Hey Everyone,

Happy holidays and new year! Hope everyone is enjoying themselves and eating lots of food that is good, clean and fair. I mostly wanted to post this entry because of the cool pictures from our Thanksgiving dinner (see above.) Ain't we cute?

Oh! And this is soon, but on January 30, Pat from Pat's Pastured (where we got our bird) is speaking at Food for Thought (Where Alyssa works!!!) in Wakefield. He is going to do a small presentation about his awesome Farm. It takes place at 3pm and is open to everyone. If you have never been to Food for Thought before it is in the heart of Wakefield right next to the Breakfast Nook and across the street from Belmont Market. Make sure you check out their selection too- a ton of local organic goodness!

Aaaaand I just found this on the farm fresh website. A local food forum....and its FREEEEE! http://www.farmfreshri.org/about/localfoodforum.php

It takes place on Tuesday Feb. 8 in Prov and is from 8:30 to 2:30. I know most of us have school but...c'mon....its freee! I might go so contact me via email if you wanna come. You also have to register first.

And one last thing. The Northeast Real Food Challenge Leadership Training in Boston! I went last year and I'm DEF going again. Check it out! http://realfoodchallenge.org/nefoodjustice2011

It's the weekend of feb. 25th and its SO MUCH FUN and its only $25 for housing and food for the entire weekend! If you wanna go TELL ME! I'm driving my big blue van up and 6 other people are welcome to hop in with me! It is a great tool for those wanting to rev up the local food movement.

Anywho I hope you all a gnarly holiday break sledding and skiing and whatnot and see you this semester!

And as always, email us about ANYTHING!

uri@slowfoodusa.org

PEACE

-cate

Hello everyone and happy thanksgiving! We here at SFURI had an eventful and amazing weekend!

On friday we did some window decorating in the union. If you have not gone by to see the window you should go check it out- it is across from the eye place in the union on the ground floor. We had so much fun drawing with paints and thinking up ideas. We drew some piggies, veggies, and of course some snails pulling a sled! Caute!! Here is a pic I took with my phone:

Nice huh?

On saturday, guess what we did? We killed turkeys!!!!! It was VERY interesting to say the least. We got to Pat's Pastured farm on Fort Getty Jamestown around 9am after stopping at the ever delicious and local Village Hearth Bakery. We were joined by our amigos from the outing club who met us there, and then we got to work! Our tasks included, catching the turkeys, hanging them up, killing them, de-feathering them, gutting them, bagging them, and weighing them to be put in the freezer. Everyone there was so knowledgeable and nice. Here is a gross pic:

I will upload more pictures soon- I am old school and use a disposable camera and it takes about a week to develop. Everyone there was so knowledgeable and nice. After a couple of hours of hard work we were done, and in return got a fresh turkey! Alyssa, John and I then stopped by Windmist Farm which is owned by one of my best friend's family to pick up our donation of eggs and cider for our Thanksgiving dinner the next day. Thanks Windmist! Then we hit up the NK farmer's market in our turkey clothes as smelly as ever to pick up some Watson Farm ground beef and some tasty veggies. I also got some Narragansett Creamery Cheese!!! MmmMMM!

Sunday was a day of mucho cocinar! After going to a turkey frolic on Hodgekiss Farm for a little bit in Jamestown, I headed to Alyssa's house to do some good ol' fashioned cooking. Alyssa had been cooking the turkey since 10 am and boy did it look good! Nothing is fresher than a turkey you killed with your own two hands the day before! I had already made some carrot soup from the night before, and Alyssa and I cooked swiss chard and beef stuffing, buttercup squash muffins with dates and walnuts, roasted squash and pumpkin seeds, fresh cranberry sauce, ground beef with leeks and onions, and then we were joined by our friends Slow Mo and Quick Mik to make some butternut squash pie and some squash slices with maple walnuts. Mik also brought a crap load of mashed potatoes donated from Sosnowski Farm. Then it was time to head to Eddy Hall to meet up with everyone else for the dinner.

The dinner was a huge success. Like I said before I'll upload pics when they get developed. Some cool dishes we had were fresh oysters from the Matunuck Oyster Bar (Thanks Mason!), pumpkin fondue, some delish mac and cheese, bruschetta, apple cole slaw and TONS more. I of course brought my boyfriend and roomates, because food is meant to be shared with the people you care most about right? That is what Slow Food is all about! I wish you all a safe and warm and tasty Thanksgiving. I hope you take some time and slow down to appreciate at the beautiful things in life! :)

-Cate

Carlo Petrini you are my hero!

