Since meeting Rebecca, Kamrin and I have made an effort to both attend Slow Food events as well as incorporate many of its tenants into our family’s food practices.  We now have a 300 Sft vegetable garden where we grow our own produce organically and with heirloom varieties.  We also have made an effort to buy from artisan and locally sourced food producers like Big Wheel Provisions, Olde Hearth Bakery, Wild Ocean Seafood, Lake Meadow Naturals, Winter Park Dairy, Winter Park Honey and others.

Eating locally is more than just buying food that is at the peak of freshness and not shipped cross country from California, more importantly it is about supporting our local food economy, its community and its unique culture.  By doing so it becomes normal to know your producers, to build relationship with the local farmers who supply your free-range eggs and organically grown produce and to know that you are getting the highest quality food for your food dollar. By supporting the “local” farmer’s markets like Audubon Park Community Market you are strengthening the bonds that connect each of us to the land from which our food comes and to the caring hands that provided these food stuffs for our consumption.

Slow Food in an effort to champion this vital connection is sponsoring an Eat Local Week January 25th – 31st.  Below is an excerpt from their promotional materials for this event.  You can be sure Kamrin and I will be fully supporting this week long event and you can expect to see a few write ups and videos on our site about it.  So take a look at the excerpt below and let us know in the comments what you are doing to participate in Eat Local Week.  Following an excerpt is a video of the mother of America’s Slow Food movement Alice Waters to give you a bit more insight into what Slow Food is all about.

EAT LOCAL WEEK -  January 25th – 31st

Participate in a week-long celebration promoting connection, community, culture and cuisine in Central Florida.  Grab your family, friends and neighbors and head to participating dining establishments during the last week of January, 2010

Goals of Eat Local Week:

Emphasize that eating local in Central Florida is not only possible, it’s delicious – 
The Eat Local Week definition of “local” is anything within 200 miles of Orlando’s city center.  Featured farmers and artisans for Eat Local week come from as far away as Clewiston.

Help local restaurants, farmers and artisans to develop lasting, mutually beneficial relationships – 
Slow Food Orlando wants to see locally owned and operated farms and restaurants succeed.  By facilitating relationship building between Central Florida dining establishments, farmers, ranchers, and artisans we hope to help businesses grow and become more profitable.

Build consumer awareness of local food and farmers, and promote reconnection with family and friends around the dinner table – 
Slow Food is all about taking the time to savor the food we eat and the people we share it with.  When our food is produced in a sustainable, responsible and consciences manner it is healthier for the environment and healthier for us.

Raise awareness about the importance of a local food economy and keeping money in our community – 
Purchasing food direct from producers or dining out at restaurants that feature locally grown ingredients cuts out the middle man and puts your money directly in the pocket of the people who produce your food.  When you, the consumer, spend your money with local businesses those businesses reinvest your dollars in the community, thus contributing to a more sustainable future for Central Florida’s food system.

Click here to see a list of the 18 or so participating restaurants.

Related posts:

1. Farm to Table – an Ourlando Local Food Alliance event at the Enzian
2. Farm to Table Retrospective – Central Flrorida Locavores FTW
3. Audio of our interview with Slow Money founder Woody Tasch.

The excellent people over at Ourlando cooked up this idea of showing a thought provoking film like “Food Fight” (Which was excellent BTW) and paring it with the outstanding locally sourced kitchen creations of Chef Josh Oakley.  I want to say a few things about the event  but I figure the best place to start is with Lance Turner’s opening words before the “Food Fight” film.  So poignant!  I love this guy’s passion!

We particularly salivated over the pulled pork sandwich.  Turns out the pork came from Jim Wood’s happy pigs at Palmetto Creek Farms.  As Kamrin and I are part of the omnivore contingent championing of our local food scene it was refreshing to meet Jim after the movie and see that being a Locavore doesn’t necessarily mean becoming a vegetarian.  In addition to ethically raise pork, Kam would like to mention that when she stepped out with our daughter during the film and she talked with Trish at Deep Creek farm.  They are out of Deland and offer grass fed and finished beef and lamb.

We were more than happy to wash down our lunch with a Blonde Ale from Orlando Brewing and a glass of delicious herbal tea from Dandelion CommuniTEA cafe.  Also sipping on some Austin’s fair trade coffee afterward was a nice pick-me-up after leaving the sleepy darkness of the theater.

