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.

Meet Your Fishermen

Their days usually start with listening to the weather. And are filled with doing what they love: fishing. Not slave to traffic patterns so much as the winds and currents, they harvest the food we eat in ever changing conditions.

Meet our fishermen on Feb 25th at an evening of local seafood & local wine!  Sea bass and box crab caught by San Diego's fishermen  and crafted into delicacies by MIHO Gastrotruck Wine produced by J*Brix

Seafood Demonstrations by the pros!

San Diego’s fishermen* harvest a diverse array of species: from swordfish, the most cunning of catches, to sea urchins, the sessile ocean starbursts. From 60+ species of rockfish which most restaurants call snapper to opah, a warm-blooded newcomer on the San Diego seafood scene with three distinct cuts of meat ranging from the fatty belly to the beef-like abductor muscle. Plus albacore, sardine, snails, whelks, black cod, octopus, spot prawns and more. The list of our local abundance goes on.

“San Diego is a unique location for the seafood industry in the world. We have a large diversity of year-round species. We have seasonal migrations of pelagic fish. And we have weather that makes seafood available year round.” – Kelly Fukushima, first generation San Diego fishermen.

On Saturday, February 25^th, San Diegans have the opportunity to meet some of our local independent fishermen. The folks who chose a life of constant change – weather, regulations and fish availability – to provide our food. Slow Food celebrates these food producers. Box crab demonstrations all night and sea bass breakdown at 7pm. 

Kelli and Dan Major Fishing Vessel: Plan B Fishes: Box crab and just about anything available from Point Conception to the Mexico border and out 200 miles – lobster, octopus, whelk, rockfish, bonito, yellowtail…

Kelly Fukushima Fishing Vessel: Three Boys Fishes: swordfish, squid, crab, lobster, seabass, groundfish

Antonio Estrada Fishing Vessel: Caroline Louise Fishes: sea bass, including the one we’ll be eating on Sat

U.S. fisheries are among the most stringently regulated in the world.

“When San Diegans eat seafood from California fishermen, they are making a great choice for sustainable, responsible seafood and they are supporting artisanal fishing families.” – Kelly Fukushima

*Most people who fish commercially, whether man or woman, prefer the term fisherman over fisher, fisherwoman, etc.

And Evening with San Diego’s Independent Fishermen and Small-Production Winemakers

Slow Food Urban San Diego invites you to a Slow Fish & Slow Wine event featuring small-production winemakers and San Diego's independent fishermen. Hometown heroes MIHO Catering Co. will provide sea-to-street cuisine on-site with support from Hostess Haven, who’ll be handling the décor and look of the evening. The night will feature seafood demonstrations by the fishermen who caught the night’s sustainable fish as well as tunes, visuals, and antics provided by the Wine Not? team. 

GET TICKETS HERE

This February 25th, Wine Not?, the L.A.-based event and lifestyle unit of Bon Appétit Wine Editor Marissa A. Ross and event producer Evan Enderle, comes to San Diego in support of Slow Food Urban San Diego and J. Brix Wines. 

The event takes place from 6 to 9pm on the 25^th. Tickets are $25 and include admission, wine tasting and small bites. Advance purchase is strongly recommended as space is limited. Tickets are available via WineNOT. Proceeds will benefit SFUSD’s programs to promote good, clean & fair seafood in San Diego.   The Rose is located at 2219 S. 30^th Street and can be reached via telephone at 619.281.0718.

Vinavanti Urban Winery Brings Locally Sourced, Craft Wine to San Diego

In a San Diego market overflowing with craft breweries, craft wine could be considered the black sheep (or bottle) of the bunch. Until you try it, that is. Then you just might become a dedicated convert like we are at Slow Food Urban San Diego.

What is craft wine anyway?

According to Eric Van Drunen, winemaker and owner of Vinavanti Urban Winery, “Craft wine is the punk music of the wine world.”

Most makers today have their wines down to a science, adding yeast, sulfites and other flavors to fit a specific “classical” or “pop” flavor profile. Van Drunen, however, takes a truly minimalist approach to winemaking where he adds nothing more than San Diego County grown grapes (they have a great map in the tasting room that shows all the local farms they source from!) and lets nature do its thing. Unique and surprising wines with subtle flavors representative of the grapes and farms where they are grown are the result.

Van Drunen’s Vinavanti label and tasting room evolved out of many hours drinking wine and eating good food with friends. He started buying and blending wines in 2007 to develop flavors that paired well with food and that he could sell at an accessible price. In 2010 he made his own wine for the first time using conventional methods. It turned out so-so. Bored of the limited flavor profiles of traditional wines, in 2011 he made his first natural wine and hasn't looked back. From there, he continued to refine his process, focusing on doing as little as possible (or nothing at all) beyond sourcing local, organically grown grapes and letting nature and wild yeast do the work in the fermentation process. He bottles his wines unfiltered, highlighting the terroir through distinct colors, textures, and tastes.

Now, five years later, Vinavanti has more than 11 wines on their always evolving tasting menu, ranging from a sparkling Ladona Muscat grown in Pauma Valley that tastes something like a cross between a sour beer and kombucha to their most popular GSM, a rich and smoky blend of Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre grown in Temecula Valley.

So what can you expect when stopping by the only certified organic winery in San Diego?

“We aim to create an environment where you can enjoy a unique tasting experience in an inviting space,” say Van Drunen.

Van Drunen himself is often pouring glasses at the bar and loves to chat about natural winemaking, his background in physics and many topics in between. Community tables make for great social gathering spaces, and romantic two-tops are perfect for quieter date nights. 

