Slow Food is Good, Clean & Fair

In 1989, Carlo Petrini founded Slow Food International in Bra, Italy. slowfood.com

In 1991, de Garmo’s former partner, Don Oman, started the first local Slow Food chapter in the United States here in Portland. “All we did was recognize what had been overlooked,” de Garmo says. “We realized it was silly to be living in this incredibly verdant valley with the last great salmon run in the world at our feet.” Slow Food, with its emphasis on quality and taste, suggested a way to highlight this lush and local edible landscape. Today, Slow Food Portland, one of the largest of the 200 local chapters, carries out the Slow Food mission on a local level by supporting projects such as Abernethy Elementary School’s Garden of Wonders and Growing Gardens’ Youth Grow. slowfoodportland.com

In 1999, the national office of Slow Food USA was established in New York City. Its mission is to support and celebrate the food traditions of North America and a food system based on good, clean and fair food. slowfoodusa.org

In 2003, de Garmo joined the Board of Directors of Slow Food USA.

In 2008, San Francisco hosted Slow Food Nation on Labor Day weekend — a celebration of American food. The event included an urban garden, farmers’ market, and outdoor food bazaar, and a speaker series featuring leading thinkers, community organizers, and journalists discussing current food issues, from policy and planning to education and climate change. slowfoodnation.org