Join SFAP at Bellair Farm, Sept. 9

Celebrate the pleasure of the table!

Discover flavors of some Ark of Taste items!

Learn about SFAP's progress over the last year!

Find out how you can get involved!

Soak in the beauty of Bellair Farm!

Bring a dish to share, beverages, a blanket to sit on, and your own eating utensils.  

4 pm at Bellair Farm

Vinegar. Like none you've tasted before.

Right here, in Central Virginia, you can find vinegar like you've never tasted before.  Virginia Vinegar Works is producing vinegars in the ancient orleans- style from grapes grown right here.  We challenge you to try their white or red wine vinegars next to the store-bought varieties that you may have lurking in your pantry.

Orleans-style vinegars enjoy a place on Slow Food USA's Ark of Taste.

You can source these vinegars directly form Virginia Vinegar Works or The Local Food Hub.

OR come taste them at SFAP's upcoming potluck at Bellair Farm.

Celebrate Edna Lewis at the Edible Food Fest in Orange

Join Slow Food Albemarle Piedmont in a celebration of Central Virginia food and a recognition of Orange County native Edna Lewis.

Festival-goers will be able to choose from a variety of activities and events throughout the day, which is coming up on August 11 from 11AM until 5PM in downtown Orange.  

Learn the secrets of Southern cooking from Monticello historian Leni Sorensen and through screenings of The Edna Lewis Story Documentary.

Hear from acclaimed keynote speaker Joel Salatin, meet and interact with sustainable living experts in the “Chat  Room,” and check out our outstanding lineup of live music, kids events and more.

Don't miss the mouth watering series of Chef Demos.  Look for Chefs Gail Hobbs Paige and Melissa Close Hart.

http://ediblefest.com/2012/events/

HIll and Holler SOLD OUT!

We are thrilled to announce that the Hill and Holler dinner at Bellair Farm on June 24 to benefit our local Slow Food Chapter has SOLD OUT! However, Hill and Holler will continue to have farm-based dinners to celebrate our amazing local food scene AND benefit local food-related non-profit organizations.  Make sure you follow them on Facebook to stay involved with this yummy configuration of the farm table.

Hill and Holler configuration will benefit Slow Food Albemarle Piedmont

Join us, June 24th, 2012

A four-course dinner, created by Chef Christian Kelly of Maya restaurant, each course paired with Cardinal Point wine, in support of Slow Food Albemarle Piedmont at Bellair Farm. Canapes, wine, friendly banter, and music begin at 6:00. Donations of $100 include one dinner ticket.

For more information:

http://hillandholler.org/events.php

Ark of Taste Sourwood Honey

Chocolatier at Blenheim Vineyards! 


Wednesday, June 6
Potts Chocolates from Meherrin, VA sources local sourwood honey to make their caramels! Sourwood honey is on the Slow Food US Ark of Taste. 

Special pricing of $10 is offered to Slow Foodies. Mentionthis post to get your discount.

RSVP required. 434-293-5366 or email blenheimartisan@gmail.com.
For those over 21 a glass of wine will be provided.

Swing by Blenheim Vineyards!
RSVP required. 434-293-5366 or email blenheimartisan@gmail.com.

Handmade Sausage at Blenheim

How can you resist sausage?

Chris Mattera of Sausage Craft and Salt Pork in Richmond, enlightens us on

his craft of creating handmade sausages and curing meat, complete with a
sausage-making demonstration.


Part lecture, part question & answer and part demonstration and tasting. 


Special pricing $10 is offered to Slow Foodies.  Just mention this post to get your discount. 


RSVP required. 434-293-5366or email blenheimartisan@gmail.com. 
For those over 21 a glass of wine will be provided.


Swing by Blenheim Vineyards!
RSVP required. 434-293-5366 or email blenheimartisan@gmail.com.