This past Friday, October 8th, 2010, Cate, Maria, and I took a little road trip down to Yale to see the one and only founder of Slow Food: Mr. Carlo Petrini. This was an extraordinary experience as we were privileged to listen to this presentation, first delivered in beautiful Italian words by Carlo and then in English by his translator. It was an absolute honor to sit in his presence among other activists, listening as he spoke about the dynamics of our food system and how we can achieve good, clean, and fair food within our generation. Carlo is an amazing thinker and speaker; the way in which he presents his ideas fills you with the empowerment to make positive changes immediately. He recognizes the need for gradual improvement but also focuses upon the multifaceted nature of the food system, touching upon the interconnectedness between social, economic and environmental aspects involved. Despite language barriers, cultural discrepancies, and religious beliefs, Carlo says, we are all connected through food. Food is a universal language we all speak and therefore, must be regarded as a sacred entity. This attitude is the heart of the Slow Food movement, and the first step we must take in order to reestablish a relationship with our food, our environment, and essentially, our health. I certainly cannot do justice to the beautiful ways in which Carlo spoke about Slow Food, but I can attest to the feelings of inspiration and utter joy I left the Yale auditorium with that night. Oh yeah, did I mention we met him???? After the three of us gave him a standing ovation, I shot up from my seat and ran towards Carlo. I wanted nothing more than to shake the hand of this man with my most sincere gratitude. Luckily, there was someone near us who spoke Italian and she translated for us as we stood face to face with Carlo. He shook our hands with delight as we told him we were from URI's student chapter of Slow Food, embraced all three of us, and even posed for a picture with us. Carlo Petrini, you are my hero.

Welcome Back Fall 2010

Hey Slow Foodies!! I love this time of year because of the beautiful colors on the trees, but I also love the fall season because it is harvest month. Tis the season for pumpkins, squash and apples which you can pick up at your local farmers market...or better yet, go pick them fresh at an orchard! I hope you had a good summer and are ready for some Slow Food fun! We are excited for another year and have some awesome events coming up. Our first meeting is Wednesday September 22nd at 5pm in the Union...not sure what room yet. We will have some kind of slow food for munching on while we discuss these up coming events. Bring some excitement and any ideas of what you might want to do this semester and we will see you then!! HAPPY FALL!

The Story of Stuff and The Story of Bottled Water

I'm not sure what it is about these informative films....but they just make me so angry!! I do not understand these corporate companies...the only part I "understand" about them is they try to make money as fast as possible and will do what ever it takes. Even if that means destroying the environment, putting workers at risks, putting themselves and other consumers at risk. The list could go on. If your not sure what I am talking about I encourage you to watch the 20 minute clip of The Story of Stuff and then watch The story of Bottled Water. Theses clips can be found at thestoryofstuff.com.

Farmers Markets!!

Help support your local farmers of Rhode Island and visit markets throughout the state. Go to Farmfresh.org to find one near you! When you buy food at the farmer markets, you are showing major supermarkets that you prefer to buy local food. Local food is sustainable for the environment in that the food was not shipped from across the US or from another country...when we can grow it right here! I encourage you to at least visit one farmers' market if you have not already done so and feast your eyes on bright, colorful and wholesome food!

Local 121

Our last meeting for the end of the semester will be celebrated with good food and a movie at Local 121. Details below. Hope to see you there!

Tuesday, April 27

Fresh - the movie

6:15 pm, $12 with dinner buffet

Earth Day 2010

Earth Day April 22nd 2010 was an AWESOME day. Students, faculty and the community gathered to celebrate Mama Earth!! The sunny and beautiful weather was accompanied by cool music and the chatter and excitement of everyone gathering together. We set up shop next to Food for Thought and immediately starting unpacking the Organic Fair Trade Chocolate from Theo, which drew in a crowd. Some were brave enough to try the Spicy Chili flavored dark chocolate. The ultimate goal of Earth Day was and still is to get as many people as we can to sign our petition to get good, clean and fair food on campus. We want good tasting, nutritional, and local food delivered to the University of Rhode Island. Are you with us? Hey, if you are a vegetarian this means there will be more food available than salad and cereal!! We will take this process one step at a time...show URI Dining that there IS a demand for good food! If you missed us on Earth Day and support our petition and want to sign it then email us at uri@slowfoodusa.org. Better yet, if you want to be in our club and help us defeat the fake chicken being served on campus then let us know at uri@slowfoodusa.org and we will add you to the mailing list. Happy rest of Earth Week and STAY GREEN!