Visit Sacramento's multimillion dollar investment in bringing Slow Food International's Terra Madre to the Americas brought food–healthy or not–to the fore to the Italian based, international "good, clean, fair" new event in California's Sacramento convention center for a three day fair.
While the Turin based event is five days, much of it staged out doors, the California event, spanning both North and South America, was geographcally close to California's specialty crops epicenter and was staged indoors.
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California's ag sector grows a quarter of the country's food, making it a prime target for making U.S. ag healthier.
And while health and coping with climate change in ag were on display–thanks to U.C. Davis' Health Sciences many panels–climate friendly eating was not really a central focus.
Good meat and healthy ranching was, but not beans or poultry–much better options on the climate friendly eating scale. Embarrassingly enough, while Slow Wine USA put on a no-herbicided wine enoteca (selling wine by the glass $14 from wine donated by local wineries) and meet the maker area ($50 admission to taste at 50 some stands, again from winery donated time and money), two headliners had a different playbook.
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| Darrell Corti and Jeremiah Towers on stage |
Sacramento grocer Darrell Corti, a specialist in Italian food, and former chef Jeremiah Tower (Chez Panisse, Stars, Santa Fe Bar and Grill), toasted to the event on stage as they drank Moet et Chandon champagne (definitely grown with herbicide and fungicide) and ate caviar. Caviar.
California's agricultural economy is so large that it ranks as the world's fifth-largest supplier of food so it's a good place to have discussions about healthier food, as the U.C. Davis team showed in a series of panels, including one on anti-inflammatory foods.
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| Alice Waters (a video) and Chef Ann both see direct organic farmer to school sales as an economic and health engine |
The biggest star was Alice Waters, who started Chez Panisse in 1971. Now in her early 80s, the crowd cheered for her on a panel on school lunches as if she were Taylor Swift.
Also on her panel was Chef Ann, who has a foundation devoted to helping improve school lunches with direct to farmer purchasing.
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I happened to sit next to a second grade school teacher who teaches in a bilingual school in Davis. She said her students loved to read the Chez Panisse menu each week out loud in the classroom. Surprisingly,that would be the downstairs (the very expensive) menu. "They like to learn about new foods," she said, adding that their parents reported to her that the kids were eating better and even asking for apples and other healthy fare.
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| A panel entitled Every Bite Matters: How Eating Shapes Agriculture: Mas Masumoto, food tour operator Dawnie Andrak, farmer Tom Willey, and coop GM Brian Munn |
Another panel with our most famous California organic farmers-Masumoto Family Farm and TD Wiley Farms–spoke out about how to get their organic messaging out to consumers and wholesale buyers. Wiley is on a weekly podcast. And in every box of produce the farm ships they include a story about the farm. A different story every week. "Some of our wholesalers have papered the walls with them over the years," Wiley said.
Masumoto has written close to 15+ books, including some for children.
Anonymous farming is not for them. They said storytelling is the way to people's purchasing power.
Brian Munn, president of the Sacramento Natural Foods Coop, shared a feel good story about the coop, founded in 1972. When egg prices soared this year, the coop voted to keep them from spiraling out of control, deciding instead to absorb those extra costs elsewhere.
WERE HOTEL ROOM OCCUPANCY RATES A VALID MEASURE OF SUCCESS?
The downtown Hyatt Regency and Sheraton Grand hotels were at 100% and 95% capacity throughout the weekend, Testa said. ($300,000 in advertising throughout the Bay Area may have helped but I met only locals at the event, plus those who came to exhibit and stayed in a hotel room). So at what cost and to benefit who on might ask about the millions of dollars spent on the event?
Of course, hotel room occupancy benefits the city. The occupancy tax is 15% to 16.45%. But the event will be taking place only every other year.
Testa's salary is $425,775, according to Pro Publica.
In Oregon, the Travel Oregon CEO Todd Davidson's resigned this summer (after 30 years) amidst a sea of complaints about his $477,000 in compensation for running a 73 person agency. And occupancy rates are declining as international visitors and Canadians visit less.
Authorities said corporation sponsorships from one tribe ($500,000), Bank of America and U.C. Health Sciences (more public money) offset the Terra Madre expenses.
That might explain how Negronis become a Slow Drinks beverage? A very large donation, insiders said, enabling scholarships–and a whole booth and large signage for Negronis, courtesy of Campari.
So Slow Food has plenty of paradox to juggle.
Already organizers were talking about what to change next time around, as they plan to stage the festival every two years.
One takeaway–more food to actually eat in the conference hall. There was very little of that inside the conference center (and a lot outside from local food trucks, mostly with unhealthy food). Change is on the horizon.
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