Posts Tagged ‘slow food’
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Thursday, February 19th, 2009
By Warren Rojas
Given our geographical predisposition for immediate gratification (omnipresent WiFi, Olympic-pace text messaging) and comfort (drive-through everything, from coffee shops to upholstery cleaning), it is no wonder some NoVA residents have lost sight of what’s really important: great food.
Slow Food DC co-leaders Alexandra Greeley and Kati Gimes want to help everyone find their way.
The dynamic dining duo have been championing sustainable living and sensible eating for going on a decade in this area, fostering a cadre of a band of perhaps 30 like-minded omnivores that have blossomed into force of approximately 800 floating members (those with email accounts, anyway) and close to 400 active participants. That makes the D.C. chapter, according to Greeley, the fifth-largest convivium in the U.S.
Greeley suggests that members tend to be “middle-class, well-educated people who care about what they are eating.” She says she knows of at least one Great Falls couple that has remained active since the beginning, and notes that a subset of about 20 chapter members regularly get together for private slow food dinner parties.
But Greeley is hoping the current wave of interest in green living and locally sourced cuisine will help them recruit the next generation of Slow Food members. To that end, Greeley is kicking around plans to set up a schoolyard garden at an area school to help teach students about sustainable agriculture and healthful eating.
Meanwhile, the group is lining up a variety of activities for 2009, including: a cook-off between the chef at the Latvian embassy (a chapter member) and Clyde’s Penn Quarter staff, an open-air dinner a la last summer’s Slow Food Nation event in San Francisco and their annual farm dinner (to be hosted again this year at Clyde’s Willow Creek Farm in Ashburn). Local farm tours and charity events are also in the works.
New members must pay a $60 annual fee to join, plus the cost of individual events (which Greeley said are usually capped at around $50).
For the global perspective on slow food, visit: www.slowfood.com
To join the D.C.-Metro chapter, visit: www.slowfooddc.org
(February 2009)
