Thank You for Joining Us at Good Food Community Fair!

The times challenge us. Slow Food Urban San Diego is grateful for our community - you uplift us in times like these and help to ground us in others. Thank you for your important contributions to our Good Food Community Fair: True Cost of Food and to our local food system. Thank you for sharing your wisdom, skills, knowledge, sense of hope, resiliency, successes, humor and delicious food and drinks.

This year's Fair celebrated how we are addressing the True Cost of Food in our region and acknowledged the work we have yet to do.

We discussed the true cost of food and farm labor, sustainable seafood, wasted food, soil health and land management, preserving cultural traditions and more. Thank you for sharing your stories and local treats, for teaching us about heirloom seeds and gyotaku, how to prepare "three-sisters," and how to connect to our farmers and fishermen and support healthy food systems. Slow Food looks forward to continuing the effort with you, our community. Thank you to all who contributed and volunteered, and all who attended, and to the WorldBeat Cultural Center for being our gracious host.

We're grateful to our generous sponsors who made it possible to charge only a "suggested donation," so that we can truly bring the Slow Food mission of good, clean and fair food to ALL. Creating opportunities to connect that are accessible is important to us.

Thank you to all who attended and partook of this community event. If you missed this year's good, clean and fair food fun, you can catch the next one in 2018. And of course, you can find us planting, eating, learning, teaching, connecting, cooking and expanding community with our partners in the meantime.

From all of us at Slow Food Urban San Diego, eat well, grow well, and be well.

Slow Food Helps Downtown Seniors Eat Good, Clean, Fair Food

This November Slow Food Urban San Diego's Market Bucks program provided 30 local seniors with a farmer's market tour, $10 worth of free produce and a cooking demonstration featuring a fall salad trio. Thirty members of Serving Seniors' Feeling Fit Club joined Slow Food for a tour of the Little Italy Mercato and a bag of fresh produce from Suzie's Farm, courtesy of our generous Market Bucks donors.

Following the tour, one of Slow Food's resident chefs provided a cooking demonstration of nourishing and nutritious salads featuring the fresh produce each senior took home.

The participating seniors loved exploring the Mercato, and learning about the fresh, local food available in their neighborhood and how to easily prepare it at home. Thank you to everyone who purchased market bucks to help us provide fresh produce for this program and to our partners at the Little Italy Mercato, Serving Seniors and Suzie's Farm. We look forward to hosting this event again in the future!

GET INVOLVED! 2015 Board of Directors Elections

Apply by November 7th to info@slowfoodurbansandiego.org

Slow Food Urban San Diego is seeking qualified and passionate volunteers for our 2015/2016 term. Terms, unless otherwise noted, are two years with the option to re-apply for a second term. The following positions are up for re-elections: Co-Chair, Adult Education The Education Committee Co-Chair for Adult Education works with Education Co-Chair for Youth/Family to hold monthly Education Committee meetings, striving to engage and include Slow Food Urban San Diego's Membership as much as possible.  The Adult Education Committee Chair is expected to organize two classes annually geared towards adult taste and cooking education. Chair, Food Justice The Food Justice Chair holds monthly committee meetings and organizes Slow Bucks, a program which provides free local produce to low-income seniors.  The Food Justice Chair is also the liaison to the Slow Food California Policy Committee, which meets monthly via conference call. Good Food Community Fair Chair The Good Food Community Fair Chair is responsible for producing our annual event, The Good Food Community Fair, in conjunction with Food Day in October.  This position also leads other events as determined by the Board. Secretary The secretary takes minutes during board meetings and administers annual elections. Communications The Communications Chair holds monthly committee meetings and oversees the newsletter, blog, website and social media. Treasurer The Treasurer maintains the books for the organization, handles expense reimbursements, accounts payable, and annual filings.  The treasurer is responsible for leading the budgeting process and providing financial guidance to the Board.   This position presents a Treasurer's report at monthly board meetings.  A working knowledge of Quickbooks is required but training by the outgoing treasurer will be provided if necessary. Co-Chair, Membership The Membership Co-Chair maintains and updates the membership list and reports membership status at each board meeting.  Membership co-chairs share the responsibility of organizing membership drives in accordance to Slow Food USA directives and take the lead in planning Slow Food Urban San Diego's Annual Membership meeting. Membership Co-Chairs may develop and coordinate additional programs to build the Chapter membership. Volunteer Coordinator The Volunteer Coordinator handles the volunteer database, organizes volunteers for Slow Food and partner events and organizes one volunteer appreciation event annually. Chair-elect/Vice Chair The Chair-elect works with the Co-Chair to administrate the Slow Food Urban San Diego Board of Directors and maintain chapter standing.  Candidates must have served on the Slow Food Urban San Diego Board for a minimum of one year and agree to assume the Board Chair position in 2016 for a one-year term. Chair The Chair administrates the Slow Food Urban San Diego Board of Directors and maintains chapter standing.  Candidates must have served on the Slow Food Urban San Diego Board for a minimum of one year.  This is a one year term. If you are interested in applying to the the Slow Food Urban San Diego Board of Directors, please email a brief bio and letter of interest indicating the position in which you are interested to info@slowfoodurbansandiego.org by November 7th.  In-person interviews will be scheduled the second and third weekends in November. Sincerely, Slow Food Urban San Diego Board of Directors

Slow Food and Chipotle lauch new partnership supporting local school gardens

Slow Food USA today announced a new partnership with Chipotle Mexican Grill to create or support approximately 100 schools gardens in 10 metropolitan areas across the country. Through hands-on discovery and an innovative school curriculum, the organizations hope to cultivate a new generation of kids who care more about where food comes from and how it is prepared.

