Two events coming up on October 16 & 17:

October 16th: Syracuse Grows Workshop
“Food Deserts and Food Security in Urban Communities”

• Location: The Atrium Building, 2 Clinton Square, Syracuse, NY
• Time: 12:00 – 2:30 pm
• Description: Anan Xola Lololi, food justice advocate and urban agriculture pioneer, will be visiting Syracuse to speak on Food Deserts, as well as give an informal workshop on Community Gardening Administration. The event will be brown bag lunch and will have a suggested donation of $5. Please join Syracuse Grows on World Food Day <http://www.worldfooddayusa.org/>  in a discussion of these important issues.

October 17th: Syracuse Grows-CSA CNY-Slow Food CNY
Fall Harvest Potluck Dinner

• Location: The Assumption Church Parish Center, 800 N Salina St, Syracuse, NY
  (enter by the green doors on Catawba Street)
• Time: 4:00 – 6:00 pm
• Description: Bring a dish to share and celebrate the harvest with us.  Keynote presentation by Anan Xola Lololi and updates from our organizations.  Snail awards, too.  All welcome.

Personally, I can’t wait for us to become official so we can get on the SFUSA website. Why is that a big deal? When people sign up online they will be able to select our convivium from the lis! Right now people are getting placed in our local sister convivia. (I think we CNYers are split between the Rochester Convivium and the Leatherstocking Convivium.) It’s the little things that excite me.

Actually, it was this article that helped change my opinion of Slow Food, because prior to reading it I also had a somewhat negative perception of the organization (like Paul brought up on Monday). To me, Slow Food was associated with the French ‘controlled name of origin’ system where traditional cheeses and other products can only be labeled and sold as such if they were produced in their “appropriate” geographic location. I’ve always been much more concerned with getting affordable, fresh local produce and dairy products into cities via farmer’s markets (something we’re blessed with here in Syracuse), as an alternative to ubiquitous fast food, and as a way to help revitalize a regional economy. However, the article discusses how Slow Food USA is really attempting to distinguish itself from the parent organization with a different focus and outreach.

So to start a chapter (convivium) of Slow Food USA here in Syracuse, I need to get people to sign up to become Slow Food USA members. This costs money. Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t really enjoy asking people for money. But many things require money to happen. Money is also a commitment (ie, “put your money where your mouth is”). So let’s talk about the costs of Slow Food membership, what that money gets you, and where it goes.

Membership Costs
This information is taken directly from the Slow Food Memberships page.

• Individual membership: $60 / year
• Couple membership: $75 / year
• Student membership: $30 / year

So, for an individual, it’s equivalent to paying $5 a month. Not bad in greater scope of things. Also, I’ve gotten asked “what makes someone a couple?” Well, that is up to Slow Foods USA. But please don’t short-change the organization. As you’ll see below, they do some pretty awesome stuff.

Membership Benefits
Here are a list of the membership benefits, which were again taken from another Slow Foods USA page…

• A one-year subscription to the Snail journal, which covers good, clean and fair food issues such as: sustainable seafood, food systems education, alternative food distribution, protecting biodiversity and regional food traditions.
• The Slow Food Almanac from Slow Food International that features in-depth stories of the movement from around the world.
• The Food Chain, our monthly e-newsletter that highlights the activities of our 200+ convivia, our diverse programs and the latest headlines in food sustainability.
• A personal membership card and a copy of the Slow Food Companion (for first-time members, mailed quarterly), which details Slow Food’s mission, network and projects.
• Membership in your local Chapter and invitations to local, national and international Slow Food events ranging from seasonal feasts to film festivals, farm tours to taste workshops.
• Discounts on merchandise including the Slow Food Guides to New York City, Chicago and San Francisco, as well as other items in our General Store. Call for member discount or order through the monthly Food Chain.

Phew! Glad I just had to copy and paste all that. As you can see, you get a lot of perks for being a member. And a card. You also get a card in the mail.

Where the Money Goes
Again, I will pull from one of the Slow Food USA pages. I get the feeling I’ll be doing that a lot. The chart below breaks out all the money. I’ll explain some pieces as best I can. However, if you want more detailed information, I encourage you to contact Slow Food USA directly. I’m really just working off what little I know.

First: Slow Food International Allocation. This portion of your money assists with opening up chapters of Slow Food across the globe. And as much as we don’t like to think about it, we in America take up much more than our fair share of international resources. I personally see no problem with having about $20 of my dues go toward encouraging local, sustainable agriculture throughout the world.

Next biggest chunk: Leadership Training & Convivium Development. Well… that’s money going toward helping Syracuse get off the ground. Every new convivium gets a disbursement of $100 its first year to assist with start up costs. I expect it also covers the operating expenses associated with assisting new convivia get off the ground.

Your money also goes toward making the publications happen, supporting Slow Food USA’s programs (which I can get into in another posting if people want) and annual convivia disbursements (the first year we’ll get $100 – every year thereafter we get an amount based on the number of people in our convivia). Oh, and let’s not forget overhead expenses for the organization as a whole.

Full disclosure time: I was in the middle of writing up a nice big long blog post (complete with charts and subheaders) addressing all this questions. … and my computer froze. Bear with me people, I’m new to blogging. So I will just focus on the first question now.

What is Slow Food?

Slow Food started in Italy, as part of a protest to the fast food movement. It has since grow to over 50 countries, with thousands of grassroots chapters. The organization is about nourishing healthy food systems: supporting local farms, educating people about food choices, providing access to healthy fresh food to impoverished neighborhoods, patronizing restaurants that provide local fresh food.

Or, as I like to say: It’s about making brownies from scratch instead of from a box.

Some people ask about what is the difference between Slow Food and organic food. Basically, organic food is good, but you can still have monocrop industrial organic farms that ship around the country and don’t pay the workers fair wages. Slow Foods is about creating a sustainable food system. Farms that nourish the earth. Kitchens that nourish friends and family. Consumers and restaurants that support the hinderland. In a way, it’s about fighting entropy through the blessed action of eating.

Not enough for you? Check out the Slow Food USA website. They have their own (probably better) explanation of what Slow Food is. It also has links to the benefits of membership and information and events happening around the country.

Thanks for reading this far. Check back in the future, or subscribe to the RSS feed! Next post I’ll be talking about what membership in Slow Food USA gets you, and where the money from your member dues goes.