In Praise of Good, Clean, Fair Food for All

Connecting the community, and especially children, to healthy food is at the heart of Slow Food Bluegrass, a Louisville–based all-volunteer chapter of Slow Food International and Slow Food USA. For over 10 years, Slow Food Bluegrass has been striving to carry out the Slow Food mission of good, clean and fair food for all:

GOOD

The word good can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. For Slow Food, the idea of good means enjoying delicious food created with care from healthy plants and animals. The pleasures of good food can also help to build community and celebrate culture and regional diversity.

CLEAN

Nutritious food that is as good for the planet as it is for our bodies. It is grown and harvested with methods that have a positive impact on our local ecosystems and promote biodiversity.

FAIR

Slow Food Bluegrass believes food is a universal right. Food that is fair should be accessible to all, regardless of income, and produced by people who are treated with dignity and justly compensated for their labor.

Slow Food Bluegrass is dedicated to bringing all members of the community around one table to understand the value of healthy and local food. Because food is central to everyone’s culture and celebrations, Slow Food Bluegrass supports the activities and education of like-minded individuals, businesses and organizations in the region through events, community outreach and a garden grant program.

Slow Food International started over 30 years ago as a grass roots effort to stop the building of a McDonald’s in Rome, Italy. Since its beginnings, Slow Food has grown into a global movement involving millions of people in over 160 countries, working to ensure everyone has access to good, clean and fair food. The mission is to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, to counteract the rise of fast life and to combat people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from and how our food choices affect the world around us.

Each year, Slow Food Bluegrass awards multiple $500–$1,500 micro-grants to nonprofit groups in the Louisville and southern Indiana counties who foster education about and access to good, clean, fair food. Special priority is given to limited-resource communities and to projects that demonstrate a strong buy-in from participants. Application deadline is April 30, 2022.

Sign up for the Slow Food Bluegrass newsletter to learn more about 2022 activities: Receive FREE admission for the day at Forecastle Music Festival by working a shift at the SFB Beer Tent over Memorial weekend, attend the Ark of Taste dinner in July, and participate in a free community pitch in dinner and the popular annual Soup Swap and Breadmaking event.

To donate and learn more about Slow Food Bluegrass, go to www.SlowFoodBluegrass.org.