Slow Food Chicago 2017 - In Review
/"It's no longer a few sprints here and there. It's a marathon and our cadence is ours to determine, so long as we keep moving. For me, that movement comes in the form of feeding people in all the ways I know how, but doing so with greater purpose and recruiting others to do the same since we are indeed stronger and more capable together." -Julia Turshen from her book, Feed The Resistance : Recipes + Ideas for Getting Involved
We call ourselves the Slow Food movement, fully recognizing that we rely on the power of individuals to join together and help us not just keep going, but to go farther. No matter your level of involvement this past year with our local Slow Food Chicago chapter, we're grateful to have your voice in chorus with our own. With your help, this year (2017), we accomplished a lot, including :
-Board Member attendance and participation in Soup & Bread at the Hideout with donations going to efforts to alleviate hunger through supporting local food pantries.
-Food Book Club was held throughout the year and throughout the city with book topics ranging from skin health to soil heath, all with the common theme of food.
-@slowfoodchicago was host to instagram takeovers from community partners and fellow Slow Food Members including - Gardeneers (Amanda Fieldman), Midwest Ark of Taste Committee Chair (Jennifer Breckner), Sitka Salmon Shares (Marsh Skeele), Green City Market, Snail of Approval Chair Laurell Sims, Photographer Rachel Brown Kulp, and Chef Katie Simmons. Not to mention our board member holiday takeover (more on that below).
-preSERVE Garden Volunteer Days were held throughout the growing season in North Lawndale in partnership with the Chicago Honey Co-op, North Lawndale Greening Committee and Neighborspace.
-In partnership with the Chicago Public Library, board member Heidi Hedeker presented A Tale of Three Wheats with Naaman Gambill presenting What's the Buzz about Beekeeping.
-Slow Food USA provided seeds to Chicago Public Schools to plant and grow in school gardens across the city.
-Our annual Tomato Seedling Sale sold over 100 Ark of Taste and heirloom variety tomatoes and other seedlings.
-Slow Food Chicago hosted the annual Summer Solstice Potluck at Christy Webber Landscapes.
-Organized crop mobs in partnership with Advocates for Urban Agriculture at : South Merrell Community Garden, Englewood Earl's Garden Mae's Kitchen, Earnest Earth, OTIS Fresh Farm, the Pie Patch, and Star Farm.
-Attended Slow Food Nations in Denver, Colorado - sending several delegates from Chicago who got to meet Alice Waters and Carlo Petrini and learn about what chapters throughout the US are doing to promote good, clean and fair food.
-Participated in the AUA's Summer Soiree at Big Delicious Planet.
-Co-hosted Uncommon Ground's annual Vegetarian Harvest Dinner.
-Hosted a Rooftop Garden Tour at McCormick Place.
-Celebrated at the Annual Farm Roast hosted at Local Foods - our biggest fundraiser of the year where we raised over $5K that will go to support delegates attending Terra Madre and Slow Food Nations.
-And to wrap up a successful year, we celebrated Terra Madre Day - Slow Food's annual day to promote the diversity of food traditions and production during our Annual Meeting at Ampersand CoWork.
To close out December, the Slow Food Chicago Board of Directors hosted a holiday takeover leading up to the holiday season. Hope you enjoyed sharing in our favorite memories, traditions and recipes. To recreate some highlights from our board takeover, see below!
-For Dan's Latke recipe - click here.
-For Heidi's corn cookie with pickled strawberry jam - click here.
-For Molly's creamed spinach recipe - click here.
Again, we could not have made it through such a successful 2017 without you. Looking forward to what 2018 brings for the good, clean and fair movement.
"Raise your words, not voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder." - Rumi
