This Labor Day, join us in building a food system that is just, sustainable and delicious by holding picnics in your town or city. A day of generosity and action, we invite you to organize picnics with loved ones and new friends who together will break bread, share a meal and help transform the American food system. Starting August 20th, you will be able to post picnic plans, photos, testimonials, and video content at Slowfoodnation.org.

Held during the first ever Slow Food Nation event in San Francisco, CA (August 29-September 1) Slow Food Nation Labor Day Picnics are meant to build on the momentum created by communities of all kinds across the country eager to support and foster a good, clean and fair food system.

Join us for a day of action dedicated to sharing food and celebrating the realization of Slow Food Nation in dozens of different ways, in different communities across America.  If you’d like help envisioning how to do this, and how to incorporate endangered foods into your menu, check out our American Traditions Picnics page.

Who Can Participate:
You, your friends, families, neighbors and community members.

Other Ways You Can Support a Slow Food Nation:
Host a Signing of the Petition Calling for a New Vision for a 21st Century Food, Farm & Agriculture Policy. A Downloadable PDF of the Petition will be available on August 28th, 2008 at fooddeclaration.org.

For more information on how to post your picnic online, and to find out how others are celebrating National Labor Day Picnics, visit slowfoodnation.org.

As the Slow Food in Schools Coordinator, you can usually find me sitting at my desk in Brooklyn, writing emails and talking on the phone. I spend a lot of time thinking about where food comes from and how it gets from our farms to our plates. And while I feel pretty comfortable with my knowledge of the process, there’s far more to it than that.

Recently, I was fortunate enough to experience the process, in a very real and visceral way. I was invited by my friends at Awesome Farm to help slaughter 104 pasture raised, organic chickens. As it says on their eggs, their chickens are “really, really free range.”

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Back in the spring, the staffed weighed in with asparagus ideas, today they answer the question:

It’s August, what’re you eating?

For most people, it’s blueberries, tomatoes, corn, and peaches! (for some reason people always write peaches with an exclamation point).

Board member and blogger Chef Kurt Friese wrote up what he’s eating on Grist, in “The Height of the Market.”

Executive Director Erika Lesser spent last weekend doing a demo at her local farmers market and “made a delish salad of purslane, cucumber, radish and mustard vinaigrette.”

(what’s purslane, you might be asking…click here for Wildman Steve Brill’s description)

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Much like we rely on labels such as “organic” or “fair trade” to assure us of how our food was produced, we often rely on the organizers of a farmers market to give us confidence about the provenance of the items there, especially if we’re at a good one that is well-regulated and has integrity.  But the above article and a follow-up one the next week bring up how the regulations of some markets can be a confusing–and some say non-sensical–web.

If you’re curious about the rules and regulations of certain markets, check out the Farmers Market Coalition site. 

And check out this article from USA Today from about a year ago, on Alice Waters’ recommended Farmers Markets around the country.

Last week, New York magazine–the augurer of trends in these five boroughs–declared the era of the “starmer,” farmers worshipped by their city-dwelling consumers (that’s co-producer to you),  subject to fawning and drooling and whatever else people do when they spot a member of the cast of “Gossip Girl” walking down the sidewalk.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing?  The sustainable food movement has been called a fad or trend by some, and does the farmer as celebrity just reinforce that fickle cultural shape-shifting?  Although I may question the psychological health of worshiping any person or group of people, I say, BRING IT ON.  I relish the idea of people treating farmers well, taking an interest in their work, and waiting outside their food co-op for deliveries like Jonas Brothers fans outside the stage door.  Besides, many believe that the sustainable food movement has staying power.  Click here for Daivd Bollier’s piece saying just that.

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What to Do and Where to Eat:  Check out this handy highlight guide from 7×7.com.  The best part? The Greek-gods-of-good-and-plenty graphic featuring Carlo Petrini, Alice Waters, Gavin Newsome, Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser.

Featured Products: Check out this article from the Fresno Bee that discusses products from the Central Valley that will be present at the event.  How’d we get such a strong Valley presence?  Why, Slow Food Regional Governor and local farmer Tom Willey, of course!

Victory Garden Ready to Pick: 1,500 pounds of food, all going to local shelters.

Bite-Size Bulletins: Lil’ bits of background, interviews, updates, etc. from Chow.com

How to Cover the Event? The movement?: This article from the Columbia Journalism Review explores the journalist’s perspective.

And what about you?  If you won’t be there, what will you be doing Labor Day weekend to celebrate your food heritage?

Wanna mold young minds? Simply by signing up for a newsletter, you could help send a youth delegate all the way to Italy to discuss sustainable foodways with 6,000 other people from around the world.

Culinate, the food website for those who care about eating better, is sponsoring as many as 10 travel scholarships for youth delegates to Terra Madre and supporting the youth programs held at Slow Food Nation. The number of scholarships awarded will be based on the number of people who join the campaign. For 3500 people who subscribe to Culinate’s Youth Food Movement campaign on their website, Culinate will give two scholarships to Slow Food Nation and Terra Madre.

Culinate is footing the bill; all you have to do is sign up to receive Culinate’s email newsletter.

Ever checked out Culinate before? As they describe themselves: “We like to think that Culinate is more than just a website; it’s an ongoing conversation about learning to eat well. Our content — articles, cooking tips, interviews, recipes, podcasts, food news, blog posts — helps people put real food at the center of their lives.”

The shipment of 450 pounds of California Strawberries to China, for the Olympians–what else will they slice up on top of their Wheaties?

A piece from Slate on an organic farmer in India.  Although organic production is on the rise there, it right now makes up only about 1% of the total agricultural production. Says the farmer, Singh Grewal, “The very rich and the poor eat organic in India.”

1. Slow Food Nation. San Francisco, Labor Day weekend. If you are not already reading the event blog every day, please add it to your blog roll! Each day there are new posts–about the various Taste Pavilions, about the big issues in the sustainable food movement (check out the recent post on Proposition 2), and various events leading up to the big event, including the release of a new book: COME TO THE TABLE: THE SLOW FOOD WAY OF LIVING.

2. Terra Madre. Turin, Italy. October 23 -27. This biennial meeting will include over 700 delegates from the United States, and 6,000 delegates from around the world. Together, these delegates represent those who produce, sell, harvest, purchase, cook, educate about and promote sustainable food. It’s too late to be a delegate this year, but start planning for 2010! This year’s event will, for the first time, have a huge youth presence–cooks, farmers, students–with over 200 youth from the US alone.
3. Salone del Gusto. Turin, Italy. October 23 - 27. This giant public event attracts over 140,000 people (yup, you read that right) and happens concurrently with Terra Madre. Go to Turin and experience this giant sustainable food fair. The market is the heart of the event, but there are also taste workshops, dinners, lectures, etc. You can buy tickets online now, leading all the way up to the event.

• Eating IS a political act.  Check out this post on The Atlantic blog about that John Schwenkler piece on culinary conservatism that we blogged about a few weeks ago.
• Prairie Business Magazine comes out in support of Slow Food and regional foodways, and what that can mean for rural businesses.
• A beautifully written statement on having manners while leaving comments on blogs.
• A blog all about victory gardens and “other simple earth-friendly endeavors.”