Keep Wayside Fried Chicken Part of Our Food Heritage

Ever been to a tailgate or the Foxfield Races here in Charlottesville?  If so, you know the wonders of Wayside fried chicken.  It's the kind of food you might think about when it isn't around.  Who wouldn't want some Wayside fried chicken right now, in fact?  Did you know that one of the principles of Slow Food is to help support food heritage?  Wayside fried chicken is certainly represents part of central Virginia's food heritage.  Come out to Wayside this Saturday to help keep it from closing its doors (as a result of the prolonged bridge construction on JPA).  If you can't make it on Saturday, put Wayside on top of your list for a yummy Virginia meal.
http://www2.dailyprogress.com/business/2012/may/21/cash-mob-plans-hit-jpa-ar-1931483/

Discount for Slow Foodies at Blenheim Events

Blenheim launches their weekly series: Artisans in the Vineyard tomorrow 

(Wednesday, May 16th) 6 pm with Gail Hobbs-Page.

Gail Hobbs-Page of Caromont Farm speaks about life as a farmer,
cheesemaker, chef, and local food advocate. The Southern Foodways Alliance
(short) documentary, The Rise of Southern Cheese — a look at artisanal
cheese producers in the South by Joe York and Matthew Graves will also be
shown.

Get the discounted entrance fee of $10 if you mention Slow Food when you make your reservation. RSVP required. 434-293-5366or email
blenheimartisan@gmail.com. For those over 21 a glass of wine will be
provided.

Here is a list of the rest of the series.  The same discount applies to each event.  Hope to see you there!

2nd Annual Tour de Coop

Charlottesville Community Bikes and CLUCK are excited to present the 2nd annual Tour de Coop, coming up next Saturday, May 19th!  What better way to appreciate Slow Food than to see it up close on a bicycle?

RSVP at the Facebook event page: http://www.facebook.com/events/279956548748185/

And check out this video about last year's inaugeral event: http://vimeo.com/24076504

Hope to see you there!

A Taste of the Farm - Local Food Hub

Date: May 5, 2012
Time: 10am – 3pmCost: FREE!

Bring the whole family, stock up on healthy organic plants for your garden, have a picnic, and just enjoy a beautiful spring day on the farm. Check out what’s on the agenda:

• Pick up some organic and heirloom plant starts for your garden! Tomatoes, peppers, herbs, flowers, and more!
• Bring the kids and play some music with Blue Ridge Music Together!
• Pick up some farm fresh produce and eggs at our farmer’s market.
• Take a self-guided farm tour and see what we’re up to!
• Help us paint a mural and plant some seeds with City Schoolyard Garden.
• Take some photos in our photo booth with Lucy O Photography!
• Grab some food from Feast! and Vanguard Ranch, have a picnic, and enjoy the farm life!

Directions:The farm is located at 7129 Scottsville Road, Scottsville VA, 24590. 

• From the I-64 / 20S intersection (exit 121):
• Take Route 20 South towards Scottsville for approximately 15 miles.
• Maple Hill Farm will be on your left (there is a sign).
• The Farm is located approximately 2.5 miles past Green Mountain Country Store.
• Please use caution when turning in the driveway! People often drive very fast on Route 20, and the driveway is a bit of a blind turn. Use your signal early and often!

Questions: info@localfoodhub.org or (434) 286-2176.

BBQ pleasure at Brookville Restaurant

At the recent Slow Food National Congress in Lousiville, we were reminded about one of the important ideals of Slow Food: the pleasure of the table.  The upcoming focus on bbq at Brookville will surely mean a pleasurable table.  Check out the info below and pull up a chair at their table.  May the pleasure be all yours.

BVILLE-Q Restaurant

On Friday May 4th, for 1 night Brookville Restaurant is turning into Bville-Q Restaurant.
Bville-Q will be a 100% LOCALLY SOURCED BBQ RESTAURANT (so the menu will be posted a little closer to the event). However, rest assured that you will need to bring a bib or a second shirt to change into after we get through with y'all.
Beer, Cider and Pork will be flowing all night.
$45 all you can eat and 2 Drinks (additional drink tickets available at the bar)
Call 434-202-2791 to purchase tickets (limited quantities available)
Enjoy passed pig parts throughout the night, as well as, a good old pig pickin' at 8pm.
As an added bonus this event will support the Tom Tom Founders Festival. Information can be found at the website http://tomtomfest.com/.
We hope to see you there and promise that you will be taken care of like you a part of our family!

