On Sunday, September 16th, over 50 chefs, producers, farmers and winemakers will team up with Slow Food Toronto and Evergreen at the Brick Works to host a picnic celebrating the best of Ontario.
With the little snail as its symbol, the Slow Food Companion reads, “Slow Food links pleasure and food with awareness and responsibility”, and pleasure is what I was in search of. What followed, naturally, was in fact awareness and responsibility, but much to my delight, respect, discipline and passion.
For those who are new to the idea of Slow Food, you’ll be glad to know that it is indeed a revolution based on pleasure. Paul DeCampo, Convivium Leader of Slow Food Toronto and a man of youthful exuberance, tirelessly shares his expertise when we meet one afternoon. “It’s a little bit like apple pie,” he chuckles, “who’s going to say, No thanks, I’d like Velveeta please?” There is, however, the nagging notion that the pursuit of pleasure affords itself only to an elite few. While this resistance might seem to have plagued the movement in theory, in practice chefs are aligning themselves with Slow Food faster than its name would lead us to believe.
Nathan Isberg, of Czehoski and Coca, was eager to elaborate when I approached him for his thoughts. “I go with what makes sense to me right now and, while I generally don’t like aligning myself with causes, it is good to have a locus of information. It is important to me that we celebrate food. If you want to have an orange in the dead of winter, fine, go ahead. Eat the whole orange and enjoy it, then make marmalade out of the peel, you know? People need to take ownership of their food.”
The need for ownership and responsibility are a direct result of the food mentality that has been encouraged thus far; dietary promiscuity. We are demonstrating, for example, with strawberries available in December, that you don’t need to wait anymore for the seasons to offer their gifts.
Michael Steh, of Reds Bistro in the financial district, who grew up sharing food experiences with the Oshawa community, has a clear vision of his role as a chef. “We have the ability to affect the movers and the shakers. If I can change, say, 1000 minds a week, then I feel like I’m doing my part.” And doing his part he is. Paul DeCampo arrived shortly after we met to lecture Chef Steh’s staff on Slow Food. Now and until September 16th, a Slow Food Picnic pamphlet will accompany each patron’s cheque.
When I ask him about whether these very movers and shakers, who may latch on to the allure of local and seasonal products but not necessarily the underlying belief, present a problem, Steh offers a logical argument for sustainability, “If you build trust with the clientèle, one that was established long before my arrival at Reds, then all you’re left with is right or wrong.”
If it is about developing a sense of trust, then a sense of community naturally follows. “People hunger for a sense of community,” insists DeCampo, when I asked him why this picnic and other such Slow Food activities were necessary to the revolution. “The local market day was the day that the community came together. It is a place for people to unite, people who believe that you can transform the way things are in a positive way, and I think that ultimately that’s our goal." Certainly, when hundreds of people flock the Brick Works to sample our province’s bounty, we will have taken one giant step in the right direction.
In the interim, though, I wanted to know what kinds of changes individuals could make in their own homes. “It’s about incremental change," explains DeCampo. "You don’t beat yourself up because you haven’t gotten there yet. You just take small steps to get there. Maybe it means we eat spelt bread instead. It’s not a big sacrifice. In understanding those alternatives, we can make change. It’s about consciousness, too,” he interjects after a pause. “We have to start asking questions. We have to be aware of provenance. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to know where your food came from."
Logically, Paul isn’t unaware of the challenges that eating local, seasonable and sustainable products can pose for the average consumer. “I think we can’t discount the fact that people are starved for time. It’s not about beating up on people for not joining. It is about creating more accessible resources for them. It’s about building the market so that there is availability.” This means increasing production by developing successful and safe farming practices, increasing awareness in schools and affecting a younger generation.
Ted Corrado, of C5 at the Royal Ontario Museum, summed up his food philosophy as “a combination of food education and community”. As with most chefs, he grew up with this attitude and is quick to address that while his participation is subject to his corporate duty, he is eager to take part in the event. After all, he writes, “coming together as a community to celebrate our food and our work is really what it is all about for me."
Tickets for the picnic are $95, and available from Slow Food Toronto.
