Join Slow Food NYC’s annual Food Almanac event! Our panel of passionate advocates are contributing to food policy changes for the benefit of all. Learn about the 2025 Farm Bill and Slow Food NYC and Slow Food USA’s involvement in shaping it!

Get your ticket here! The event is free and the suggested donation is $15 to support good, clean, and fair food.

Speaker Bios:

Brian Solem (he/him) serves as the director of communications and advocacy for Slow Food USA, which means he oversees all digital channels, marketing/PR, storytelling and grassroots mobilization efforts for the national movement. He has spent the last 15 years as a nonprofit marketing and communications leader, most recently as the senior director of communications for AIDS Foundation Chicago and the communications co-chair of Getting to Zero Illinois. Food studies and food justice work have been core elements of Brian's life over the last decade: He is the co-founder of food literary journal Graze, a former board member and board vice president of Chicago's Dill Pickle Food Co-op, and a cofounder of Portage Park Mutual Aid, a mutual exchange network in his neighborhood in Chicago. Brian enjoys connecting with community, gardening and cooking, and spending time with his husband and daughter.

Tyler Edwards is a Grassroots Advocacy Coordinator at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, an alliance of family farm, food, conservation, rural, and urban organizations that take common positions on policy issues. As part of the coalition's DC-based team, she crafts strategy, tools, and messaging that coalition members use to mobilize their grassroots base at key moments to ensure that influential pieces of legislation, like the Farm Bill, protect small, sustainable, BIPOC, and underserved farmers. Drawing on her past in theater and science communication, Tyler integrates a sense of creativity and a deep love for storytelling into her work.

Monti Lawson is the Founder and Lead Land Steward of Catalyst Collaborative Farm and Site Steward of WILDSEED Community Farm & Healing Village. He is a Black and Gay beginning farmer who has been a community gardener and urban farmer in NYC for over a decade. He graduated from Farm School NYC and is an active member of the FSNYC alumni community. He is also a member of Black Farmer's United of NYS, Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust, and NYS BIPOC Grower Support Network. In 2023, he was honored to serve as the inaugural representative for Manhattan and Staten Island on the USDA Farm Service Urban County Committee for New York City.

Join us for a festive Spring happy hour! Mingle with other Slow Food members and supporters while enjoying food & drink specials.

Sips: $8 glass of wine, $6 beer, $12 cocktail (spicy margarita, paan, aam ka achar)

Bites: $6 samosa, $6 paneer tikka, $9 hara bhara, $8 murgh tikka, $8 lamb seekh kebab

Get your free ticket here!

Let’s share a toast at our last in-person event of the year - a November Happy Hour at Fig & Olive 5th Avenue (at 52nd)! Fig & Olive is extending their happy hour deal for Slow Food NYC until 7:30. The happy hour menu includes $9 glasses of wine, $10 cocktails, and delicious Mediterranean dips and tasting plates. Sign up here.

Join us for our annual Open Board Meeting to learn more about the inner workings of the Slow Food NYC chapter and the ways we carry out our mission of good, clean, and fair food for all New Yorkers. Board members will present updates from each committee, and there will be plenty of time for Q&A. Join the Zoom.

Join us for an interactive virtual event! Danny Childs, author of the newly published book Slow Drinks, will demo a healthy homemade non-alcoholic drink and a fun seasonal cocktail while sharing details about his experience as an anthropologist and ethnobotanist studying the traditional medicinal uses of plants in the Amazon rainforest. Registrants will get a shopping list ahead of time so everyone can make drinks along with him from the comfort of home. Halloween costumes optional but encouraged! Register here.

Join us for our Manhattan Slow Down Fundraiser! We’ll enjoy a delicious three course dinner at the Marshal, a Snail of Approval restaurant, featuring locally-sourced ingredients accompanied by organic and sustainable wine pairings from Opici Wine & Spirits (gluten-free, vegetarian, and vegan options available)..The evening will also feature a raffle with amazing prizes. You’ll be upporting the mission of Slow Food NYC while enjoying unforgettable evening! Click here for tickets and more details on the menu options and raffle:. Seating is limited - get tickets before it sells out.