"This partnership will dramatically increase the impact that our National School Garden Program will have by extending our reach deeper into communities and offering greater access to gardens and food education to children across the country," said Richard McCarthy, executive director of Slow Food USA.  "Chipotle is a company that is working to change fast food from the inside out, and we're thrilled to be working with them to take our Garden Program to the next level."

In the partnership’s first 15 months, Slow Food USA and Chipotle will work together to build or support school gardens in 10 metropolitan areas across the country, including Austin, Boston, Dallas, Denver, New York (Long Island and northern New Jersey), Louisville, Orange County, Phoenix, Miami and San Diego.

Slow Food Urban San Diego will provide a host of services to support the local school garden program, including customized curriculum, funding, labor, and other resources to match the needs of the individual schools and/or districts, with in-depth technical assistance from the Slow Food USA national staff. Chipotle will provide funding through micro grants, in-restaurant fundraisers and hands-on support.

“With this new partnership, we want to give children access to a hands-on learning experience at their schools, to teach them how food is grown, and the importance of cooking and healthy eating,” said Mark Crumpacker, chief marketing and development officer at Chipotle.

Both Slow Food USA and Chipotle share a belief in making better food widely available. Slow Food USA is committed to good, clean and fair food for all, and Chipotle is changing the way people think about and eat fast food by using ingredients that are raised with respect for the land, the animals and the farmers. Separately, each organization has made significant strides in their respective areas, and together, they will work to improve the food culture in schools across the U.S.A.

ABOUT SLOW FOOD USA

Slow Food USA is part of the global Slow Food network of over 100,000 members in more than 150 countries.  Slow Food is the only grassroots organization working locally, nationally and internationally to link the pleasures of the table with a commitment to community and the environment. With our National School Garden Program, we are teaching the next generation how to grow, prepare and share food responsibly. For more information, visit SlowFoodUSA.org.

ABOUT CHIPOTLE

Steve Ells, founder, chairman and co-CEO, started Chipotle with the idea that food served fast did not have to be a typical fast food experience. Today, Chipotle continues to offer a focused menu of burritos, tacos, burrito bowls (a burrito without the tortilla) and salads made from fresh, high-quality raw ingredients, prepared using classic cooking methods and served in a distinctive atmosphere. Through our vision of Food With Integrity, Chipotle is seeking better food from using ingredients that are not only fresh, but that—where possible—are sustainably grown and Responsibly Raised™ with respect for the animals, the land, and the farmers who produce the food. In order to achieve this vision, we focus on building a special people culture that is centered on creating teams of top performers empowered to achieve high standards. This people culture not only leads to a better dining experience for our customers, it also allows us to develop future leaders from within. Chipotle opened with a single restaurant in 1993 and currently operates more than 1,600 restaurants including six ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen restaurants, and is an investor in an entity that owns and operates one Pizzeria Locale. For more information, visit Chipotle.com

Slow Food Urban San Diego Announces the Formation of the Sustainable Seafood Committee

Sustainability and leadership are central to the core values of Slow Food Urban San Diego, and on April 26 we were honored by San Diego Oceans Foundation with an Ocean Leadership Award for Community Group of the Year – presented at the Oceans Benefit Gala celebrating sustainable seafood. April also saw the launch of the newest committee initiative of SFUSD – the Sustainable Seafood Committee. The committee will work to support local sustainable seafood initiatives in our community and link San Diegans with artisans of the sea, the local fishermen, to promote a direct market and working waterfront. The award recognizes an organization for making “a significant impact in enhancing the marine environment, protecting sensitive marine resources, and promoting community involvement by inspiring, motivating, and educating others.” We will take that as affirmation that we are headed in the right direction. The Sustainable Seafood Committee will provide another avenue to support sustainable food in a manner that honors the region’s rich maritime history while fulfilling our role as a trusted community resource.

The award and the committee are milestones of achievement and vision – how far we have come and where we hope to lead. Over the past year SFUSD has shown its growing commitment, as a sponsor of  the 3^rd annual Maritime Gala Dinner & Awards Ceremony – A Sustainable Seafood Feast (put on by The Maritime Alliance – “promoting Blue Tech & Blue Jobs” that support sustainable oceans), as a trusted source in the selection of San Diego Coastkeeper as the 2011 recipient of the maritime community’s Sustainable Seafood Award.

The committee is chaired by Kristen Goodrich (Board Member, 2009-11).  Kristen is the Coastal Training Program Coordinator at the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve in Imperial Beach.  She has a masters degree in marine affairs and policy and experience in developing sustainable seafood guides and fisheries management.

Work Day at Mt. Hope Community Garden

[singlepic id=68 w=500 h=400 float=center] Members of the Slow Food Urban San Diego Board, directors of Project New Village's Mt Hope Community Garden and Mt. Hope community members gathered on Saturday for a day of work.  Projects included gravel clearing, compost sifting and sign removal.  SFUSD presented Diane Moss, the project director, with the proceeds from our joint Slow Food Mixer at Local Habit to be used towards a Rototiller.

The vision is great and there is much work to be done!  Stop by any Saturday from 1 - 4 to volunteer your time and be a part of a  great project.

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