Last month, Slow Food Canada formed a new Board of Directors and an Executive Committee that together form a new solidarity for the grass-roots movement which promotes access to Good, Clean and Fair foods. At an intensive long weekend of workshops, local culinary tours and strategic meetings – held in both official languages in Toronto – Slow Food delegates and leaders gathered from across the country, representing their members and the 39 local chapters (or convivia) from Nova Scotia to Whitehorse, Quebec to British Columbia. The organization, which started over 20 years ago in a small town in Italy and has 100,000-members worldwide today, has more than 1400 members in Canada.
Slow Food Founder and President Carlo Petrini, the famous guru of ethical, local eating, attended the meetings, advising the delegates to “find your own Canadian voice for the Slow Food movement.” Mara Jernigan of Vancouver Island, newly elected President of Slow Food in Canada, will lead the team of 17 Directors and Executive Committee to create a legal association nationally that has not-for-profit status.
The directors will also develop a strategic plan in order to gain national association status with Slow Food International. Other countries that have obtained this status, which ultimately allows for greater growth, include Slow Food USA, Slow Food UK, and Slow Food Japan. Jernigan says: “Now that we have a large, dedicated, and diverse board, I think Slow Food Canada actually has an opportunity to become the most important food organization in Canada.”
Also at these meetings was the nomination of the heritage breed the Tamworth Pig for inclusion on the Slow Food Ark of Taste. The 11th product in Canada to be elected to this worldwide category for protecting food traditions, it joins Red Fife wheat, which was in danger of disappearing and today is grown in most major regions with a national yield of more than 500 tonnes annually.
SLOW FOOD in CANADA
Executive Committee
President: Mara Jernigan
Vice President: Paul de Campo
Secretary: Gabriel Riel Salvatore
Treasurer: Rebecca LeHeup
International Councillor: Sinclair Philip
Board of Directors:
Karen Burson
Betty Carpick
Pamela Cuthbert
Paul De Campo
Anise Docherty
Paul Finkelstein
Renee Girard
Janet Henderson
Michael Howell
Mara Jernigan
Rebecca LeHeup
Stefan Lehmann
Joanne MacKinnon
Sinclair Philip
Gabriel Riel Salvatore
Elizabeth Smart
Tabitha Steager
For further information visit www.slowfood.ca