This is an open Event so feel free to pass this along!


http://www.brookvillerestaurant.com/Home_Page.html


225 W Main St
Charlottesville Va22903 

Virginia Food Heritage: Slave Gardens in Lynchburg

April 21

Gardening Practices of Central VA's Enslaved African Americans

In recognition of the rich culinary and gardening traditions of the African American community, and in anticipation of the establishment of a replica slave garden on Monroe Street, the Legacy Museum of African American History is pleased to welcome community scholar and writer, Michael Twitty to deliver a talk on Gardening Practices of Central Virginia? Enslaved African Americans.

Michael Twitty is a recognized authority of Afro-American and African food culture, traditional lifeways and regional history.  As the curator for the African-American Heritage Collection at the Landreth Seed Company, his specialization has been on the historic garden practices and culinary traditions of African-Americans.

Hours: 12:30pm
Admission: Free, but donations gladly accepted
Location: Legacy Museum, 403 Monroe Street, Lynchburg
P:845-3455

1000 Gardens in Africa

420 gardens to grow!

Almost everywhere you go in the world today, you can find a McDonald’s, KFC or Taco Bell. Fast food -- is that the legacy we, as Americans, want to leave the world?

Today, we have an opportunity to leave a different legacy -- by helping Slow Food leaders in Africa build 1,000 vegetable gardens.

Our local project coordinators in Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia are depending on us to support their effort to build the next 15 gardens this season.

Can you make a donation in any amount before May 1?

A vegetable garden means healthy, local food for the community, sharing of knowledge from the old to the young, extra income for the village, and a reinforced spirit of collaboration.

Let’s prove that we know what a true “value” meal is  -- one that encourages community collaboration and self-sufficiency, respects cultural traditions and is made with fresh, local ingredients.

Sincerely,

Josh Viertel President of Slow Food USA

P.S.
Donate $20 or more today and receive an Ingredients DVD, as our way of saying thanks for your support of this important project. Act fast. Quantities are limited.

Alice Waters at Monticello

Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center (map)

Thursday, April 19, 2012, 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Reservations: Not required

Alice Waters Book Signing 
Monticello Museum Shop
Thomas Jefferson Visitor Center
Thursday, April 19th from 3-4pm.

Internationally known chef and author Alice Waters visits Monticello and will hold a public book signing at the Monticello Museum Shop, Thursday, April 19, starting at 3 p.m.

Waters is an American pioneer of a culinary philosophy that maintains that cooking should be based on the finest and freshest seasonal ingredients that are produced sustainably and locally. She is a passionate advocate for a food economy that is “good, clean, and fair.” Over the course of nearly forty years, her restaurant, Chez Panisse, has helped create a community of scores of local farmers and ranchers whose dedication to sustainable agriculture assures the restaurant a steady supply of fresh and pure ingredients.

Waters has also authored the foreword of Peter Hatch’s “A Rich Spot of Earth” Thomas Jefferson’s Revolutionary Garden at Monticello.

The book signing event is free and open to the public. The Monticello Museum Shop will be selling the following books by Alice Waters:

• 40 Years of Chez Panisse: The Power of Gathering
• In the Green Kitchen
• The Art of Simple Food
• Edible Schoolyard

http://www.monticello.org/site/visit/events/alice-waters-book-signing

Slow Food Albemarle Piedmont attends National Congress

The organization’s National Congress is a time when slow food leaders come together and set the organization’s direction for the next four years. The non-profit and its chapters focus on making food healthy and sustainable for people, workers and communities.

President Josh Viertel says the organization has more than 1,500 leaders, and the group’s 225 chapters are in nearly every state.

“Last year [leaders] they reached 150,000 children in schools, school gardens, school cafeterias to help them understand where food comes from, understand how to grow it, prepare it, share it,” he said.

Viertel says there were lots of reasons to choose Louisville for this year’s Congress.

“There’s amazing stuff that’s happening with the food culture there, whether it’s barbeque or bourbon,” he said. “There’s a sense that there’s kind of a return to slow foods values in what’s happening in a lot of the businesses and restaurants and farms in and around Louisville that we really want to reinforce.”

