Produce without stickers.

The Slow Food movement was founded by Carlo Petrini in Italy as a resistance movement to combat fast food and claims to preserve the cultural cuisine and the associated food plants and seeds, domestic animals, and farming within an ecoregion. It was the first established part of the broader Slow movement. The movement has since expanded globally to 100 countries and now has 83,000 members.
As proud as I am to be a member of it, as proud as I am of this organizations existence, it is nothing new.

The SLOW FOOD movement represents an attitude towards food that has withstood the test of time and is now emerging as a force much greater than what we see in the processed food industry.
How has it withstood the test of time?
Well by starters, people still tend to their gardens, and grow their own produce. This will never stop because of its grounding effect. When you plant something, in a small way you give life and that feeling is beautiful. Not all of us plant our own gardens or our own food. But it isn't because we don't want to. Time spent working to make ends meet usually gets in the way of that. But take a look at the homes around you. Do all they have gardens? They probably do.
I highly recommend that you go to your nearest local farmers' market and buy some heirloom tomato seeds.
Plant them for next season and tell me if it isn't the best tomato you've ever had.
If you have enough pots or garden space you can grow enough tomatoes to last the entire
summer. If you get your friends into it you can even trade tomatoes. They also make great gifts when visiting close friends for Sunday lunch. A little tomato salad with heirlooms warmed by the
sun with some fresh oil and salt ... mmm...mmm.

This post is to celebrate the people that still live to produce the finest food. Foods harvested from the land and grown without any artificial tampering just with water, sun and love.
Just the way Mother Nature intended.
The best way to support these is to buy locally and to support your
local farmers' markets and fine food stores that are supplied by local purveyors. Or in other words buy produce without stickers. Only agri-farmers bother putting stickers on their food. Real farmers, from my experience, do not.
Websites like toronto.slowfood.ca and gremolata.com
are great resources and the contacts provided are very helpful with any questions.

Here also is a list of places that I love to shop:
The mercantile,
The Healthy Butcher
Cumbraes
St Lawrence Market (but be careful and stick to the north building on Saturday mornings the south building is more boisterous and fun but there is a lot of poser produce there).
Dufferin Grove park Farmers' market, Thursdays only.
Soma Chocolates

The Slow Food movement exists to protect these simple values and businesses and to promote them. Thanks to Paul De Campo people are starting to listen.
As a result we have the birth of the 2007 Picnic at the Brick Works, presented by Slow Food Toronto and Evergreen evergreen.ca
Which is a celebration of food grown locally and naturally, prepared by Toronto's most talented chefs.
I had the pleasure of attending the event and was amazed at how well organized and well run it was.
The foods on offer were all delectable from the Stop Community Food Center's beef vindaloo with a glass of Norman Hardie's pinot noir,
shown here ...


to Angelo Bean's birkshire pork sausages with a glass of Mill St's organic ale
(Angelo is somewhere behind all the smoke).


Not to mention Soma's chocolate dipped corn nuts. Yum!

This year 850 people attended and it wouldn't surprise me at all if that number doubled for next year. I hope that next year I will be participating as a chef because I too have a few tasty bits that I would love to offer.
But regardless, I suggest you mark your calender and come out next year to support the spirit of good food with those who grow it and those who cook it.

To all the people involved in making this wonderful day a reality,
Bravo!