Cappuccino at the Milan Airport

After trying my best to sleep on the long flight from NY, I knew I’d need some caffeine for the last leg of the trip to Rome.  I stopped on my way to my connecting flight at the  Milan airport for a quick cappuccino.

Unlike every other airport I’ve been to before, this coffee was not “to go”. It was served in a ceramic cup. Like all the Italians at the coffee bar, I stood at the bar, sipped my cappuccino. Slowly. What a treat that cappuccino was. When you stop moving your feet and stay in one place, you actually really appreciate your drink.

Most Americans drink their jumbo coffee drinks in paper or plastic cups. Fast. Often in motion while walking or driving somewhere. How different it can be to stay in one place, just for a few minutes and actually be with your coffee. This cup was smaller than the “tall” size at my local Starbucks and oh so much more satisfying than any cappuccino I’ve had to drink at home.

While sipping my drink, I watched the staff collect the empty ceramic cups and load their super speedy wash machines. There were no over flowing garbage bins filled with paper cups. Less trees destroyed to make paper cups that are used just once. This system has got to be better for the environment.

I’m looking forward to more cappuccinos in the days ahead.

I’m heading up to VT this week to attend the 2nd annual Slow Money Gathering.  What is slow money? Its similar to Slow Food. It’s about knowing where your money is going to and coming from.  Investing in companies you believe in. Supporting local/ regional businesses, especially when it comes to food.  Speakers at the Slow Money gathering include Bill Mc Kibben, his book Eaarth is a must read. Farmers Joel Salitin, Elliot Coleman and Tom Stearns of High Mowing Seeds will be speaking as well.

For me, this gathering connects the dots between food, farming, and the Transition movement. All things that I am deeply passionate about.  If you can’t make it up to VT, I hope you’ll check out Woody Tasch’s book, Slow Money or take some time and watch the Crash Course online.

After studying different facets of nutrition over the course of many years, I realized that it did not hold the answers that I had once thought it did. My studies with Annemarie Colbin helped me to see the systems approach to things and the “F” word came into my world view. FOOD is the F word I’m talking about. Not fast food, raw food, super food or even “healthy” food. Slow Food is the way.

Slow Food is an international organization that was founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world.

Slow Food USA seeks to create dramatic and lasting change in the food system. We reconnect Americans with the people, traditions, plants, animals, fertile soils and waters that produce our food. We seek to inspire a transformation in food policy, production practices and market forces so that they ensure equity, sustainability and pleasure in the food we eat.

Our country has a new president, and Slow Food USA has a new president too. Josh Viertel totally rocks. A native of Westchester County, NY, I met him a few years back at my local farmers market. He had rented some land and was growing boutique veggies. I really enjoyed chatting with this sharp dude with a high Food IQ. A couple of years later, I was pleased to find him heading up the Yale Sustainable Food project. Slow Food USA picked the right guy for this job!

As president of Slow Food, Josh recently met with senior staff and a small group of national leaders in finance, industry and media at the White House. They were brought together to talk about how to address the President’s national priorities—climate change, healthcare and education—in a way that reverses recession. Slow Food has answers, a seat at the table, and a voice in shaping the future of our nation’s food system.

Members of Slow Food understand that our economic crisis, our healthcare crisis, our environmental crisis, and our children’s health and education cannot be addressed without addressing the food we eat and the way it is produced. Food is the common thread that runs through each of these crises, and it is at the core of any viable solution. The Obama administration is just learning to make this connection, and Slow Food is helping them to make it. They are receptive to our vision of a good, clean and fair food system. Moving forward, Slow Food will to speak with a unified voice and help them to do the right thing.

Along with Jan Maltby and Michelle Kim, I’m proud to be a co-leader of Slow Food Westchester. Check us out on FB or visit our Slow Food Westchester Blog

If you aren’t currently a member of Slow Food, please join us in speaking up for a more sustainable future. And if you already are a member, pass the word along to anyone who eats!