The Art of Food will showcase the area’s top restaurants, serving up delectable hors d’oeuvres using only the freshest, local ingredients prepared in the Slow Food tradition. Participating restaurants include:

• Annie Gunn’s - Lou Rook III
• Araka - Mark Curran
• Bailey’s Chocolate Bar - Robin Murphy
• Erato on Main - Kevin Willmann
• Harvest - Steve Gontram
• Kakao Chocolate - Brian Pelletier
• Local Harvest Café - Clara Moore
• Mad Art Gallery - Dave Lewis
• Monarch - Josh Galliano
• Niche - Gerard Craft
• Rooster - David Bailey
• Schlafly Bottleworks -Matt Bessler
• Serendipity Ice Cream - Beckie Jacobs
• Sidney Street Café - Kevin Nashan
• Winslow’s Home - Stephen Kovac

With all bread products provided by

• Companion Bakery - Josh Allen
• 222 Artisan Bakery - Matt Herren

Food-themed art by local artists and gift baskets filled with a variety of specialty goodies from boutiques, wineries, and restaurants are also up for auction. Artists include Julie Malone, Cbabi Bayoc, Greg Barth, Ron Buechele, Marie Oberkirsch, Carmelita Nuñez, Katy Fischer, and many more.

Tickets for the event are $30 for Slow Food members and $40 for non-members in advance; $40 for Slow Food members and $50 for non-members at the door. Sponsors include Mad Art Gallery, Sauce Magazine, and Schlafly. St. Louis Earth Day will also be managing the recycling efforts.

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. Fair Shares is a non-profit organization dedicated to getting fresh, local, seasonal food into the hands of more persons in St. Louis - regardless of their income.

Tickets are limited and can be purchased at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/69345

For more information about the event please visit http://www.artoffoodstl.com/ or contact Bill Burge at bill@slowfoodstl.org (preferred) or 314-498-1401.

It’s hot out there, and before you get busy with your hectic holiday gatherings, come out and relax Thursday, July 2nd for another casual Slow Food Happy Hour at 33 Wine Bar.

• Who: Slow Food St. Louis
• What: Happy Hour
• When: Thursday, July 2nd 7-?
• Where: 33 Wine Bar, 1913 Park Ave., St. Louis
• Why: Because Slow Food is all about conviviality and what’s more convivial then a Happy Hour of like-minded friends

With much gratitude to Jim Fiala, Slow Food St. Louis is excited to announce a wine dinner to support Slow Food St. Louis’s Biodiversity Grant hosted by The Crossing and Local Wine Company.

The menu will feature not only the great cooking The Crossing has come to be known for, but also the fabulous wines of Murphy’s Law, Ransom, and SNAFU. Best of all, some of the terrific local ingredients Fiala and team will be utilizing in the dinner will have come from some of our very own Biodiversity Grant recipients.
The price is set at $75 each and you can make reservations by contacting The Crossing at 314.721.7375

The Crossing and Local Wine Company
Slow Food St. Louis
July 7th, 2009

First Course
Passed Canapes from the local farmer’s markets and Blue Cheese Souffle
w/ 2007 Murphy’s Law White

Second Course
Gaspacho with warm walleye and Extra Virgin Olive Oil
w/ 2008 Ransom Pinot Gris ‘Selection’

Third Course
Missouri Chanterelle mushrooms with a Yellowtree Farm fines herbs
w/ 2006 Ransom Pinot Noir ‘Selection’

Fourth Course
Rain Crow Ranch grassfed Beef tenderloin with melted fennel and roasted red potatoes with local pole beans
w/ 2006 Murphy’s Law Red

Fifth Course
Trio of Goatsbeard Farm’s cheeses and local berries/fruits
w/ 2005 SNAFU Red

Sixth Course:
Trio of Illinois Peaches

How much do we really know about the food we buy at our local supermarkets and serve to our families?

Thanks to Landmark Theatres, Slow Food St. Louis has once again been graciously donated up to 75 seats to the Wednesday, June 24th viewing of Food, Inc. at the Tivoli Theatre.

Those interested in attending can RSVP to bill@slowfoodstl.org

For more information about the film, continue reading below or, visit director Robert Kenner’s website for a complete trailer and reviews of the film.

http://robertkennerfilms.com/films/files/detail.php?id=8

In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that’s been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won’t go bad, but we also have new strains of e coli–the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults. Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) along with forward thinking social  entrepreneurs like Stonyfield Farm’s Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms’ Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising — and often shocking truths — about what we eat, how it’s produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.

What: Food, Inc.
When: Wednesday, June 24th @7 PM
Where: The Tivoli - Delmar Blvd.

Slow Food St. Louis

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/.

Mark your calendars, this year’s SLOWednesday events start just two weeks from tomorrow, and the first is sure to be a hit…

May 13, 2009: Terra Madre Update

Intended to foster discussion and introduce innovative concepts in the field of food, gastronomy, globalization, and economics, Terra Madre is a bi-annual conference hosted by Slow Food international in Torino, Italy.

The last event was held in October of 2008, and Slow Food St. Louis sent three major delegates to represent them: Gerard Craft of Niche Restaurant, Dave Hillebrand of Prairie Grass Farms, and Brett Palmier of Biver farms. Enjoy this opportunity to offer them a belated welcome home and an ear to listen to their stories.

• SLOWednesday events take place at the Bottleworks in the Crown Room after the Farmers’ Market, at 7:00 p.m. Talks begin at 7:30 p.m., and Schlafly asks that everyone interested in ordering food and drink place their orders and be settled in before that time. Events are free and open to the public.

Our next Slow Food meeting will be Saturday, April 25th from 10 am to 3 pm. We will be hosting a workday at Shining Rivers Waldorf School in Webster Groves, home of a SLOW FOOD Edible Schoolyard in progress. We will take a tour of the campus to see the gardening in progress and future plans for what is going in.

Shining Rivers is located at 915 N. Elm Avenue, Webster Groves, MO 63119. If you are looking for a traditional school buidling you won’t find it, the school consists of 2 homes and 3 additional lots. Prior to 12 noon, please park on the street (Elm or Bell) or at Ivory Crockett Park across the street on Bell and after 12 noon feel free to park in the school parking lot at the Bell entrance.

We look forward to seeing you there!

How much do we really know about the food we buy at our local supermarkets and serve to our families?

Slow Food St. Louis is pleased to announce our participation in a special screening of the new documentary, Food, Inc.

The makers of the film, Magnolia Pictures, and Participant Media, have graciously donated 130 tickets to the Tuesday, April 14^th viewing of the film at the Tivoli Theatre. Officially due out June 12^th, this is your chance to not only see what is sure to be a moving film months before opening, but also for free!

Those interested in attending can RSVP at http://sites.google.com/site/foodincrsvp/

Once there, click on the link for St. Louis and enter in your information. It’s first come, first serve, and people will be contacted by the film company - not Slow Food St. Louis - about their tickets.

For more information, continue reading after the jump or visit director Robert Kenner’s website for a complete trailer and reviews of the film.

In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that’s been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won’t go bad, but we also have new strains of e coli–the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.

Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield Farm’s Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms’ Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising — and often shocking truths — about what we eat, how it’s produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.

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