Vinavanti is located at 1477 University Ave in Hillcrest, and as Slow Food Urban San Diego’s newest Member Benefits Partner, they offer a 10% discount on wines to card-carrying Slow Food members. Be sure to check them out for weekly specials and events including cellar tours (they ferment most of their wines right in the urban winery) and movie nights, and ask them about their membership program and wines on tap.

Bringing the Table to the Farm - Deckman's en el Mogor

by Sarah M. Shoffler, SFUSD Board Member

In the heart of the Valle de Guadalupe wine country, up a hillside you’ll find the sensate joy of Deckman’s en el Mogor. Set on Mogor Ranch, this restaurant aims to “bring the table to the farm.” It delivers a Slow Food feast.

The extensive Mogor Ranch and winery grows or produces all the wine, vegetables, herbs, lamb and eggs that the talented Drew Deckman uses in his outdoor-served cuisine. Not only is the food fresh, you get to experience the terroir in which it was grown while you eat it. Sipping Mogor’s wine in the place its grapes were grown and the wine vinted, nibbling produce grown not feet away from where you sit opens the senses to a place. Drew sources all his seafood and other ingredients, from salt to cheese to beef, as locally and as responsibly as possible. He knows his food producers.

This all means that the menu is seasonal, ever changing and made to order. I’m no food writer, but I can tell you his food is delicious, cooked with care and creativity. Deckman is also passionate about oysters. So if you love these bivalves, you’ll find a friend at Deckman’s.

Deckman’s is an outdoor restaurant, sometimes equipped with haybale walls and a makeshift roof, but outdoors nonetheless. It overlooks the Valle. You see wineries for miles from your table. You smell the warmth from the Ranch rising as the sun sets. Deckman, who refers to himself as an ingredient facilitator not a chef despite his Michelin star, cooks on an outdoor grill. He chats with guests as they come and go. It’s altogether convivial. The Ranch dog, Pyrenea, might make a pass through the restaurant for a few scritches if she’s off duty from guarding the flock. All to say, it’s a magical experience rooted in the place.

Slow Food Urban San Diego is pleased to welcome Deckman’s en el Mogor as one of our newest Member Benefit Partners. SFUSD members get 10% off their entire Deckman’s en el Mogor bill. We encourage you to make time to visit the winery, as well.

Deckman's en el Mogor Km. 85.5 Highway 3 Tecate-Ensenada San Antonio De Las Minas, Baja California, Mexico Contact them at mogor@deckmans.com / telephone: 646-188-3960

Best. Job. Ever. Making Slow Wine in a Fast World.

by Sarah Shoffler, SFUSD Board Member

I used to think that “rockstar” had to be the best job in the world. According to Cecilia Naldoni, winemaker at the Grifalco Winery in Basilicata, Italy, I was wrong.

“We do the best job in the world.”

One of four winemakers from Italy touring southern California this month as part of Slow Wine 2016, Naldoni and her colleagues love what they do, despite the difficulties.

Join us for Slow Wine with the Matriarchs on Friday, January 29th.

Slow Food believes that wine, just as with food, must be good, clean, and fair – not just good. Slow Wine supports small-scale Italian winemakers who use traditional techniques, respect the environment and terroir, and safeguard the diversity of Italy’s grapes.

“Slow Wine is how we approach life. It is our philosophy,” says Naldoni. But this lifestyle, this philosophy is not easy to affect. “The difficulty is that our world is going the opposite way, and we have to resist and fight this a lot.”

Sorelle Bronca, whose winemaker Antonella Bronca is on tour, grows their vines on high steep hills in Veneto, where standing can be difficult, let alone farming. Moreover, organic wine, which all four visiting winemakers produce, in general tends to produce lower yields than conventionally-produced wines. Basilicata, where the Grifalco winery is located, is the most mountainous region in Italy, which can’t make farming grapes easy.

While producing the high quality “Slow Wines” that these women make takes sacrifice and work in difficult land, they contend that making wine this way is worth it. The rewards are substantial. “Slow wine rewards not only the wine but also the relationship of the grower with the territory,” claims Elisa Piazza, enologist at Sorelle Bronca in Veneto, Italy.

Angela Fronti of Istine in Tuscany says that the most rewarding part is being able to produce what she loves in the way she loves. “Maybe in the beginning it was difficult to change the mentality of my parents. They are from a generation who produced conventionally. But actually, they are happy now, too,” says Fronti.

“We are a woman company that produces high quality wines and, like people do with women, we pamper our vineyards and land,” says Piazza whose family has been producing wine for three generations. “Wine is the pleasure of life,” she contends.

Naldoni describes the pleasure she has in producing Slow Wine and how the wines themselves benefit. “We are always under the sky, looking up and thinking about our vineyard. We can be responsible, sensitive and manage our grapes as we would a little child, leaving his best peculiarities alive, and just letting him be what he can be, at his best.”

Saluti to letting wine be its best self.

Join us at Slow Wine with the Matriarchs to meet these Italian vintners on Friday, January 29^th at The Rose in South Park. 6:30-8:30 pm.

Angela Fronti of Istine from Tuscany Antonella Bronca of Sorelle Bronca from Veneto Cecillia Naldoni Piccin of Grifalco from Basilicata Matilda Poggi of Le Fraghe from Veneto

Taste 8+ wines, enjoy a complimentary aperativo, and chat with four rad ladies making organic wine. $5 from every ticket benefits Slow Food Urban San Diego.

Buy your tickets ahead of time or at the door.