And, the central location doesn’t hurt. Viertell expects about 150 slow foods leaders from around the country to attend. The Congress will be in Louisville from April 13-15. Parent organization Slow Food International previously considered also hosting its international congress in Louisville, but has since combined the congress with another event.

Apply to be a Terra Madre Delegate, Deadline April 6

Join the International Community!

Diversity and a global perspective are at the heart of Terra Madre and Salone del Gusto.  Delegates come from all around the world, representing the various communities, cultures, histories, struggles, and solutions united under the banner of good, clean, and fair.  Historically, Terra Madre has also been an opportunity for Slow Food USA to broaden and diversify our network by bringing different folks together - from the person who is new to Slow Food to the person who is a long-time supporter.  It has been an important avenue for those of us from the U.S. to realize ourselves in the context of and in relation with a truly global movement and community.

This year, Terra Madre and Salone del Gusto will come together as a unified event open to the public in Turin, Italy from October 25-29, 2012. The International Congress, which is a closed conference for Slow Food leaders worldwide that happens every five years, will take place concurrently in Turin from October 27-29, 2012.  There will be a total of 2000 delegates to both events—and for the first time, regional selection committees will be choosing the majority of U.S. delegates. 

Being a U.S. delegate - sponsored by Slow Food USA - comes with the honor and responsibility of showing up well as a global citizen from the U.S. Are you ready to join the international community gathering in Turin, Italy this fall?  Click here to apply to be a U.S. delegate!

But before you do—please read these Application Guidelines. Also, note that the U.S. delegate application is for both Terra Madre/Salone del Gusto and International Congress. If you indicate interest in attending International Congress, you will be considered ONLY for an International Congress delegate spot. If you are not selected, you will NOT be reconsidered instead for a delegate spot to Terra Madre/Salone del Gusto.

CLICK HERE FOR THE APPLICATION. The deadline to submit your complete application has been extended to 11:59pm ET on April 6, 2012.  You should receive an auto-response confirmation email after you submit your application. If you did not or do not receive one, email Hnin@slowfoodusa.org.

Good luck!

---

You may also attend Terra Madre/Salone del Gusto 2012 as a public event-goer. Tickets will go on sale at http://www.salonedelgusto.com sometime in May.

Monticello Garden Ambassadors

This year Monticello is launching a new garden program entitled Thomas
Jefferson’s Revolutionary Garden

Tour<http://www.monticello.org/site/visit/tours/thomas-jefferson%E2%80%99s-revolutionary-garden-tour-monticello>.

 This tour is more in depth than our typical garden tours and focuses on
the fruit and vegetable gardens in particular, while also including a
“hands-on” gardening component.



Monticello is looking for volunteers who can help with this program
specifically, and possibly other garden activities if they are interested.
These tours are running from April 27- Oct. 27 on Friday and Saturday
mornings from about 9-11:30 am.  Training would be provided, of course, and
volunteers would be working directly with the visitors and other Monticello
staff.


If you are interested in getting involved in Monticello's world-renown
gardens, please contact Emily Tenhunfeldt.   etenhundfeld@monticllo.org

Vandana Shiva to speak at UVa today

Internationally acclaimed food democracy advocate Vandana Shiva will be giving a free public lecture TODAY, March 20th at 5:30pm in the Auditorium of the Harrison Institute/Small Special Collections Library.

The winner of the 1993 Alternative Nobel Peace Prize (also known as the Right Livelihood Award), Vandana Shiva is a world-renowned environmental activist and one of the leading voices in the local food movement. Based in New Delhi, India, Dr. Shiva is the Director of the Research Foundation on Science, Technology, a leader at the International Forum on Globalization and the author of over twenty books including Staying Alive: Women, Ecology, and Development (2008), Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability, and Peace (2005) and Water Wars: Pollution, Profits, and Privatization (2001). She is also the founder of Navdanya, an organization that promotes the conservation of diverse seed pools threatened by the spread of genetically-modified (GM) biota.

This is an extraordinary opportunity to have Dr. Shiva in town.  Arrive early if you plan to go, as seats are expected to fill quickly!

More information on the Brown College Visiting Environmental Writers and Scholars Lectures Series available here.

