Slow Food Nation

On Saturday evening, I visited the Slow Food Nation Taste Pavilion at Ft. Mason. Slow Food Nation occurred this past weekend in San Francisco with events throughout the city including a music festival, dinners, lectures, a farmer’s market and much more. The highlight of the event was the Taste Pavilion which featured products from every state that were hand-picked by experts in their respective food categories. There were 15 “taste pavilions” including Bread, Beer, Charcuterie, Cheese, Chocolate, Coffee, Fish, Honey & Preserves, Ice Cream, Native Foods, Olive Oil, Pickles & Chutney, Spirits, Tea and Wine. Each pavilion featured special tasting flights or food plates.

The event was one of four Taste Pavilion sessions that occurred throughout the weekend and it was packed. The food was top quality and every pavilion had its own theme and education in addition to the food it was serving. In the Charcuterie Pavilion we tasted through a “flight” of salumi from various purveyors around the country, while in the Chocolate Pavilion we tasted several stages of chocolate production from cocoa nibs to the final chocolate bar. Unfortunately, by the time I made it to the Cheese Pavilion (one that I’m sure would have topped my list), the line was at least 100 people deep and out the door. I love the concept of Slow Food but I was hungry and had many other pavilions to visit!

I wish I could have made it to some of the other Slow Food Nation events occurring throughout the city. But the Taste Pavilions were a great sampling of what this organization and event is all about. If you didn’t get to experience Slow Food Nation, you may want to stop by the Victory Gardens at San Francisco’s City Hall. Slow Food Nation just announced that they will be in place until November. For more information, visit www.slowfoodnation.org.

Written by Linzi