Share
When your organization is called Slow Food, you're not into news flashes.
That's why it took a couple of weeks to get Thom Duncan, the president of Charlotte's chapter of the Slow Food organization, to talk about two new efforts by his group.
He kept waving me off until he could get around to telling his own members before they saw it in the newspaper.
That's actually sort of fitting. See, Slow Food was founded in Italy and is based on the idea that food ought to be hand-crafted, farmer-grown or otherwise produced in a slower, more thoughtful manner. Flashy is not how they do things.
But when I heard about these two new ideas, they struck me as so simple and brilliant, they deserve to be mentioned.
Here's the first one: Slow Food Charlotte is pushing a new initiative by its members, “Take a Friend to Market.” The idea is that once a month or so, members should invite a friend along to a farmers market.
“Once you introduce it, I find people really want to go,” Duncan explained to me. “But there's a hesitation on most people's parts to try something new.”
Yes, Duncan is doing it himself, too. He's gotten business associates interested in going along, and he's taking his longtime workout partner this weekend.
It's true that there is a green advantage here, in reducing your carbon footprint by carpooling. I've been taking a neighbor along with me for a couple of years. If he can't make it, he sometimes puts in an order for things that I know will be available.
It makes sense: Run one car, feed two families.
But Duncan says he considers that a low priority in this message. He wants to keep it simple. “The fact of the matter is, I just want to get people out to the markets.”
It bothers him, he says, that so many farmers report taking too much stuff home with them at the end of the day.
“A lot of it has to do with the economy,” he says. “(Local food) prices are higher. But the obvious answer is to get more foot traffic into the markets.”
And when you get them there, you need to make it easier for newcomers to feel like they understand what's going on. Enter the second Slow Food Charlotte initiative: local food flags.
Duncan had heard complaints about how hard it can be to tell which farm stand is carrying food that really is locally grown, rather than trucked in. Slow Food had been giving out small laminated signs that said “Local Food Local Farmer,” but Duncan wanted something more eye-catching. He came up with a design for flags, based on the North and South Carolina state flags, each featuring a silhouette of a farmer. The flags are colorful, the message clear.
So far, Slow Food has offered the flags to farmers at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market who sign a statement that 90 percent of what they're selling was self-grown. A few flags also have been offered to grower-only market sites.
The flags aren't cheap, at about $65 each, so Slow Food says the first one is free and farmers or markets will have to pay for extras or replacements. Get details at www.slowfoodcharlotte.org.
Duncan is pitching the idea of the flags to the national organization, Slow Food USA. But the truth is, both ideas really ought to catch on.
They're actually sort of flashy.
