Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Slow Food St. Louis


Slow Food St. Louis Logo
Originally uploaded by slowfoodstl
Last night, at the Joel Salatin lecture, I saw a table that advertised the St. Louis Slow Food group. I was intrigued, but they attracted a huge crowd, so I checked them out online.

Here is part of their mission:

Slow Food is an international, educational organization devoted to promoting fresh, local, and sustainably-produced food, biodiversity, and the preservation of food traditions, as well as celebrating the pleasures of the table.

Slow Food is a non-profit, eco-gastronomic member-supported organization that was founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes, and how our food choices affect the rest of the world.

Slow Food is good, clean, and fair food. We believe that the food we eat should taste good, that it should be produced in a clean way that does not harm the environment, animal welfare, or our health, and that food producers should receive fair compensation for their work.

They have a lot of events, including an upcoming trivia night that I'm sorry I'll have to miss. Through October 15th, membership is whatever you can afford.

Looks like an intersting bunch, so I did join. You can, too, at http://www.slowfoodstl.org/ .

The Meat You Eat


Can you say passionate?
Originally uploaded by greenzabiha
About a month ago, my husband and I read "The Omnivore's Dilemma," by Michael Pollan. A big part of the book focused on Joel Salatin, owner of Polyface Farms, a holistic farm that raises no-antibiotic, grass-fed, free-range beef, pork, chicken, and eggs.

Last night, we were fortunate enough to be able to see Salatin speak at Webster University in St. Louis. His methods are not only fascinating, they're very scientific. Instead of using his brain to create more modern machinery to produce larger and more profitable animals, he uses his extensive knowledge of biology to create a sustainable method of rotating animals across his large farm in a way where they support each other.

We met some great people while we were there, including a family from Kansas City whose 14-year-old has decided to become a farmer, and talked his parents into getting a flock of chickens, which he raises Joel's way. His hopes are to try a cow next - but his mom said that their suburban yard is too small, "We'd have to move!"

If you're in the St. Louis Area and want to dip into the sustainable, grass fed, non-antibiotic, grass-fed pool, definitely get out to Benne's farm in St. Charles. Ron Benne has been featured in Sauce Magazine twice, as the "Pillar of Sustainability."