Slow Food Nation

Today we walked into my comfort zone - The San Francisco Slow Food Nation 2008 Tasting Pavilion event. This movement/organization is a fantastic idea - getting people to rely on themselves and home cooking, knowing the source of their food and doing it all in a way that is sustainable, rather than fast food and over commercialized production of food. You can check them out on the web at http://slowfoodnation.org/
The tasting pavilion event we chose to attend is a collection of artisan food makers and educators that align with these Slow Food values. Let me walk you through our day:
Started at the fermented booth (they call it something cuter like Pickles and Chutneys...but it was fermented stuff) and I was re-inspired. A number of them rely on Sandoor Katz's "Wild Fermentation Book" which I myself have not purchased but might after realizing that their stuff tasted a lot better then mine - salt was the big one to actually add flavor. They had about 6 types of kraut, kimchee and one other thing I can't remember, and an amazing rye bread. Similar to the rest of the event each item at the tasting table is served and explained to you by people from all over the U.S. who make it. Adds a real nice touch.
Second we went down to Honey and Preserves - fantastic little vanilla cupcake with rose cream icing and a pistachio. Then a cheese roll with sweet potato butter (which is like apple butter but with sweet potato). This was tasty. They also had some nice jams and bread - tasty but nothing super exciting.
Then we headed over to the fish - they had a really cool display to show all the different types of local fish, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium was there talking about sustainability and sound practices with fishing. The food was interesting - smoked salmon on toast, marinated calamari with tomatoes and basil, tuna with white beans and dill and parsley and a herring wrapped around mozzarella, tomato and basil. This was nice because it all tasted fantastic and except maybe the white beans I would not have done this on my own.
Next in line was the spirits section. This of course was my husbands favorite (until we got to the meat section or 'Charcutiere'). There were about 6 bartenders and/or spirit makers present to let you taste ingredients separate, or mix you a drink. All were extremely tasty and our favorite was that we learned about this other style of gin (Dutch Gin vs London Gin which is what you usually have here in drinks like Bombay or 209). It was something I had never given any thought too, and the taste was pretty amazing - best of all we can visit the distillery here in San Francisco.
After that was coffee, which my husband didn't want to do, but he thanked me afterwards. We were greeted by a perky woman (dipping into the company yummies perhaps....) and a very chill red haired man who gave me a high five when I stopped at his station. He proceeded to tell me all about coffee processing techniques, where this one was from and then let me enjoy it in a nice little espresso cup. It was a nice break in my day for just a moment to sip on that loveliness (I generally don't drink coffee, but I do love the taste and flavor so I indulge here and there).
Then we hit up the ice cream booth which was not terribly impressive. There were some really good ice cream sandwiches that I hope to find in a grocery store soon. The guys are from Portland who make it.
Next was Indian - 3 types of naan (Indian bread) one was garlic, another chilies and the third was a sweet one with raisins and walnuts. They gave two chutneys with it and this was a fantastic snack while we waited in the long line for meats.
Meats were great. It may not be fashionable to be a woman who loves cured meats as much as my husband does for example, but I attribute it to my German heritage and growing up with a Dad and Grandmother who had an appreciation for the Old World connection to it. Anyway, point is I was pretty dang excited about this station. My husband wants to start curing his own meats and making more of his own sausage and everyone on this line was really helpful explaining to him where to start and what to look for. The people in line might have been mad because they just wanted to plug through, but thank you for waiting and thank you to the meat dudes who took the time. Here we had mortadella, sopprasata, pork confit with pepper jelly on toast and salami - all without nitrates/nitrites, all natural meat. It was a good moment.
We skipped cheese, chocolate, wine and olive oil because the line was around the corner and out the door for cheese, and the lines were long for the others and we just didn't see anything compelling to taste. Lines were the biggest problem at this event. Otherwise, so worth it. Pretty kid friendly too I would say.
We ended the day at the American Indian food booth - where I asked a woman in front of me if the Cheese booth was waiting in line for because I saw she had a plate. She looked at me and said 'oh yes, and actually we got two plates would you like the other'. THANKS! yes yes yes yes. And it was worth it. So although I skipped that booth, and although the chili and wild rice cakes at the American Indian booth were tasteless, I got some great cheese. After the American Indian booth we walked right across to the beer booth. Both full as heck by this time, we picked two each and that was the end of what our stomachs could handle. My favorite was this ale aged in pinot noir barrels- really unique.
All in all, a great day and I would recommend going next year. Definitely take the time to ask questions at the booths and the people standing around - most are working for a really great cause that you make want to take part in.