Slow Food Negroni Week Fund Unveils 2025 Education Scholarships

What’s the Slow Food Negroni Week Fund?

Powered by donations raised during Negroni Week—an annual global initiative featuring over 12,000 venues across 79 countries, raising over $630,000 in 2024—the fund awards grants to projects and individuals aligned with Slow Food’s values of good, clean, and fair food and beverage systems.

Meet the 2025 Scholarship Winners

This year’s Education Scholarship recipients come from around the world, forming a diverse group of early-career bartenders, baristas, sommeliers, and beverage professionals.

Among them are passionate and visionary professionals driven by a shared commitment to sustainability, equity, and cultural preservation in the food and beverage world. Also this year, the entire cohort will be guided by Danny Childs, an anthropologist and ethnobotanist who studied traditional plant medicine in the Amazon before returning to New Jersey, where he now leads the bar program at Farm and Fisherman Tavern. A Slow Food USA member and Ark of Taste contributor, Childs brings deep knowledge of seasonality, place-based ingredients, and regenerative practices to his mentorship.

In 2025, winners will join two key gatherings:

• Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans (July 20–25), a premier event for spirits professionals
• Terra Madre Americas in Sacramento (September 26–28), a Slow Food event focused on sustainable food systems in the Americas.

At these events, they will engage in tailored programming that blends technical skills with community building, storytelling, and immersive learning—empowering them to grow as hospitality leaders and advocates for a better future.

Find here all the professionals

Why It Matters

These scholarships do more than fund attendance at major events—they open doors to opportunity, connection, and long-term impact. For many recipients, this is a pivotal moment in their careers: a chance to access training, mentorship, and networks that would otherwise remain out of reach.

But the value goes deeper. The Education Scholarships embody Slow Food’s mission in action.

They nurture a rising generation of professionals who not only excel in their craft but are also committed to building a food and beverage culture that is sustainable, just, and truly global.

Looking Ahead

While the Education Scholarships have been awarded, the Innovation Award winners will be announced in July 2025 here.