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Slow Food Saskatoon has announced our spring volunteer project. We are offering the cooking skills of our chef members and access to fresh, local food to the kids attending Camp Tamarack this summer. Slow Food Saskatoon and Camp Tamarack are calling for food and packaging donations as they prepare soups, stews, baking, and healthy snack items for the camp.

“We’re so grateful for Slow Food Saskatoon’s support of Camp Tamarack,” says Tamarack Foundation President Sharon Thomas. “Diet is extremely important to children with learning disabilities and we want to educate children on the importance of healthy eating.”

“We’re pleased to be able to support Camp Tamarack,” says Slow Food Saskatoon Leader Noelle Chorney. “Slow Food is committed to good, clean and fair food for all, with a special emphasis on connecting with youth. This is a great opportunity. Plus, Slow Food Saskatoon has a great team of chefs and caterers that love to feed people, so it’s a fun project for us to take on!”

The Tamarack/Slow Food partnership is reaching out to food retailers and wholesalers to access meat, dry goods, frozen fruit, packaging, and other items that can be used to create make ahead meals and snacks for 400 kids attending the camp in July and August.

For a specific ingredient list, contact Slow Food or Camp Tamarack. Contact Evelyn Reisner of Fresh Dish Catering at 306-262-5586 to arrange delivery or pickup of donations.

About Slow Food Saskatoon

Slow Food Saskatoon is a grassroots community of chefs, policy supporters, farmers and food activists who support good, clean and fair food, and like to mix joy and justice. For more information: www.slowfoodsaskatoon.com

About the Slow Food movement

Slow Food is an international non-profit organization. Its cultural, environmental and social mission is the recognition of the central role of good, clean and fair food. For more information: www.slowfood.com

About Camp Tamarack

Camp Tamarack has been helping children with learning difficulties since 1977. The children and their families see Camp Tamarack as a place where children experience success, find a friend, and realize that learning can be fun. These experiences follow them into their classrooms and create a foundation for a successful life.

Camp Tamarack is supported by the Tamarack Foundation, a duly registered Canadian charity, and operated by a Board of Directors made up of professionals with varied business backgrounds, as well as parents who have the common desire to make a difference in the lives of children with learning difficulties – diagnosed or undiagnosed.

I would like to begin by acknowledging that this event is taking place on Treaty 6 Territory and the homeland of the Métis. I pay my respect to the First Nations and Métis ancestors of this place and reaffirm our relationship with one another.

My name is Noelle Chorney for those of you who don’t know me—although I do see many friends in the audience—thank you so much for coming. I am the leader of Slow Food Saskatoon. My steering committee, made up of people whom I have come to love dearly, nominated me to attend Terra Madre, Slow Food International’s biannual conference in Turin, Italy. We also sponsored Jessica Kormos, food services coordinator at Station 20 West to attend.

I had been told that the experience would be transformative. In my case, I feel as if I am continually transforming, and Terra Madre was the most recent of many transformative experiences for me in the last few years. But it does something to you, spending a week with people who are as committed to a cause as you are. I feel closer to my Canadian and North American counterparts and have had many important conversations about what this grassroots movement means and how it is evolving on Turtle Island.

What I would like to share with you tonight is the gift that I believe the Slow Food movement brings to the world. Thanks to my recent travels, I now fully understand it and feel more committed to Slow Food as a result.

For those of us who care about the welfare of our planet and the survival of humanity, and I believe I’m in good company tonight, it is a daunting time. There is so much change that needs to happen, and so much work to do. I see the struggle of the social activists I know—the frustration bordering on despair.

When I think of one word that makes Slow Food stand out from other similar movements, that word is enjoyment.

It isn’t surprising that Slow Food was founded in Italy. Visiting there for the first time, the richness and level of integration of the food culture assumes enjoyment first. That appears to be what the culture is founded on. And when I think about North America in contrast, enjoyment rarely comes first, and is almost always separated from ‘real life’ or the work that needs to get done. I see the preponderance of guilt from the puritanical overlays that many colonizers brought with them.

We have so much to feel bad about. Feeling good, in fact, seems frivolous. We may believe we don’t deserve to feel good. And we definitely shouldn’t feel good while fighting to end suffering. We feel as if we deserve to suffer as long as there is suffering.

The work to right all the wrongs is never ending and overwhelming. That is true.

What is also true is that joy is a far more life-giving and affirming fuel source than anger or despair. And for myself, I was never able to commit to anything that didn’t also feel good. And while I always knew that everything about Slow Food appealed to me, it wasn’t until I heard this statement from Slow Food USA leader Richard McCarthy that I realized why:

“We live in the magical space between the joy and the justice.”

For the longest time I have been describing Slow Food as an organization that promotes good, clean and fair food for all. That’s the elevator speech, but it lacks the joy that we are speaking of.

What Slow Food really is, is a social change movement that is thoughtful and complex. None of the issues are black and white. And those who are committed to Slow Food are working for many different causes:

• If you care about animal welfare, you have a place in Slow Food.
• If you care about biodiversity, you have a place in Slow Food.
• If you care about Indigenous rights and sovereignty, you have a place in Slow Food.
• If you care about women’s rights, you have a place in Slow Food.
• If you care about climate change, you have a place in Slow Food.
• If you care about food access and food insecurity, you have a place in Slow Food.
• If you have ever felt the sense of nourishment—the joy—that follows a meal, grown, harvested, prepared and served with love, and you wish for that feeling for the entire world, and see the healing potential of that joy, you have a place in Slow Food.

