Pie, a pie shop in San Francisco. www.pieranch.com, www.missionpie.com.

• Meghan Cohorst will represent the Student/Farmworker Alliance, an organization that has organized very successful national campaigns for fair food in tandem with the Coalition of Immokalee Farmworkers from Immokalee, Florida. www.sfalliance.org.

• Gabriel Cole, a young chef who founded three of Google’s illustrious cafes in the Bay Area, will lead other young chefs in preparing the communal meal for 250 people.

• Trevor Paque, founder of MyFarm, will describe his organization’s decentralized urban farming model for the 21st century. www.myfarmsf.com.

• Sam Levin will talk about Project Sprout, a program he founded to build a student-run organic garden and sustainable dining program at Monument Mountain High School in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

About Slow Food Nation
Slow Food Nation is a subsidiary non-profit of Slow Food USA and part of the international Slow Food movement. It was created to organize the first-ever American collaborative gathering to unite the growing sustainable food movement and introduce thousands of people to food that is good, clean and fair through enjoyable, accessible and educational activities. Slow Food Nation is dedicated to creating a framework for deeper environmental connection to our food and aims to inspire and empower Americans to build a food system that is sustainable, healthy and delicious.

About Outstanding in the Field
Set between the soil and the sky, Outstanding in the Field’s long, linen-draped table beckons adventurous diners to celebrate food at the source, bringing together local farmers and food artisans, chefs and winemakers to explore the connection between the earth and the food on your plate. Since its founding in 1999 by chef and artist Jim Denevan, Outstanding in the Field has hosted over 100 dinners in farmlands from Anchorage, Alaska to Nantucket, Massachusetts. Please visit us at www.outstandinginthefield.com.

Press Contacts:

Naomi Starkman
Communications & Policy Director
415.369.9950-o
917.539.3924-c
naomi@slowfoodnation.org

Lisa Supple
Outstanding in the Field
831.402.4982-c
lisasupple@yahoo.com

• NOV. 15 AND NOV. 22: COMMUNITY DAYS

  Come to the Victory Garden on Nov. 15 and Nov. 22 for events that build community through food.