Shooting Stars of Thought |

Slow Food Nation is taking place this weekend in San Francisco, an event that is expected to attract 50,000 people who are concerned with a good, clean, and fair food system. After a bit of debate, I decided I couldn’t justify heading up to SF for the weekend, but also decided that a lack of travel didn’t mean I could spend a weekend paying attention to, or at least thinking long and hard about, our food system.

I also decided that there was bound to be plenty of ways to experience the activities of SFN in an absentee fashion, and so, I’ve decided to spend the next few days in persuit of a virtual slow food nation experience.  My guess is videos, interviews, and blog posts galore will start to spring up in the next few days, so in addition to slowly eating my way through this weekend, I’m going to see if I can’t corral together some of the best of SFN in the media.

Here’s a few things to get started:

First, head over to the Slow Food Nation website if you haven’t already checked it out.

Second, read–and comment on–today’s biggest announcement: the Food Declaration

Then, start thinking about all there is that needs to change to make this happen. Here’s a mp3 of an interview yesterday on San Francisco’s KQUD public radio with Eric Schlosser, Michael Pollan, Anya Fernald, and Vandana Shiva, all of whom will be participating in forums this weekend.

Here’s a snippet:

“I think that the food movement is the strongest movement for social change in the United States and increasingly world wide.”

-Eric Schlosser

And finally, a virtual stroll around the Slow Food Nation Victory Garden, the quarter-acre garden installed in San Francisco’s Civic Center this summer. Here’s a video from the dedication of the garden earlier this summer.

“The key of this movement is about social equity, it’s about social justice, it’s about environmental justice, its about public health in the truest sense of the word, it’s about environmental stewardship, its about connecting ourselves to ourselves and to our neighbors, and our friends, and community…”

-Gavin Newsom, SF Mayor

Slow Food Nation Victory Garden Dedication

And here are some photos set to interviews and a brief explanation of the Victory Garden:

Slow Food Nation Victory Garden

Time to hit the sack and dream about food. More to follow later this weekend!