Thanks for the heads up.

World-renowned scientist, environmentalist, and activist Vandana Shiva will speak about “Soil Not Oil” at Webster University, Monday, March 29, at 7:30 p.m. in the Community Music School Concert Hall, 535 Garden Avenue. The event is free and open to the public and is part of Webster University’s 2009-2010 Year of International Human Rights: The Right to Food and Water.

Vandana Shiva received a Ph.D. in physics in 1978 from the University of Western Ontario, Canada. She is the author of several books, the most current of which is Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis (South End Press: 2008). She also has authored more than 300 papers in scientific and technical journals.

Shiva has contributed intellectually and through activism in several fields, including changes in agriculture and food, intellectual property rights, biodiversity, biotechnology, bioethics and genetic engineering. She is the founder of Navdanya, a network of seed keepers and organic producers that operates in 16 states in India.

The event is sponsored by Webster University, Year of International Human Rights 2009-10: The Right to Food & Water, Campus Activities, the Multicultural Center and the International Student Association.

A key outcome of the meeting is the introduction of a worldwide Terra Madre Day, with the first edition to be held on December 10, 2009 – Slow Food International’s 20th anniversary. This day will be celebrated by the Slow Food network, across the 150 countries in which it is active, to celebrate “eating local” and the crucial work being done by the Terra Madre food communities – a network of farmers, artisan producers, cooks, academics, and youth for sustainable food production launched by Slow Food in 2004.

“Terra Madre Day is a way to celebrate our connection to the earth,” said Slow Food International President Carlo Petrini. “It doesn’t matter how we celebrate it – you can celebrate it at home, or organize a community or school event, the important thing is that we celebrate eating local.”

Petrini identified some of the key considerations at the base of the Slow Food philosophy to be celebrated and promoted through Terra Madre Day:

Food is a right for everyone.
Small-scale farming is the future.
Food sovereignty is key to communities.
Biodiversity is essential to a healthy food future.
We have the right to preserve our cultural and local identities.
Agriculture is closely linked to the environment.
Food production and trade must be socially just.

For more information on the Terra Madre network, visit www.terramadre.org.

At 6:30 pm, we’ll feature the opportunity to meet in our Garden with Jack Petrovic, Gardenworks Manager, and learn about the challenges and joys of urban restaurant gardening. At 7:30 pm, we’ll move inside to the Crown Room to hear about Saint Louis University’s H.E.L.P. program, which is working with Maplewood-Richmond Heights students to teach and promote sustainably grown produce and their Seeds to Table program.

SLOWednesday events take place at the Bottleworks in the Crown Room. Schlafly asks that everyone interested in ordering food and drink place their orders and be settled in before the 7:30 start time. Events are free and open to the public.

BUILD St. Louis’ mission is to “help consumers and businesses realize why buying from local independents is so important. By spending more of our dollars with locals instead of chains, we can all help make our community a better place to live and work.”

As our Slow Food chapter also works to promote the importance of “buying local,” we think our membership with BUILD St. Louis is a natural fit.

To learn more about BUILD St. Louis, please visit their website at http://www.buildstlouis.org/.

The petition lists six suggestions, including Gus Schumacher, Former Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services at the US Department of Agriculture, and Slow Food Leader Neil Hamilton, the Director of the Agricultural Law Center at Drake University.

Josh Viertel, President of Slow Food USA, is on the list of original signers, as are several Slow Food USA board members and leaders around the country. To join them, you can sign the petition here: http://www.fooddemocracynow.org/.

Even if the new administration doesn’t pick one of the listed candidates, signing the petition sends a strong message that we want a good, clean, and fair food system and that we expect our new administration to make choices that support that vision.

There isn’t much time left to get as many signatures as possible, so we hope you’ll take initiative by sending an e-mail to your friends and family to help spread the word.

Thank you for helping slow values get represented in the White House in the coming administration.

Neville will discuss local cheesemaker’s farms and the making of great local cheeses. Come and enjoy this opportunity to taste local cheeses made by local farmers, meet the farmers, and spend an evening learning about the process that brings wholesomeness and goodness to our tables.

Special guest Veronica Baetje of Baetje Farms will also be in attendance. Veronica is a local artisanal cheesemaker producing a variety of award winning goat cheeses. Veronica, along with her husband Steve, has a beautiful goat farmstead in Bloomsdale, MO.

Special thanks to Josh Allen and Companion for hosting this event!
  
