Steven Farrell, a leader of rainforest conservation and Biodynamic farming and a member of the Slow food Convivium of San Jose, Costa Rica, hosted a luncheon in honor of Terra Madre Day at Finca Luna Nueva on December 10, which is when the global Slow Food network comes together to promote good, clean, and fair food. The Slow Food movement was started in 1989 by then-journalist now turned food activist Carlo Petrini in response to McDonald’s proposal to construct a new fast-food outlet near the Spanish Steps in Rome. In the 20 years hence, the Slow Food movement has grown to include hundreds of thousands of members in local convivia all over the world.
Forty local food devotees enjoyed a Slow Food lunch
Finca Luna Nueva joined the local Costa Rica convivium last year and had been waiting for this event to introduce the Slow Food movement to our food-conscious neighbors in the Zona Norte. Last year there were more than 1150 events in over 120 countries.
Stories and photos from this year’s event can be viewed at Terra Madre Day.
Chef Ernesto Spinelli, of Evergreen, Colorado and San Ramon, Costa Rica, prepared a sumptuous meal for the 40 attendees, who came from several of the surrounding towns to savor dishes whose ingredients were either grown on the farm or purchased from local vendors in the area.
Chef Ernesto Spinelli in the kitchen at Finca Luna Nueva
The menu consisted of chicken piccata, caprese salad, roasted baby potatoes, fresh hearts of palm, potato, and avocado salad with a tarragon vinaigrette, brown rice with shiitake mushrooms, roasted red peppers, and a variety of salad field greens from the farm’s garden.
A mountain of salad from our organic farm
Very happy Slow Food devotees in the buffet line
For dessert there was coconut flan made from fresh milk from the farm’s dairy cows.
Caprese salad with local cheese and farm-grown tomatoes
After lunch, the group gathered in the salon to watch the video of Carlo Petrini’s Terra Madre Day message, followed by a discussion about the importance of supporting Slow Food’s platform of good, clean, and fair food. . . for everyone! Many of the attendees were members of other Slow Food Convivia in the United States where they reside during the summer. Every guest expressed a true desire to be more involved in the Slow Food movement by supporting local food purveyors and developing their own gardens. The event was so successful that a second Slow Food luncheon is already being planned for our area with talk of forming a new convivium for the people who live in the Zona Norte of Costa Rica. For information about a local chapter near you, go to www.slowfood.com. The basic premise of Slow Food’s Terra Madre Day event is to encourage small-scale farmers, producers, cooks, students, and members to use their creativity and knowledge to build a better food future.