Slow Food Feast
Oct 4, 2007 events, general food, slow food
Over the weekend at the Slow Food Kitchen Clutter Pot-Luck in Kirkwood Park I had the pleasure to unexpectedly meet Alanna. It was only two weeks prior that we had introduced ourselves online having exchanged a couple emails regarding her trip to the Niman pig farm in Iowa. If you’ve ever read her blog, A Veggie Venture , it’s obvious she is a great cook, so I was excited to try one of her creations. She brought mac ‘n’ cheese and challenged us to guess it’s secret ingredient.
I was puzzled. It had a sweetness not typical to mac ‘n’ cheese that I wasn’t able to place. I tasted nutmeg, and I couldn’t shake the thought of what other mysterious spices I might be tasting. Kimberly on the other hand was sporting her super palette, guessing right that it was butternut squash. High five — butternut squash indeed! It wasn’t grated cheese on top, it was grated butternut, and it was spectacular.
Had I not forgotten my camera I would show you a picture of the event. There was plenty of great food on hand, including a Hinkebein pork butt and hamburger graciously donated by American Grass Fed Beef , and although it was small, it was a great evening spent in the company of people who have all had their souls touched by food.
People need food not just for the nutritional content, but for the pleasures and companionship sharing a meal brings. It’s no fluke that a holiday celebration’s climax is centered around a meal, just as it’s no wonder Slow Food adopted the Latin word convivium, meaning feast, to refer to their chapters.
Eating is something you do to survive. Feasting on the other hand: it’s eating with joy and companionship — eating to touch your soul.
From the mountains of Panama and Ethiopia, to the urban-jungles of Portland and Chicago, journalist Michaele Weissman takes us behind the scenes for a look at the world of third-wave specialty coffee. How did we get to Starbucks, and where we go from here?
October 4th, 2007 at 1:28 pm
You’re giving away my secrets!! I made another version yesterday, mac, more cheese and squash. Better still! The recipe will publish in November with other Thanksgiving ideas …
This was my first time at a Slow Food St. Louis event and I just loved that it was so laid back and relaxed. The perfect fall afternoon/evening helped but there also seemed to be no competition, just a great celebration.
And of course it was great fun to run into you and E and M and I. (I forget, is anyone using whole names?)
I smoked thick chops from Greenwood last night. AMAZING.
PS Nice work on the hyperlinks. ;-0
October 4th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
I’m ashamed to say I’ve been making hyper links since at least early ‘95, so the links were just bad typing on my part. I have no idea what I was thinking with that.