Slow Food Nation’s Saturday’s Taste Pavilions were kicked off with what felt like a fire drill, as people waited in a line wrapping around the corner at the Fort Mason hangar.
The moment 11 A.M. hit, two massive lines piled up at the Bread and the Nose-to-Tail Charcuterie Pavilions. Who doesn’t want to eat sausage before noon? People made sure to wash the assortment of pork-fat and gluten down with beer, spirits, and wine.
Nose-to-tail Charcuterie Pavilion: where even David Chang stopped to get his fill of head cheese and sausage.
Charlie Trotter the Comedian at the Green Kitchen: ”Don’t wash your fruits and vegetables.” “We like the natural flavoring from the dirt to go into our food.” A delayed laugh comes from the crowd. But hey, he made tomato water. Isn’t that Ricky Gervais with a young Baryshnikov? For all you youngsters, here’s a refresher course on the early years of Baryshnikov:
The Jam Pavilion offered delicious honey tastings, showcasing the Bay area’s finest food makers, who happen to be quasi-endangered: the honey bees.
Forget Alcatraz, the most popular photo-op place in San Francisco to date is in front of the massive Slow Food Bread Snail, because taking your picture in front of a massive food sculpture isn’t weird.
Beer tent: the underdog of booze, the beer tent consisted of a massive array of micro-brews, with bartenders providing impressive hops-to-brew knowledge.
I also had the chance to sit in on the Edible Schoolyard discussion at Civic Center. Unfortunately, Dr. Tony Recasner (head of the New Orleans Green Charter and New Orleans Charter Schools) was unable to make it, due to the name we shall not say aloud…Gustav). ”Edible Schoolyard Project,” featured food heavy-weights, Alice Waters and Van Jones (founder of Green for All). Moderator and Director of Edible Schoolyards, Katrina Heron, kicked off the lecture posing the question, “what is an edible education?” Alice Waters carefully explained that the curriculum is geared towards efforts to help children realize how to make good decisions through the “pleasure in eating and growing food.” Important talking points emerged from the question: How do we successfully combat the USDA/large corporation food monarchy with small farmers and locality in America’s school cafeterias? The hour-long lecture transformed into a symposium on the politics of elitism versus accessibility of organic food, green farming and energy, primarily lead by Van Jones. Jones continually delivered note-worthy statements and posed critical questions: “It’s only through placing the most vulnerable in our society at the center of the green movement that we will see change.” As the lecture concluded with many unanswered questions, Alice Waters addressed the audience with a minimalist statement, “simply feed the children real food.”