It was also great talking to some of the other family farmers among the tents and tables wrapped around the Enzian.  We had fun hanging with the Green Flamingo Farms community and talking about small scale sustainable farming.  Also loved their homemade business cards made out of the backs of cereal boxes.

Finally got to catch up with the peeps over at Lake Meadow Naturals our source for Cage Free, Free Range, Free Roaming and Locally produced eggs.  We picked up a flyer and are sure to get out there with our camera a vlog about it soon.  Until then you can check out the video posted on Big Wheel’s site.  Oh yeah we talked with Tony from Big Wheel Provisions too.  Oh let me mention that I just got their e-mail about their offerings at tonight’s Audubon Park Community market and I can’t wait to pick up some of their lentil soup made with their proprietary local vegetable stock and herbs.

So much more to say.  But that’s enough when I have a research paper due this evening.  Procrastination how I love and hate you.  Grrrrrr.

Oh oh I also want to mention Gus with My Yard Farms.  These guys take the typical grass covered lawns and convert them into edible landscapes.  Awesome.

Ok back to work John.  Seriously…..

Related posts:

1. Farm to Table – an Ourlando Local Food Alliance event at the Enzian
2. Eat Local Week January 25th – 31st – A Slow Food Orlando Event
3. Audubon Community Market and Big Wheel Provisions

This is the first time since the birth of our little girl that we’ll have the opportunity to reconnect with the Orlando’s locavore community and get caught up with what is happening with the local food movement.  Speaking of which, Julie did a great show on the topic this week on Front Porch Radio and it was a great primer for me to get my head wrapped around who the players are and what progress has happened since my 2007 Locavore film.  Take a listen to her show here.

Ourlando is the chief organizer of the event and the goal is to raise awareness about our existing local food sources and encourage the locavore lifestyle.  With a little networking and some passion we can build a wonderful local and sustainable food economy.  This will be a great opportunity to meet local farmers and local food purveyors.  I’m sure the talk around Eden bar after the film will be worth the price of admission.

Hope to see you all there.

Farm To Table – an Ourlando Local Food Alliance event

Sunday, November 15, 12:30 PM to 2:30 PM 
$18 @ the Enzian Theater

Buy your tickets online here.
Featuring the the documentary “Food Fight” by Chris Taylor and food by Chef Josh Oakley.
Tickets: $18, includes hors d’oeuvre, beer, coffee and tea.

Related posts:

1. Farm to Table Retrospective – Central Flrorida Locavores FTW
2. Talking Community with Julie Norris on Front Porch Radio WPRK
3. Eat Local Week January 25th – 31st – A Slow Food Orlando Event

I recently had the pleasure of being a guest on one of my favorite radios shows Front Porch Radio.  Every Wednesday at noon the host Julie Norris serves up an hour’s worth of interviews and insights regarding the cultural scene in and around Orlando.  Julie is also the proprietor of the seriously influential Dandelion Communitea Cafe, a delicious vegan friendly restaurant off Colonial Dr and if you’ve seen my Locavore film than you saw Julie sharing her wisdom about the local food movement and know why I call her Miss Local.

Julie has a new partner in crime co-hosting the show and it was a pleasure to get to meet the very affable Jeremy Seghers.  The three of us, no wait Maya was in Julie’s arms, kicked off the show by discussing how the community developers/leaders of Orlando are beginning to harness the power of social and digital media to keep their base informed and inspired.  She also let me pimp a community round table I had put together with Florida Creative’s founder Ryan Price, called “A New Media Think and Drink: Focus on Community”.  Julie was one of our distinguished roundtable members and it was awesome to talk community with her while we were on the air.

Then to my surprise Thomas Thorspecken the sketchbook toting urban sketcher popped in.  Since January Thor has been posting his incredible sketches daily from a wide variety of cultural events in Central Florida.  It was a pleasure meeting him and becoming acquainted with his work, mission and website.  Please check out his phenomenal work at Analog Artist Digital World.

Additionally a photographer and journalist from Winter Park Magazine were on site to do an article about WPRK.  What better show than Front Porch to best capture the local importance of WPRK’s presence on the airwaves.

Check out the podcast here.

Related posts:

1. We Interview Woody Tasch of Slow Money today at noon on Front Porch Radio.
2. Farm to Table – an Ourlando Local Food Alliance event at the Enzian
3. Hymn For Her – Nomadic musical duo at the Audubon Park Community Market