Ciao, Slow Foodies!
My name is Olivia (Olive, Liv, whatever suits your fancy) and I'm here to tell you about my Slow Food story. My story is one of healing. Before Slow Food, the relationship I had with food was unbalanced and prevented me from finding connection. My healing expedition began back in 2012 in high school, when a dear friend and I started a group called Food for Thought. In this group we got together a few times a month and planned community events focused around food. Our focus was to bring our school community together with those in the surrounding area including families, farmers, etc. Although I didn't realize it until a couple years later, sharing and connecting over food in this way allowed me overwhelming gratitude and love that I had never before experienced with food.
The next stop in my story was realizing my unmatched love for soil. In 2014, I started working part-time for two small-scale farmers in my area. I worked long days side-by-side with the farmers and learned what it takes to raise a family of plants. I was inspired by the passion and drive these women had for food. That same summer I worked as a smoothie-making, tea-serving, register lady at an organic café in Brattleboro, VT. I got to see the fruits (sometimes literally) of the local farmer's labor and share them with our customers. Seeing how the small-scale farmer thrives off of its community was humbling. It began to click with me that food is community. It nourishes and connects people slowly and passionately.
Although I had already found slow food, my freshman year at The University of Vermont, I was introduced to Slow Food by a beautiful soul named Ann Cromley. She is the roots of my seedling in the Slow Food garden and for that, I am forever grateful. For the first year of my involvement in the campus chapter, she lead our small-yet-passionate community to connect with the school and the larger Slow Food network. She also introduced me to Slade, the environmental co-op housing at UVM where I lived for the entirety of last year. I am incapable of describing the impact Slade has had on my life, so you'll have to take my word for it when I say it was life changing. Slow Food and Slade showed me the healing medicine of community, food, and passion.
The past couple of months I have spent a great deal of time connecting with people in my area over the medicinal power of plants. Herbalism is something that combines the nourishing abilities of food and medicine (although I truly believe they are one in the same). However, for a long time I believed that herbalism was a personal practice that lacked strong community engagement. I couldn't have been more incorrect! Herbal medicine, like food, creates powerful community ties and education about our local ecosystem & landscape. My passion lies in continuing to make these connections between plants, community and healing - locally and sustainably.
I am so grateful to continue my story and become a part of the greater Slow Food community. Hope to see you at Terra Madre Salone del Gusto!
Slowly,
Olivia
My name is Olivia (Olive, Liv, whatever suits your fancy) and I'm here to tell you about my Slow Food story. My story is one of healing. Before Slow Food, the relationship I had with food was unbalanced and prevented me from finding connection. My healing expedition began back in 2012 in high school, when a dear friend and I started a group called Food for Thought. In this group we got together a few times a month and planned community events focused around food. Our focus was to bring our school community together with those in the surrounding area including families, farmers, etc. Although I didn't realize it until a couple years later, sharing and connecting over food in this way allowed me overwhelming gratitude and love that I had never before experienced with food.
The next stop in my story was realizing my unmatched love for soil. In 2014, I started working part-time for two small-scale farmers in my area. I worked long days side-by-side with the farmers and learned what it takes to raise a family of plants. I was inspired by the passion and drive these women had for food. That same summer I worked as a smoothie-making, tea-serving, register lady at an organic café in Brattleboro, VT. I got to see the fruits (sometimes literally) of the local farmer's labor and share them with our customers. Seeing how the small-scale farmer thrives off of its community was humbling. It began to click with me that food is community. It nourishes and connects people slowly and passionately.
Although I had already found slow food, my freshman year at The University of Vermont, I was introduced to Slow Food by a beautiful soul named Ann Cromley. She is the roots of my seedling in the Slow Food garden and for that, I am forever grateful. For the first year of my involvement in the campus chapter, she lead our small-yet-passionate community to connect with the school and the larger Slow Food network. She also introduced me to Slade, the environmental co-op housing at UVM where I lived for the entirety of last year. I am incapable of describing the impact Slade has had on my life, so you'll have to take my word for it when I say it was life changing. Slow Food and Slade showed me the healing medicine of community, food, and passion.
The past couple of months I have spent a great deal of time connecting with people in my area over the medicinal power of plants. Herbalism is something that combines the nourishing abilities of food and medicine (although I truly believe they are one in the same). However, for a long time I believed that herbalism was a personal practice that lacked strong community engagement. I couldn't have been more incorrect! Herbal medicine, like food, creates powerful community ties and education about our local ecosystem & landscape. My passion lies in continuing to make these connections between plants, community and healing - locally and sustainably.
I am so grateful to continue my story and become a part of the greater Slow Food community. Hope to see you at Terra Madre Salone del Gusto!
Slowly,
Olivia