Date: Thursday, December 11, 2008, 6:00 pm
Location: Companion in the Central West End (4651 Maryland Ave, 63108)
Cost: Free (Drinks will be available for purchase at Companion)
RSVP: Space is limited to 30 people so please RSVP to Brenda Guillory at brevitalized@yahoo.com

Also, please join Slow Food St. Louis at the Missouri History Museum for their Green Living Expo on Sunday, December 7th. The event features eco-friendly shopping, educational demonstrations, a screening of an extended version of the hit documentary King Corn, music, and more!

The Missouri History Museum has the honor of hosting the Field Museum’s George Washington Carver Exhibit from November 2nd, 2008 through March 1, 2009. This special exhibition explores Carver’s multifaceted legacy — including the use of environmentally conscious products. His life’s work inspired the History Museum to provide families with an enjoyable and educational event exploring green living.

Other participants include: My Green Boutique, Boutique Chartreuse, Ameren’s Pure Power, Patty Long Catering, Little Pleasures Food, Squaresville Green, Isabee’s Honey, Energy Solutions, Trailnet, Better Life, Go Green Clean, Herb ‘n Living, Home Eco, Green It!, Carver House, Earthways Center, Missouri Botanical Garden & US Green Building Council St. Louis, Kakao Chocolate, and Mound City Shelled Nut Company.

Date: Sunday, December 7, 2008, 11:00 am
Location: Throughout the Missouri History Museum (Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park)
Cost: Free
RSVP: Not necessary … just stop by the Missouri History Museum and the Slow Food St. Louis booth and find out what we’re up to!

“Homegrown” (http://www.homegrown-film.com/about.html) documents the remarkable Dervaes family, a father, son, and two daughters who run a small organic farm in the heart of urban Pasadena, California (http://www.dervaesgardens.com/).

Living off the grid, they harvest more than 6,000 pounds of produce on less than a quarter-acre of land, make their own biodiesel, power their computers with the help of solar panels, and maintain a Web site that gets 4,000 hits a day. The film offers an intimate portrait of urban pioneers living a “Little House on the Prairie” existence in the 21st century.

The filmmaker, Robert McFalls, will be attending and hosting a Q&A panel after the film. The panel will also include Brett Palmier (of Biver Farms), Joy Stinger (who raises chickens and tends bees in Clayton), and Kimberly Henricks (Slow Food St. Louis co-leader).

Advance tickets for this program are on sale at the Tivoli box. Box-office hours are 5-10 pm Monday-Friday and 2-10 pm Saturday-Sunday. No phone sales. For tickets online, visit tickets.landmarktheatres.com. There is a a $1 per-ticket service charge for advance tickets, which may be picked up at the box-office window.

Individual tickets are $10 each or $8 for Cinema St. Louis members and students with current and valid ID.

Both the Maplewood Farmers’ Market and the St. Louis Community Farmer’s Market (Tower Grove) are back with winter markets. Each winter market will be open one Saturday per month from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

Here are the details for each market:

What: St. Louis Community Farmer’s Market

http://groups.google.com/group/stlcfm/web/stlcfm

When: The 2nd Saturday of each month from November to April, 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM:

November 8, 2008
December 13, 2008
January 10, 2009
February 14, 2009
March 14, 2009
April 11, 2009

Where: Indoors at St. John’s Episcopal Church (3664 Arsenal, St. Louis, MO 63116; just west of Grand Avenue, near Mokabe’s)

What: Maplewood Winter Pantry

http://www.schlafly.com/market.shtml

When: Varies, see schedule below, 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM:

November 22, 2008
December 20, 2008
January 31, 2009
February 28, 2009
March 28, 2009
April 2009 TBD

Where: The Crown Room at Schlafly Bottleworks (7260 Southwest Avenue, Maplewood, MO 63143; Southwest at Manchester)

See you there!
Slow Food St. Louis

If you loved his chocolate and were thinking of getting some more for yourself or for holiday gifts, now is a great time.

Alan is offering an amazing coupon to readers of Food Interviews, a blog by local St. Louis blogger Stefani Pollack (check out her interview with Alan), and she’d like to pass that on to you.

Alan is offering Food Interviews readers a chance to win up to $100 worth of fine chocolate! Every 10th person who places an order on the Patric Chocolate online store using coupon code 3FLMDE will get their entire order for free! That’s 1 in 10 odds of getting free chocolate!

In addition to the chance to win, your code also gets you 10% off of any purchase (including any already reduced items) and two additional complimentary chocolate bars on any purchases over $50.

The fine print: The contest and coupon code is good only through midnight (CST) on Wednesday, November 12, 2008. The “1 in 10″ free chocolate prize applies only up to the first $100 of any order. You’ll be asked to pay at the time of purchase. However, on Thursday, Nov. 13, Stef will announce who the winners are and if you win, up to $100 will be refunded to you.