THE CHALLENGE: This September 17, you’re invited to take back the ‘value meal’ by getting together with family, friends and neighbors for a slow food meal that costs no more than $5 per person. Cook a meal with family and friends, have a potluck, or find a local event.

WHY: Because slow food shouldn’t have to cost more than fast food. If you know how to cook, then teach others. If you want to learn, this is your chance. Together, we’re sending a message to our nation’s leaders that too many people live in communities where it’s harder to buy fruit than Froot Loops. Everybody should be able to eat fresh, healthy food every day.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED: Sign up for the challenge! You can cook a meal with friends and family, find a local event, or host your own event. When you sign up, we’ll send you $5 cooking tips.

The enticing, easy-to-prepare recipes feature specialties like Greek dolmades, Haitian soup joumou, Dominican sancocho, Persian Kou Kou Sabzi, and Sudanese mulukhiyah. Together with Robin Radin’s beautiful photographs, these stories and recipes will inspire cooks of all levels to explore new traditions while perhaps rediscovering their own culinary roots.

Books will be available for purchase and Lynne will be on hand to sign copies following her reading and discussion.

Lynne Christy Anderson (www.lynnechristyanderson.com) is a writer, teacher, and cook who lives in Jamaica Plain.  For many years she worked professionally in award-winning restaurants until she turned to a career in teaching, first working with immigrant adults learning English as a Second Language. Her students–mothers and fathers from places like Guatemala, Pakistan, Vietnam and Morocco, grandparents from Haiti, Cape Verde, Brazil, and China–shared the triumph and loss that marked their coming to America and the way that food lessened the struggle by serving as a link to the past and a bridge into the future. These stories led Lynne to first consider the powerful relationship between food and cultural well-being and were the inspiration for her book, Breaking Bread:  Stories and Recipes from Immigrant Kitchens. Lynne was the recipient of a Bread Loaf Rona Jaffe Foundation scholarship in non-fiction in 2008.  Currently, she teaches at Boston College and Bunker Hill Community College.

Thursday, April 14, 6 – 8 p.m. at Local 121, 121 Washington St., Providence, RI 02903.

$20 at the door – this includes cover and heavy appetizers. There will be a cash bar.

During the meeting, we will discuss our plans for this year and beyond – and we want to hear your ideas as well. We’d like to know what types of events you’d like to attend, and, of course, if you’d like to coordinate an event, we’d love that as well!

We will also vote on officers for our chapter, including Chairperson, Secretary and Communications. The current officers are Chair, Amy McCoy, Secretary, Ingrid Lofgren and Communications, David Dadekian.

Please RSVP to slowfoodri@gmail.com, and feel free to send along any questions or suggestions for the chapter. As always, if you are interested in volunteering with Slow Food RI in any way, please drop us a line at slowfoodri@gmail.com.

We look forward to seeing you at the annual meeting and making plans for this year and beyond!

Annual Meeting
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
6:30 p.m.
Local 121 (downstairs)
121 Washington Street
Providence, RI
directions: click here

http://slowfoodusa.org/newyears2

This year has seen countless events around the country, including hundreds on the same day for our ‘Dig In’ day of action, new chapters opening every single month, and great victories on child nutrition and food safety.

Over 170,000 people took action on our ‘Time for Lunch’ campaign, we’ve grown to over 200,000 supporters, and we now have over 220 chapters across the country doing amazing work in their local communities.

This wouldn’t be possible without your generous support. Next year, we plan to continue our growth locally and our impact nationally, working together to build a food system that is good, clean and fair for all.

By donating today, you can support the work of Slow Food USA and increase your tax deduction for 2010.

