So are any of you planning on participating in the Slow Food Nation events in late August?
I've been browsing the site this afternoon and, I mean, okay, look, it's all great. The day trips to the creameries of Marin sound totally awesome, "mysterious Bolinas," sure, etc. I guess the source of my confusion is about who these events are for. Will there be a big influx of foodie tourists from around the country coming to the Bay Area to eat slow? Is it mostly a chance for locals to see what's been in their own backyards all the time, just for $130-160? I'm completely with the politics of it, and undoubtedly will trek to the Civic Center on my Friday lunch break to see the (free) spectacle, but how will it be much different than, say, any Saturday at the Ferry Building?
I'm not asking any of this rhetorically, but seriously, I wonder?
If the idea is that San Francisco is a good inaugural place for such a festival, which will then move on to less like-minded regions, I get it. After all, it's a fitting time for me to be thinking about the Slow Food thing--I just got back from visiting Kansas City, Missouri. It's not that I eat so terribly when I visit there, there is a city cuisine that is terribly satisfying, artery-ruining, and greed-inducing. But the concepts which guide my everyday consumer choices as a Bay Area person interested in food and eating primarily, and the politics of food and eating secondarily, the trope of the "local," etc., are totally absent from food culture in a major Midwestern metropolis like KC. There are individual chefs and restaurants, from what I hear, interested in changing things. But the metropolitan area as a whole? Forget it. Which is why I think Kansas City would be a terrific place for Slow Food '09.
4 comments:
Well, where to start? Maybe at the poitn where you can educate only an audience that is open to be educated? Maybe it's because the funding and the attractiveness of the Slow Food Nation project is very fit to the Bay Area, and not so much to Kansas (at least, not yet)? Maybe because SFN turned down sponsorship from Kraft and went with companies that shared its vision? all of the above.
And yes, most of these initiatives are targeted to Bay Area residents, giving them an interesting "back door" access to many of these producers. I personally didn't know many of those. In addition, I confide that the victory garden at the Civic Center will make it very different than the Ferry Building's farmers' market, at least for the children and for all others who are not routinely exposed to what a garden might look like. I am also dying to try the slow on the go food stands, but more than anything, I am craving the Taste pavilion!! what a grand chance to explore all sustainable products in just one place, from the cheese selection to the coffees and chutneys... I am looking forward to try my hand at whether I like clover honey more or less than lavender honey, and taste different beers and browse all the charcutery producers...
*Disclaimer*: I am involved with the SFN team, but I am first and foremost a foodie, which is what is getting me so excited about having SFN in my own backyard!
Hope it's a non-rhetorical answer... :)
V.
Hi Vanessa!
Thanks so much for your response.
Just to clarify that, obviously, I am not in any way opposed to the SFN happening in San Francisco! I’m excited about it too, love it, etc. and surely I will be checking a lot of it out. Sponsorship by Kraft? Wow. That’s a true nugget of absurdity!
Rereading my own post, I recognize that the tone of reprobation, slight and mild as it is (!), really only comes from a perspective about class which isn’t correct, necessary, or even desirable. Of course the conference has to generate capital to meet its own costs, or even exceed them to perpetuate the work, which perfectly explains the costs of the various excursions.
It’s hard to talk about class in these situations without coming across as a resentful jerk, but that can be a challenge to look forward to!
cheers, and thanks for writing!
BB
I didn't think for a second that you were being a jerk, actually, it makes sense that these questions arises from the very heart of the SF foodie community! That's why I was trying my very best to reply in a non-rhetorical way to a very legit question...
Thanks for writing and sharing your point of view!
Ciao
Vanessa
Having lived in the Bay Area, I understand why it is going to be in San Fran, but I hope the next one will be somewhere in the Mid-West. I really hope this isn't one of these coastal things where the majority of america is just flyover lands. I think KC would be a great place.
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