Reclaiming Our Food: How the Grassroots Food Movement is Changing What We Eat

Looking at this post and the previous post, it is pretty clear that our food community ROCKS!  Thanks to those of you who are working to honor good, clean and fair food.

All across the country, Americans are seeking more fresh, local foods – at home, in their schools, in restaurants, and at food markets. Grassroots community food projects from Boston to Nashville to Birmingham to Seattle are rising to meet this demand. Led by innovative, creative people from all walks of life, these projects are building community by creating valuable jobs, preserving cultural traditions, building local knowledge about growing food, and educating school-children. Inspirational stories of nearly 60 grassroots food programs provide hundreds of useful “lessons learned,” offering an enduring handbook for everyone hoping to join the movement.

Whether you like to buy local food, raise a garden, are a beginning or experienced farmer, a school nutritionist, or economic development guru, this book can help you.

You’ll be inspired and, more, you’ll learn a host of important lessons from community food leaders of more than 50 different food projects across the U.S.  Their successes offer both inspiration and practical advice.

Where others have made the case for the local food movement, Reclaiming Our Food shows how communities are actually making it happen. This book offers a wealth of information on how to make local food a practical and affordable part of everyone’s daily fare.  source: www.tanyadenklacobb.com

A Central Virginia Food Heritage Gathering

Great event hosted by the Virginia Food Heritage Project.  Maybe we'll see you there!

You are invited to join the first “Food Heritage: A Central Virginia Gathering” where people will learn and share knowledge about the special food heritage of our Virginia Piedmont region. Bring your knowledge and adventure to this exciting and innovative project.

When and where:

• Monday, March 26, 6:00 – 8:30 p.m.
• Lane Auditorium, Albemarle County building in Charlottesville—401 McIntire Rd, Charlottesville, VA 22902
• A sampling of heritage foods will be provided

(Download a PDF of our flyer)

What is “food heritage?”

Broadly defined, it is the history and culture of foods produced and processed in our region – old-fashioned varieties of fruits and vegetables, family recipes, heirloom seeds, former grain mills, cideries, and much more. This project intends to use our local food heritage to create jobs and economic development. We want you to help us identify ways to preserve and revitalize our food heritage, and ways this effort could support economic development.

With your participation, this free community event will help us re-discover and identify our food heritage as well as reconnect with each other. By knowing our past, we can grow our future!

Who’s invited?

Anyone who knows something about our food heritage is invited: gardeners, farmers (young and old!), local chefs, market vendors, senior citizens, 4-H Clubs, historical societies, local food purveyors, dieticians, farm bureaus, area churches, culinary students, conservationists, area businesses, elected officials. Please bring friends, family, and other guests who may be interested in learning or contributing!

There’ll be something for everyone! After a brief introduction to the project, participants will be able to visit different “booths” where you can learn and share information. You might want to tell us about an old-time apple you don’t see anymore, or vegetables that are unique to this area, or a heritage chicken breed you’re now raising. You can share old-time recipes and food traditions. You can swap stories about how food used to be grown, processed, or sold. Help us locate old farms, orchards and other food heritage sites on maps. You can even tell a story while being interviewed on video. And we hope everyone will offer ideas for how we can integrate our food heritage into our future community development.

Who’s hosting?

The Virginia Food Heritage Project is a collaboration of community organizations and passionate individuals who seek to build understanding and documentation of our food heritage, and who aspire to use this knowledge to advance our local food, agriculture and economy.

What to bring:

• Old recipes, menus or historic cookbooks
• Locations or pictures of old food sites (mills, farms, orchards, etc.)
• Pictures and names of heritage foods
• Stories of how you or your elders planted, grew, harvested or cooked food
• Heritage or heirloom seeds for an old-fashioned seed swap (bring in labeled packets)

Please join us!  Feel free to bring guests, and walk-ins are welcome too.

Help us honor our local food heritage and lay the groundwork for growing a strong, healthy future for Albemarle, Greene, Fluvanna, Louisa, and Nelson Counties and the City of Charlottesville!

To help us plan enough refreshments, if you think that you might attend, please RSVP to Paul Loren Hughes at  or to Ellen Martin at (434) 924-1970.