About Slow Food Roaring Fork

I thought that our entire Slow Food membership might be interested in seeing this excellent article by Karen Connington in the Aspen Business Journal a few days ago. Many people have long felt that taking the foodie summits to another level of organization and involvement was a critical step in building a sustainable food community here in the Roaring Fork Valley. And I'm pleased to say that the reception to this idea was extremely positive, as you'll read.

If any of you have questions or are interested in learning more about plans for the food policy council, or would like to serve on its board of directors or committees, which are now being formed, don't hesitate to contact me or Dawne Vrabel or Gwen Garcelon (their email addresses are below).

In other chapter news, I am delighted to report that the community bread oven, co-sponsored by Slow Food Roaring Fork, is now up and producing great bread and pizza at the Third Street Center in Carbondale. For more information, contact Linda Criswell at branch.lrc@sopris.net or go to carbondalecommunityoven.weebly.com. It is our hope to fire up the oven once a week this winter, based on demand and, oh yes, the weather.

At a short meeting/pizza party a few weeks ago, the board also decided to increase our support for Aspen T.R.E.E.'s all-local food, free pre-Thanksgiving community dinner (go to re-generation.us for details), as well as to our WIC double-value coupon project, which was extremely successful at the Glenwood and Carbondale farmer's markets this past summer.

We hope to announce a couple of informal gatherings and food events this winter, so stay tuned, and above all, thank you for your tremendous support.

With best wishes for a bountiful holiday season, Tom

Tom Passavant
Slow Food Roaring Fork
970/963-0205
passavant@aol.com

Foodies plan politics at Rock Bottom
Ranch November 4, 2011, 12:14 pm
By Karen Connington

Sharing the Feast at the Foodie Summit. Photo by Lisa Houston Sharing the Feast at the Foodie Summit. Photo by Lisa Houston More images Farm to Table. Slow Food. Community Supported Agriculture. However you call it, one thing is certain: the locavore food movement is thriving in ColoradoÕs Western Slope. As consumer demand for sustainable cuisine increases, regional farmers, distributors and retailers face both new obstacles and new opportunities.

In this fifth of a six-part series, Aspen Business Journal's Karen Connington explores new waves of collaboration among community leaders and organizations. As they banded together for the fourth annual Foodie Summit this week at Rock Bottom Ranch, they set their sites on launching a new food policy council in the Roaring Fork Valley. Part 1 Sustainable Settings, Sustainable Earth. Part 2 Paonia goes Fresh and Wyld. Part 3 Two big voices in a small food economy. Part 4 Sharing the bounty at Carbondale Community Co-op

When Slow Foods Roaring Fork president Tom Passavant convened the first Foodie Summit four years ago, he remembers labeling the conference with tongue in cheek. At that point, he couldn't possibly have forecasted the speed of a new idiom moving so rapidly into the mainstream.

While New York Times bloggers debate a culture clash between "foodies" and geeks, Atlantic Monthly declared a "moral crusade against foodies" in an article last March. Apparently, the term is official. After all, who knew what a techie was ten years ago?

So it's not surprising that this week's Summit at Rock Bottom Ranch convened before a savvy audience, fully conscious of who they are and where they're going. Fortified by the luscious offerings of a pot-luck feast, more than fifty locavores gathered to lay the keystones of a food council in the Roaring Fork Valley.

Passavant planned this year's event with Gwen Garcelon, community organizer and president of HighLife Unlimited, and Dawne Vrabel, an agriculture and nutrition activist who recently moved to the valley from the east coast.

Based on past summits, and a mobbed meeting of foodies gathered by Garcelon in Carbondale last spring, the trio took heed of the local pitch and set out to strike the right cord.

"Tom wanted to bring the summits to the next level," noted Garcelon. "When we met, we saw that creating a food policy council was one way to knit this all together - as a container both for our own efforts and for the greater good of the community."

The first Food Policy Council emerged in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1982. Since then, more than 100 councils have organized throughout the U.S., many in conjunction with state and local governments. They all, in one fashion or another, work to link regional agriculture with local market economies. Some address food safety concerns; others, particularly in urban areas, tackle health and poverty issues as impacted by diet and nutrition.

The local committee is already collaborating with forums in Colorado and New Mexico, but is, at the same time, focused on sustaining an indigenous process.

"We're calling for a hub that becomes our own Penn Station, where anyone within the system can keep track of what JeromeÕs doing up at CRMPI, what foods are in season at Sustainable Settings, and how the Carbondale Coo-op is sourcing local crops," Vrabel explained.

Community leaders, growers and distributors shared food for thought during Sunday's Summit, drafting initial strategies and spotting common goals. But the blue ribbon that day was achieved by way of the dialogue itself, rather than any tactical measure.

"There are so many cutting-edge efforts and organizations here that have been doing pieces of this work for so long, but often with a lack of - and even resistance to - collaboration," Garcelon said. "ItÕs time that issue really surfaces, so we can take it on."

Passavant agreed. "Some people are, in fact, still pretty territorial around these issues, but pulling all the threads together is by far the most effective way to bring everyone in. It's also the most effective way to get the attention of the governmental agencies, who have a pretty large say in what goes on in our valley. We want a buy-in not just from Slow Foods, but from farmers and ranchers and land owners who would like to support local agriculture. Everyone across the board has got to be a part of this," he said.

Slow Foods Roaring Fork has maintained a constant though subtle presence here, gradually re-kindling now as the community fuels its ongoing projects and events.

Primary funding for the non-profit's sponsorship of school gardens, Third Street Center's Community Oven, and Garfield County's WIC program, comes through the Summer Harvest Social, an annual fund-raiser for Slow Foods at Mark Fischer's Six89 restaurant.

In response to Sunday's summit, Slow Food's board just approved a $5,000 contribution toward funding a part-time director;s position for the food council. Organizers will use the donation to kick-start phase one efforts - including mapping the regional food shed, creating an online presence, and working with county officials to re-draft zoning regulations for greenhouses and community gardens.

More money will be needed almost instantly. Grant applications, to both private and public sources - such as the Small Business Association - are next on the agenda.

But first, Passavant, Vrabel and Garcelon will practice what they preach, by meeting with Laurie Loeb and other Carbondale Co-op board members to flush out mutual interests. The Five Rivers Network, the Co-op's new non-profit, fund-raising entity, posts an agenda that overlaps the council's in a number of ways. If they can agree to streamline strategies and share a few buckets they might collect more rain.

In the meantime, everyone agrees that the Foodie Summits proceed, preferably with more frequency than one annual affair. Echoing the calling of Walter Paepcke during 1940's Aspen to birth the Goethe festival - which set the precedent for design summits, sports summits, medical and science summits - local foodies resonate with the frequency of our cultural heritage.

"They're just too valuable as a networking tool - not to mention a lot of fun," added Passavant.

Passavant's point makes sense as foodies were initially inspired by manna, vino, veggies - the tangible fruits of the earth. As noted by journalist Mark Bittman in this week's New York Times, the local foods movement is "no elitist plot."

Indeed, food nourishes the body and the body politic. Let's put our tables together and raise our glasses to the next round.

For more information: contact: slowfoodroaringfork.com;