Slow Food SF currently helps to fund the school gardens at Sanchez and Miraloma elementary schools. With funding from Slow Food SF, Bi-Rite Market and Epic Roots, the Sanchez garden installed a new vertical garden in addition to it's planter boxes.

National day of Action: Sept. 7th, was a success!
Thank you to everyone who attended, volunteered and donated.
Find your Magnolia Photobooth pictures here.
See all the eat-in picts on Flickr

Below is some of the press for the Slow Food SF Eat-In- dont forget to keep spreading the word!
CBS News Video
ABC News Video
Indybay News Story

Dana Woldow from SF Chronicle writes...

Our country is in danger of raising the first generation of children who will live sicker and die younger than the generation before them. Today, one-third of American children and adolescents are obese or overweight. We have a chance to reverse this trend, to help our children get better school lunches and learn to make the kind of smart decisions about food that can help them live longer, healthier lives. There has never been a better time for anyone who has a child, wants a child, knows a child or ever was a child to come together with friends and neighbors and bring about change. It's time to share a meal, to sign a petition, to make your voice heard. It's Time for Lunch.

RSVP to attend the Slow Food SF Eat-In here.

This TIMES article takes a look at the health and environmental costs that come with America's addiction to cheap meat.

Eatingwell.com has posted an article spicifically to help those of you cooking for a potluck on September 7th. The article offers great recipe ideas for healthy side dishes, main courses, and even healthy desserts you can cook up.

Check out the SF Weekly Foodies section to read the latest press update on the Eat-In. The article, "Slow Food S.F. Gearing Up for Sprawling Labor Day Potluck in Civic Center," hits on some of the ins and outs of planning and a brief overview of Area Eat-Ins.

This SF Chronicle article highlights the lasting fiscal and health effects for our country if we contiune to raise obese and under nourished children.
Some important facts from the article are:
- The U.S. taxpayer pays on average $175 per year to finance obesity.
-Health care and lost productivity due to obesity cost California $41.2 billion in 2006....the economic cost to California of adults who are obese, overweight and physically inactive is equivalent to more than a third of the state's total budget.
-In my [Dr. Rina Shah's] practice, I have obese children with high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Many of them have skin changes called acanthosis nigricans, an early sign of type 2 diabetes. These are things we used to see only in middle-aged adults.
-That's why it's so crucial that new legislation help schools in California and across the country serve meals that support children's well-being and lower the long-term health care costs of obesity.

Read the full article.
Learn more about Re Authorizing the Child Nutirion Act which will bring real, nutritious food in to school lunches.

CAFF, Community Alliance with Family Farmers, beleives that every farmer should pay attention to food safety issues, but by making farmers subject to mandatory rules, testing, audits, and recalls, this legislation threatens to destroy the local food system we have been working to create.
Learn more about their progress and the current issues being dealth with in congress.

Roots of Change believes that the best way to make the food system sustainable is to connect and support the people and parts within the system that have the knowledge, roles, relationships and commitments required to successfully manage a rapid transformation.
The Declaration for Healthy Food and Agriculture has been endorsed by 200 national leaders and over 20,000 supporters of the sustainable food movement.
The declaration is an invitation to all Americans to join in the improvement effort by taking action in their own lives and communities and by offering them a way to call on policymakers to support comprehensive change.
Visit Roots of Change to learn more, and sign the Declaration!

Taught by CAFF's own Ariane Michas, who not only produces the California Regional Eaters' Guides to Local Food but is also a food anthropologist. Ariane will be teaching a semester-length course at Berkeley City College, which meets weekly on Saturdays, from 9-11:50.

The class will feature lively discussions about the evolving relationship between food and human society. Field trips to local farmers markets, food merchants, and festivals will round out the curriculum. And potlucks are encouraged! Classes at BCC are cheap and transferrable. Sign up here and click "Enroll Now". The course number is ANTHRO 48 UC "Food and Culture." Hurry, class starts Saturday, August 22nd! Any questions for the instructor? Email Ariane directly.

Join NPR on your morning drive and hear about unique foods found at farmers markets all over the country. These short interviews with locals let you in on a little history, delicious cooking suggestions, and handling tips- my favorite idea so far is to use an egg carton to bring your figs home unharmed. Read past farmers market interviews.

Love your San Francisco farmers market? Care2 and Local Harvest, two websites dedicated to supporting local and healthy eating, are offering communities the chance to vote for their favorite farmers market and win it up to $5,000. Every week, a randomly selected farmers market with at least five votes that week will win $250, and a randomly selected individual who voted that week will win a Care2 organic cotton tote bag. The contest ends on September 17th, 2009, so help your farmers market win, and vote!
Watch cooking shows based on ingredients from the Ferry Building Plaza Farmers Market.

Got too much fruit in your home garden? Did that zucchini or arugula get a bit out of control? Food Runners will be happy to help! They harvest your excess and donate to local food banks and shelters. There is a particular need for fresh vegetables and fruits. Please contact: Nancy Hahn, 415 608-0114

This movie lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that's been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA.The movie is going nationwide and in theaters near you. Read more and watch the promo here.

Having recently stopped in McCloud, California on my way to Oregon, I learned that the town built by immigrants and populated by farmers is being threatened by Nestle which wants to build one of the nation's largest bottle plants and extract water from the springs of Mt. Shasta. Local groups are protesting this proposal, and I strongly agree with them after having visited the town.

If you are on the I-5 on your way to Oregon, I encourage you to stop by McCloud and taste some of the water which I found to be some of the best water I've ever had. I also urge you to visit the following links: www.protectourwaters.org (where you will find sample letters to send to the county supervisors) and www.californiatrout.org. Let's do our part to protect the waters of Mt. Shasta. - Lorenzo Scarpone

The 2007 Ag Census showed an increase in the number of small farms and women farmers in the U.S. since 2002.

Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack announces the USDA "People's Garden" Project

Kathleen Merrigan was named Deputy Secretary of Agriculture.

Mother Jones on the future of sustainable food: "Spoiled: Organic and Local Is So 2008"

Michael Pollan's open call for food rules

1. On February 24th, Food Democracy Now! met with Secretary Vilsack in his office at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and delivered the first 87,000 signatures to him with your thoughtful comments so he would know how many people care about these issues.

2. We hope that you've all heard that Kathleen Merrigan was selected, one of the Sustainable Dozen, to become our next Deputy Secretary of Agriculture.

3. Continue to Send in the Sustainable Dozen!
Now that Secretary Vilsack has a great deputy, it's more important than ever that the under secretary positions are filled with great candidates.

You can sign the petition to support the Sustainable Dozen, so we can change how the USDA is run.

For more information on this news visit the Food Democracy site.

As the Child Nutrition Act comes us for renewal in the legislature this year (it happens every 5 years), Slow Food San Francisco's Food for Thought programming will focus solely on school lunches, the ways in which schools get food and how to create a healthy, lasting system that promotes not only the welfare of children and the environment but good, clean and fair food.

If you or someone you know is an expert in the area of food, nutrition, school food systems and the like, we want to hear from you. Please contact Jen Dalton for more details.

We have been working hard to create a new website for our convivium. There are a few elements that are not in place just yet but we just couldn't wait any longer to share it with you. If you find anything that needs correcting, please let us know.

Over 60,000 people participated in Slow Food Nation and celebrated the birth of a broad and inclusive food movement to build an American food system that is sustainable, just, and delicious.