Just click this link to contribute today, while your deduction will still count for the 2010 tax year:

http://slowfoodusa.org/newyears2

Thanks,
Kate Krauss
Development Director, Slow Food USA

Weaver Auditorium in the Coastal Institute on the URI Kingston Campus

Panelists:
Ken Ayars – Chief of the Division of Agriculture and Resource Marketing of the RI Department of Environmental Management
Kristen Castrataro – Cooperative Extension Specialist – URI
Chef Matt Gennuso – Chez Pascal
Pat McNiff – Pat’s Pastured

Moderated by Rick Rhodes – Associate Dean of Research and Outreach – CELS – URI

Location: Tastings Wine Bar & Bistro, Foxboro, MA
Cost: $60
When: Thursday, 10/07/2010 6:30PM

Click here to reserve your spaces!

Details:
October brings the real first tastes of fall — and of winter! We’re talking squash (like the Boston Marrow) and root veggies (like the Gilfeather Turnip) and items from the Allium family (Wethersfield Onions, anyone?) Wait, wait. Never heard of them? Maybe that’s because they’ve been classified as ‘endangered’ and entered into the listings of Slow Food USA’s RAFT Program.

As we continue our RAFT Heirloom Harvest Dinner Series, you’ll actually get the chance to taste all of these lovely veggies, and more! Your next opportunity comes Thursday, October 7th at 6:30pm down in Foxboro. (Don’t worry, the Patriots aren’t in town, so traffic is no excuse to miss out!)

Chef Matthew Maue at Tastings Wine Bar & Bistro is planning a major to-do for you: a reception with passed apps and then a four course dinner (hmm heirloom lettuce salad with country ham, braised short ribs, squash mousse!) This is the time to indulge in the late harvest, so definitely plan to join us for this scrumptious meal.

Cost for the evening is $60 with wine pairing available for and extra $15. As usual, we do require preregistration and payment.

**Since this will be a pre-planned set menu, please be sure to alert us of any food allergies or intolerances ahead of time. Thanks!**

Directions:
Tastings Wine Bar & Bistro is located at 201 Patriot Place in Foxboro, directly across from CBS Scene. More information and directions can be found on their website.

All proceeds from the evening will go to sending delegates from our RI chapter of Slow Food to the Terra Madre conference and funding further Slow Food RI projects. Tickets are $60.00. Please join us for what will be a beautiful evening celebrating locally grown and produced foods.

Click here to purchase tickets.

Details:
Saturday September 18, 2010 from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM

Blackbird Farm
122 Limerock Rd.
Smithfield, RI 02917

Contact: David Dadekian, david@dadekianphoto.com, 401-942-0108

We just received an email from Slow Food USA that we wanted to share with you, because we think change to the Child Nutrition Act needs to happen right away, not a year or two from now.

From Slow Food USA:

The progress we’ve made on the Child Nutrition Bill is in jeopardy.

Why? Senate leaders are thinking about postponing the bill for another year or two. Instead of new funding for healthier food, stronger nutrition standards, and grants for Farm to School programs — which are all in the current bill — schools could end up with the same-old system next year.

A “Dear Colleague” letter is circulating in the Senate, urging Senate leaders to schedule time for the bill. The letter will be submitted to the leadership on Wednesday, May 19 — so our Senators need to sign it ASAP.

Can you ask your Senators to sign the letter today? Click here to send an email:

http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5986/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=3038

Over the last year, hundreds of thousands of people like you have spoken up for helping schools serve healthier food. The result is a Child Nutrition Bill with the most new funding and strongest standards in the sixty-year history of the National School Lunch Program.

It’s still not perfect, but we need to get the legislation moving — otherwise we risk starting over next year with zero funding, no standards and no grants for local food. Our goal right now is to show the Senate leadership that child nutrition is a priority, and that Senators want to address it — that’s the reasoning behind the “Dear Colleague” Letter.

When this bill reaches the Senate floor, we’re hoping Congress will improve it by increasing the funding for healthy food to at least $1 billion per year. But we can’t get there unless Congress makes child nutrition a priority.

So please, write your Senators today.

Thanks for all you do,

Gordon, Jerusha and the rest of the Time for Lunch team