Slow Food menu draws crowds of tasters
For $65 a head, curious and connoisseurs pack the food pavilions at Fort Mason
By Stacy Finz and Tara Duggan
Published 4:00 am PDT, Sunday, August 31, 2008
Food lovers slide up to the olive oil tasting bar.
Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle
San Franciscans Michelle Klosky and Rosie Klahn don't necessarily subscribe to the Slow Food way of thinking. In fact, they readily admit that there are days when life is moving so fast that they're lucky to have the time to nuke a frozen entree in the microwave.
But they were curious. So, like thousands of others Saturday, they shelled out $65 each to attend Slow Food Nation's Taste Pavilions at Fort Mason. At the very least, they figured they'd taste some really terrific food.
The four-day event, which kicked off Friday with a series of lectures and a farmers' market that spanned San Francisco's Civic Center Plaza, attracted all walks of life. Besides the epicureans in search of a good meal, educators traveled from across the country to learn how they could improve school lunches. Activists flew in to address world hunger.
The California secretary of agriculture talked about making fresh produce available to needy neighborhoods. Dietitians voiced concerns over the obesity epidemic. And environmentalists explored the notion of sustainable farming.
"This is an extraordinary event," said Mayor Gavin Newsom, adding that the food system in America has caused a public health crisis and desperately needs fixing. "We have got an eating and drinking problem in this country. And this movement has to become a dominant philosophy to save us."
Disciples of the Slow Food movement rail against fast food, industrial farming and global distribution and embrace the idea of supporting local producers who use sustainable methods and pay fair wages to their workers. To spread the word, they invited some of the country's best chefs, most innovative artisan foodmakers and environmentally friendly farmers here to prove that eating the Slow Food way is a sensual pleasure that's good for the body as well as the soul.
Gourmet emporium
It seemed that they got more than a few converts from the 2,000 people who packed the morning session of the Taste Pavilions, a 50,000-square-foot space transformed into a gourmet food emporium featuring custom-cured charcuterie, wood-fired pizzas, homemade jams, fair trade coffee, artisan chocolate and biodynamic wines.
A sold-out Saturday afternoon session and two sessions today will attract an additional 6,000 people.
Top area architects donated their time to design the pavilions, using only green materials that could be recycled after the event. Mason jars were used to build a pickle pergola and wood pallets and milk crates were borrowed from local companies to construct areas to showcase cheese and ice cream.
"I was really impressed about the overall idea of small producers being able to show their ideas and it not being a corporate event," said Alison Oliver, a 31-year-old San Franciscan who teaches middle school.
Renee Martin of Madera stood in line for nearly 30 minutes to sample salami and mortadella, but the wait was worth it, she said.
Next to her, 30-year-old medical student Tony Sturm and his girlfriend, Erica Turner, had flown in from the Midwest only to find that all sessions to the Taste Pavilions were sold out. So they stood outside, holding a sign that read: "Seriously, we flew in from Wisconsin for this. We need tickets."
He was able to buy two from people who had extras.
Barefoot Coffee Roasters of Santa Clara flew in Edwin Martinez, a third-generation farmer of Finca Vista Hermosa in Guatemala. His family farm used to sell to Starbucks coffee through wholesalers. Now he sells directly to Barefoot and a few other roasters. Cutting out the middleman has helped him and his family make a profit.
There are 70,000 growers in Guatemala, and he knows of only a handful taking his approach.
"I'm trying to work with other growers to connect them with roasters who want high quality," he said.
Barefoot Coffee Roasters' Andy Newbom said he talked Martinez into coming to Slow Food despite his hesitation because his wife is expecting a baby in October.
"I told him Slow Food is everything we are trying to do," Newbom said. "It might be a chance for you to tell your story - a tiny little farm in the middle of nowhere that has become very successful."
A few miles away at Civic Center Plaza no tickets were necessary. Parents brought their children to walk through the Victory Garden, a quarter-acre stretch of lawn where Slow Food volunteers planted vegetables. Musicians and speakers performed, while shoppers purchased fresh peaches, tomatoes, grapes and fresh bread from the 61 farmers and vendors chosen to sell their food at a Slow Food farmers' market.
Matt Leese and his wife, Angela, came all the way from Long Beach.
On Friday 3,000 people visited the market, Slow Food organizers estimate. Within four hours, Bi-Rite Market had sold out of chocolate ice cream. By 3 p.m. nearly all the vendors were out of food. On Saturday it appeared that twice as many people attended, some bringing their own brown-bag lunches and camping out on the lawn near the garden just to be part of it.
Discussing the problems
A few blocks away at Herbst Theater and at the state and federal buildings, community leaders, politicians, nutritionists, authors and scientists held summits to examine the possibilities of overhauling what they called a failing food system.
Michael Pollan, a food journalist, UC Berkeley professor and advocate for the slow cause who spoke at a number of the event's lectures, made it clear that the event was not "a fine dining club for foodies."
"We're hoping that people will come away from this making small changes in their life - shopping at farmers' markets or joining a community-supported agriculture (group)."
But mostly, Pollan wanted to explore the question of "How can people at once be stuffed and starved?" referring to the world food shortage and the growing obesity problem in America.
The notion was pondered throughout the event.
For Alice Waters, a Berkeley restaurateur and one of the key organizers of the festival, it's not about reinventing the wheel; it's about going back to basics.
"This kind of thinking has been around since the beginning of time," she said.