Slow Food Nations: Let’s Talk About the Future Of Food!

Among the hot topics to be discussed are how to use innovative agriculture without losing tradition and how to make the food system more equal, inclusive, and fair for all.

The third edition of Slow Food Nations, Slow Food’s biggest event in the US, will take place in Denver, Colorado, from July 19 to 21. The event will transform downtown Denver’s Larimer Square into a 3-day free international food festival with cooking demonstrations, food tastings, family activities, block parties, and discussions centered around food that is good, clean and fair for all.

Headliners this year include Slow Food advocate and renowned chef Alice Waters, alongside Drew Deckman, Kristen Essig, Ron Finley, Caroline Glover, Sandor Katz, Adrian Miller, Kevin Mitchell, Davia Nelson, Urvashi Rangan, Steven Satterfield, Alex Seidel, Alon Shaya, and Pierre Thiam. Moreover, Mexican chef Regina Escalante Bush and Icelandic chef Gunnar Gíslason will be at the event.

Justice is served: Slow Food Nations brings Food Equity, Inclusion and Justice to the table

The theft of land; the exploitation of farmworkers, fishers, and other food and seafood chain workers; lack of access to land, oceans, freshwaters, and healthy foods; food apartheid; and diet-related health problems—just to name a few of the issues that we face today—are rooted in race, class, and gender disparities. As these injustices continue, the voices of people of color, poor or low-income people, and women are all to often excluded from the mainstream food movement.

At Slow Food Nations, Slow Food USA, the EIJ (Equity, Inclusion and Justice) working group, and Slow Food Turtle Island (an organization of Native North American food producers) will interact broadly in a series of events to dismantle racism and classism in the food system by prioritizing support for underrepresented producers and integrating the topics of equity and justice into the event’s program. There will be a featured discussion of the past, present, and future of African-American food heritage, a panel for initiatives and programs to re-introduce indigenous traditional foods, a talk on how agriculture is affected by the shortage of immigrant workers, and a discussion on how guerrilla gardens, school-supported agriculture, and seasonal cooking can create social and environmental change.  In addition, the first day of the event will be exclusively dedicated to the Leader Summit: Farmers and producers, Slow Food community leaders and organizational partners, chefs, educators, and other food leaders from all over the US will gather to learn new leadership skills and explore crucial issues in the food system. For example, Michael Robert will lead a workshop called Reclaiming Native Truth, coordinated by Slow Food Turtle Island to help leaders work better with indigenous communities. Slow Food USA needs the experiences, assets, and insights of people and communities of color and diverse socioeconomic backgrounds to center the voices of those most impacted and to help make fundamental changes in the food system and society more broadly.

Slow Food USA is committed to listening to those most impacted by food injustice; to being honest about how white supremacy, economic exploitation, and cultural domination have fundamentally shaped the agricultural history of the U.S.; to furthering our own education on how to build a just and equitable food system and supporting our local chapters to do the same; to honoring local knowledge; and to taking appropriate action to support, deepen, or create local food justice and food sovereignty efforts.

In 2018, Slow Food USA launched a new initiative to spread joy and justice in food with the release of the “Equity, Inclusion and Justice Manifesto.” The goal of this document was to acknowledge the structural inequalities within our food system and the voices that are marginalized as a result. Today, this work has evolved into a national working group of Slow Food leaders dedicated to the development of an equitable, just, and healthy local food system—one that truly works for all of us.

Equity, Inclusion and Justice (EIJ) must be within the DNA of the values espoused by Slow Food.  The philosophy of good, clean and fair must move forward in an EIJ framework that includes:

• Good-quality, flavorsome, and healthy food with cultural relevance, available and accessible to all. This incorporates supporting efforts that cultivate food justice, equitable access, and collaborations that encourage food sovereignty.
• Clean production that does not harm the environment or people, to  ensure that environmental justice principles are applied in the fields as farmworkers plant, pick, and harvest, and on boats as fishers harvest and process.
• Fair prices for consumers (co-producers) and fair conditions and pay for producers and all workers. This is part of the fight for the dignity and economic justice of labor from field to fork. There should be geographical and equitable access for all communities.

To have a look at the full program of Slow Food Nations you can visit: slowfoodnations.org/events/

About Slow Food

Slow Food is a global network of local communities founded in 1989 to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions and counteract the rise of fast food culture. Since its founding, Slow Food has grown into a global movement involving millions of people in over 160 countries, working to ensure that everyone has access to good, clean and fair food There are over 150 chapters in the USA.

Media Contact:

Lori Lefevre Wells, media relations – [email protected] or 917.627.0803

Giulia Capaldi, Slow Food HQ – Press Office – [email protected]