Join us for our Brooklyn Slow Down! We’ll meet at Runner & Stone in Brooklyn, one of our Snail of Approval restaurants, for a happy hour that includes delicious, locally-sourced appetizers, a complimentary glass of wine or beer, tax, tip, and a raffle ticket for a chance to win Slow Food themed prizes! You can purchase additional raffle tickets in addition to your ticket (happy hour ticket required) for even more chances to win!. Attending is a great way to support the mission of Slow Food NYC. while enjoying good company and good food. 🐌 Get your tickets here!

Join us for a special tasting of Slow Food small plates, including treats from Snail of Approval chefs! Complimentary drinks will also be available. Attendance is capped at 12 people - buy your ticket before it sells out! The ticket will include the small plates and pairings.

The event will take place at a private residence in the Union Square area of Manhattan. Ticketed guests will receive the address separately.

The Snail of Approval recognition is provided to food & beverage establishments that practice the Slow Food values of good, clean and fair food for all.

Book Club (Enlightened Eaters) Kick-Off Meeting!

Tuesday June 27 6:30-7:30pm 

Virtual

Join us for a revival of the Enlightened Eaters book club! At this kick-off meeting, we’’ll discuss our first book selection (We are What We Eat: A Slow Food Manifesto by Alice Waters), pick our next book, decide our meeting format moving forward and offer the chance to lead the book club. Join our kick-off even if you have not yet read the book! All are welcome!

Those who attend the kick-off have the chance to win a copy of "Slow Food Nation: Why Our Food Should Be Good, Clean and Fair" by Carlo Petrini!

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83839508126

VIRTUAL EVENT

Join us for the annual Slow Food NYC Food Almanac event with a panel of speakers who truly embody food innovation and are driven by a desire to build a more equitable food system.

Mary Cleaver is the owner and farmer of Green Table Farms, as well as The Cleaver Co. Special Events and Catering. She has over 40 years of experience in the industry, with a special focus on supporting a regional food and farm economy. She ran her business, and continues to run her farm, with a "triple bottom line" - people, planet and profit - philosophy in mind. She was named as Slow Food NYC's first Snailblazer in 2011 in recognition for her contributions to creating a better, healthier food system for all.

Robert Lee is the co-founder and CEO of Rescuing Leftover Cuisine (RLC), a non-profit aimed at preventing wasted food and ending hunger. As someone who has personally experienced food insecurity as a child, he understands the issues wasted food and hunger pose on our society. Over the past 8 years, since he left his full-time job to run RLC, the organization has expanded to 8 regions and rescued over 7 million pounds of excess food.

Shani Patterson is a self-employed private chef with an Associate degree in Culinary Arts and Bachelor in Business Administration from The Culinary Institute of America. She has over 15 years of experience with clients who require an array of specialized diets, has worked in traditional kitchens, and has done freelance food styling for live television segments. She loves the mission of Slow Food and does her best to intentionally move the industry towards change.

A suggested donation of $15 (or more if you are able) will directly support the growing season at Slow Food NYC's Urban Harvest Farm at Ujima, which is completely funded by New Yorkers like you. Urban Harvest produces and donates over 1,000 pounds of farm-fresh produce during the growing season—including tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, eggplants, okra, beans, and basil—to the Coretta Scott-King Senior Housing Facility and to a mutual-aid fridge at Universe City, two organizations based in the same neighborhood as our garden. Our volunteers grow 100 varieties of plants and compost more than 500 pounds of plant materials and food waste with the support of our community.

Join us for the first Slow Food NYC happy hour of the year! It's fun, social, and informal, as well as also your opportunity to talk to the leadership of Slow Food NYC and let us know what you think. Got a great idea for an event? Looking for ways to get involved? Want to learn more about Slow Food? Just looking to have a relaxing drink with other "Slow" minded people? The "Slur" is your opportunity—free and open to everyone.

For our Slur, the bar will reserve the back room and extend its happy hour: $7 beers, $10 wines, and $10 house mix drinks. Please RSVP to info@slowfoodnyc.org for a headcount.

Each year, Slow Food NYC holds an open meeting to welcome new faces to our community. On Thursday, November 12 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. EST, we're holding a virtual gathering on Zoom where we're share information on our activities and plans for the future. This is the perfect opportunity for those wishing to get more involved and learn about the work of our local chapter. Tickets (no cost) now available here with Zoom link to follow after you register, and we’re looking forward to meeting you.