If you care about any combination or all of the above, come talk to me or my kick-ass team about how to get involved. We are living proof of what you can accomplish when you’re fuelled by joy—such as hosting the Slow Food in Canada National Summit last April, the meal you have just enjoyed on Black Fox’s beautiful property, or our next big project, Camp Snail, in partnership with Camp Tamarack—we are planning a Slow Food weekend of foraging workshops, cooking lessons and gathering around tables and campfires in celebration of local food. Mark your calendars for the weekend of June 7 & 8, 2019.

We are energized by the experience of living in that magical space between joy and justice, and whatever your cause, we acknowledge that the revolution will look different from where each of us stands. And we need every single one of those perspectives to reach the tipping point. We also acknowledge your part in the revolution, and on behalf of Slow Food Saskatoon, from the bottom of our hearts, we wish you joy in your own quest for justice.

Our pumpkin-themed fall supper, taking place during Black Fox’s annual pumpkin festival, is only two weeks away. Tickets are available on Picatic. We’re excited to share our menu for this four-course vegetarian and vegan-friendly dinner. Four of our chef committee members have teamed up to offer some amazing dishes. Tickets are only $40 for adults. Kids are also welcome, with reduced pricing for kid-sized portions.

We’re serving:

• Éloté, a Mexican-inspired roasted corn salad with pumpkin-cashew cheese by Michael Beaulé
• Coconut curry squash and pumpkin soup by Carole Gallagher
• Pumpkin, vegetable and lentil terrine with mustard gin sauce by Chef Jenni
• “Fall miniatures” for dessert—you’ll have to see it to believe it—crustless pumpkin pie in the shape miniature pumpkin and a tiny caramelized pear [vegan dessert will differ] by Evelyn Reisner

Spend an evening on Black Fox’s beautiful property, enjoy a cocktail with dinner, and learn a bit more about Terra Madre Salone del Gusto 2018. Noelle Chorney, our Slow Food Saskatoon leader will be just returned from this transformative event and will be speaking (briefly) at the dinner.

We’ll also be announcing our next big project (it’s exciting and ground breaking). This is a fundraising dinner, so come prepared to buy some 50-50 tickets!

With the Slow Food in Canada National Summit taking place April 19-22, we are Just over one month away!

Our theme this year is “Eating Where We Live” and we are exploring that theme through Indigenous food systems, how New Canadians adapt to our climate, and how we adapt the food we grow to thrive in this climate through traditional plant
breeding.

Interested in going? Buy tickets to the conference or to several separately ticketed events

Schedule details

Thursday, April 19, 2018

What: Opening Cocktail Reception and Local Food Showcase
Where: Lucky Bastard Distillery, 814 47 St E, Saskatoon
When: 5pm to 9pm
Welcome: conference delegates and ticket holders
Slow Food Members: $30
Non-members: $40

This is a chance to sample local ingredients and products, and food created
by local chefs, while rubbing shoulders with Slow Food leaders from across
the country, and enjoying tours of the distillery. It will be a memorable
event!

Friday, April 20, 2018

Morning

What: Local Trail Farm Tour and Mennonite Lunch
Where: Osler Area (departing by bus from the Parktown Hotel, 924 Spadina Crescent E at 8:30am)
When: 8:30am to 1:00pm
Welcome: conference delegates and ticket holders
Slow Food Members: $30
Non-members: $40

Afternoon

What: Meetings and National Committee Reports
Where: Station 20 West, 1120 20th St W, Saskatoon
When: 1:30pm to 4:30pm
Welcome: open to the public
Free

Evening

What:* Pimatisiwin* Indigenous Food Systems Dinner Theatre, including a
traditional dinner and performance of an abridged version of Curtis
Peeteetuce’s play *Pimatisiwin*
Where: Station 20 West, 1120 20th St W, Saskatoon
When: 6:30-9pm
Welcome: conference delegates and ticket holders
Slow Food Members: $50
Non-members: $60

Saturday, April 21, 2018

Morning

What: Slow Food Canada AGM and Planning Meetings for conference delegates,
as well as a cooking demonstration by new Canadians and tour of the
horticulture greenhouses.

This is the only time that is devoted to conference delegates only–if you are intrigued by the meetings and the tours, we recommend you consider registering for the conference

All other meals and events are included in the conference fees.

Afternoon

What: Panel Discussions on Slow Food Youth, Indigenous Food Systems, and
Local Partnerships to meet International Goals
Where: Lutheran Seminary, U of S Campus, 114 Seminary Drive
When: 1:30pm to 4:30pm
Welcome: open to the public
Free

Evening

What: “Waste Not, Want Not” Zero Food Waste Gala Dinner and Local Food
Heroes Presentation
Where: Saskatoon Farmers’ Market, 414 Avenue B S, Saskatoon
When: 6 pm to 9 pm
Welcome: delegates and ticket holders
Slow Food Members: $70
Non-members: $80

Sunday, April 22, 2018

What: Final meeting and wrap-up breakfast
Where: Parktown Hotel, 924 Spadina Crescent E
When: 8am-11am
Welcome: Delegates

While our event is happening at various locations throughout the city, our
home base is the Parktown Hotel, and we have arranged group rates at that hotel, for anyone traveling from out of town. Let them know you’re with the Slow Food in Canada Conference.

Please share with anyone who might be interested, and let us know if you have questions. We will also be reaching out soon to our volunteer base, so let us know if you’d like to help out and take part!

Looking forward to your support, and to seeing you at our conference. It’s a great chance to show the rest of Canada all that Saskatoon has to offer!