By Brett Tolley, Kevin Scribner, Sarah Shoffler, and Spencer Montgomery
Not too long ago, Slow Fish was not part of the broader, Slow Food conversations. Slow Fish-type events were happening all around, but they were not connected. This was quite similar to the four of us — we were each making strides in our worlds of science, activism, fishing, education, and of course food. Even though we were working with similar visions and values, we were siloed in our little corners off the coast.
But then something special happened: Terra Madre (very much by design) brought us all together.
We met, we shared food, we shared stories, and we schemed. We envisioned a Slow Fish gathering in the US. With a highly capable crew of Slow Foodies and other seafood passionates, this past spring we organized (on a shoe-string budget) the first-ever, North American Slow Fish gathering in New Orleans!
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We brought together over 200 fishermen, chefs, scholars, students, and community organizers from 20 different US states (plus Canada, Germany, Costa Rica, Mexico, Colombia, Italy, and China). Uniting for four days of stories, food, music and art, we addressed the successes and challenges of the common vision for good, clean, and fair seafood for all.
We would like to thank the NOLA Slow Food team, who stepped-up to make it all happen! And once again, we will have representatives at Terra Madre 2016 to share and learn with Slow Fish compatriots from around the globe.
We are currently in an exciting place, where we are connecting more people, aligning shared values and vision, and creating opportunities for activity and action. We are honored to be launching this new campaign in the US, which we hope will reverse the tides of industrial seafood and usher in a wave of good, clean, and fair seafood that our ocean and fishing communities desperately need. We hope you will join us.
