This weekend, the brand-new executive director of Slow Food USA, Richard McCarthy, will tour some of Burlington’s culinary hotspots — the Farmers Market, the Intervale South End Kitchen and Hen of the Wood among them.
Why is he here? This year, Slow Food Vermont was one of the top four U.S. chapters in terms of new membership; McCarthy’s visit is a reward of sorts.
“I have been so proud of our chapter for the past five years, coming up with good, clean and fair programming for all in Vermont,” writes Mara Welton, co-owner of the Intervale’s Half Pint Farm and the leader of Slow Food Vermont. “I’m in awe when I reflect on the growth of our chapter, the awareness of Slow Food increasing, and all of our events having such an amazing response. It will be really wonderful to share that with the man himself.”
Slow Food USA is a branch of Slow Food International, an organization founded in Italy in 1989 with the goal of preserving local food traditions — or, in Slow Food’s words, “to counter the rise of fast food and fast life.”
Millions of people worldwide now count themselves as Slow Food members, even as the organization has gone through growing pains with regards to its mission.
McCarthy joined Slow Food in 2001, a few years after working with neighbors and growers to create New Orleans’ Crescent City Farmers Market in 1995.
On the eve of his visit, McCarthy took some time to answer a few questions.
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