What originally started in 1989 as an antidote to fast food, Slow Food USA has honed its focus to promote good, clean, and fair food to people all over the world, including the Upstate. When McDonalds wanted to open a restaurant across from the Trevi Fountain in Rome in the late 1980s, the Italians protested. They could do better than a Big Mac in the land of fresh pesto, vegetables and homemade pasta. That same spirit lives on at Slow Food Upstate, which is at the forefront of promoting the biodiverse world of heirloom seeds and the history of native foods.
Slow Food Upstate seeks to educate the community about the benefits of good food — good for us, good for the environment, good for the people who grow it. Clean food — no chemicals. And fair food — garnering a fair price for the farmers who grow it. These pillars are what drives their education outreach and local partnerships.
The organization also supports the seed libraries throughout the Upstate’s library systems through their Ark of Taste program, which promotes food in danger of going extinct. Greenville’s seed library is located at the Berea Library branch. Seed packets are free and all residents need are their library cards to take advantage of the program.
“We focus on supplying the seed libraries with heirloom seeds that are native to our area but have not been grown here for a long time,” said Beth Kunkel, chapter leader of Slow Food Upstate. “Through Ark of Taste, we can tell the story of this food and tie it back to the state through native foods like Carolina Gold rice, Sea Island red peas, Bradford watermelon, Cherokee Trail of Tears beans, Cock’s Prolific corn, and Candy Roasted squash.”
But why should any of this matter in the first place?
“There is a sense of place to know where the food comes from and have that sense of what the Cherokee grew when they lived here, to have a connection to the past,” Kunkel said. “Often the flavor profiles of these foods are so much sweeter and more intense.”
The other aspect of growing native food is that they typically do not need a lot of fertilizing or chemicals since they have been grown here for hundreds of years. But, said Kunkel, it takes more effort to grow these native foods which typically deter farmers from widely growing them since commercial farming is more profitable.
Additionally, a more biodiverse crop is incredibly important to consumers.
“As we move more towards a monoculture, it only takes one virus to wipe out a good portion of supply,” Kunkel said.
This was apparent last year when the supply chain for meat was compromised as workers in close quarters at slaughterhouses became infected with COVID-19 and they had to shut down, leading to shortages of meat in grocery stores nationwide.
Slow Food Upstate also educates the community through the SNAP-Ed program, by speaking at local schools about the importance of local food, through working with a handful of school community gardens, by partnering with Clemson University and their seed programs, and by hosting events. In 2019, they hosted the Okra Cookoff at Birds Fly South. They provided the okra while the chefs worked their magic. It was open to the public and guests were able to sample the prepared food and learn about Slow Food Upstate. Kunkel is hoping to bring back a similar event in the near future.
