There's an interesting story about the Slow Food Movement on the front page of today's San Francisco Chronicle, with a Valley connection.
More than 6,000 people -- small farmers, food processors and chefs from around the world -- gathered in Turin, Italy, to swap ideas and experiences recently, including a strong contingent of Latino, African American and Hmong farmers from the Valley.
The Slow Food Movement seeks to de-industrialize food production, rescuing flavor and small farms alike in the process. That could have profound implications for the Valley, where small farms are under constant pressure and even threat of extinction. The idea is to boost local agriculture by growing and selling fresh produce to local consumers, simultaneously making it possible for locals to eat better and healthier, and allowing more small farms to survive and prosper.
From the story: "The point, said Blong Lee, a representative of the Fresno County Economic Opportunities Commission, is to get Central Valley farmers thinking about ways they can distinguish themselves and their crops, and to get their products into the local economy instead of the global one."
Delicious idea.
Once again, we find ourselves having to play "catch up," while the rest of the parade speeds into the future.
This is an area that we should have rightly claimed as our own. Now we need to find out about what other places are doing, and start doing those things even better.
Fresno: The Garden City under the Sierra Nevadas
I read this review of The Omnivore's Dilemma just yesterday... fortuitous timing.
Gristmill is a blog that devotes a lot of attention to the local food movement.