Slow Food Elora is setting the table for new members and former members to gather around and stir up a local presence for the international Slow Food movement. On March 7, the community is invited to take part in the group’s general meeting.
“Ultimately, we are kind of like a service club with a reach around the planet,” said Chris Jess, Elora’s convivium leader. “Throughout the year, we run events where the core focus is eating real food together and continuing those important discussions about what we want to see in our future.”
As a non-profit member-supported association, Slow Food was founded in 1989 to counter the rise of fast food and a fast lifestyle, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how food choices affect the rest of the world.
“It’s the antithesis of fast food, really,” said Ian Rice, secretary of the Elora group. “It’s about supporting sustainable agriculture, caring about the quality of the food we eat and supporting local food producers and purveyors of local foods, like Fraberts in Fergus.”
Rice points to area restaurants, such as Cork or the Cellar restaurants in Elora, which bring local seasonal foods to their menu when possible.
“We want to recognize and encourage them,” said Rice.
The international organization defines its goal as a Slow Food philosophy to life through the events and activities from simple shared meals and tastings, to visits to local producers and farms, conferences and discussions, film screenings, promoting farmers’ markets or supporting local and international campaigns.
“In our day to day eating, we rarely get the opportunity to really stop and think about where our food comes from, how it was produced, and what kind of message we are sending to the industry as a whole,” said Jess. “Being a Slow Food member is committing to engage in a frequent and thoughtful dialogue about how our food choices affect the earth, our community, and our bodies.”
Slow Food Elora has joined more than 1,500 chapters in the global movement, representing 150 countries.
“Rallying behind a global organization like Slow Food is to join a movement that is asking some tough questions about our future. How do we want our food grown, produced, and consumed?” said Jess.
Rice said the local group’s membership is hoping to build momentum.
“This is very much a community effort. We want to become really active as a group again,” said Rice. “We want to plan three community events a year, doing something significant.”
Slow Food Elora is hosting a general meeting, welcoming new Convivium leader Chris Jess, on March 7, at 7:30pm at Veteran’s Hall in the Township Office, 1 MacDonald Square.
The purpose of the meeting is to answer questions, develop an executive committee, engage in preliminary event planning and brainstorm strategies to outline the future of the local convivium.
For more information, visit www.slowfood.com.
For information on Slow Food Elora’s chapter visit www.slowfoodelora.com.
