Slow Books
Slow Food Books is a curated list of books and resources that speak to Slow Food values. We hope to connect readers with food writing that inspires thought and discussion about the food you love, diverse food cultures, historical foodways, food justice, and the joy of eating.
BOOK OF THE MONTH
Crying in H Mart: A Memoir
by Michelle Zauner
SLOW Books recommends
We use bookshop.org to host our booklist. We chose bookshop.org because their booksales support independent bookstores. Plus, Slow Food USA will receive 10% of the sale of every book sold via our booklist. We’ll put that 10% into the National Resilience Fund to directly support vital businesses and workers in community-based food systems, through local Slow Food chapters and groups.Â
Discussion Guides
In 2020, Slow Books hosted a virtual discussion group to discuss How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi. The Slow Books Curators developed a trio of discussion guides for the book—A Reading & Discussion Guide, A Moderator’s Guide and a Virtual Book Club Toolkit—so you can host your own discussion group! Download all three here.
Suggest a Book
The Slow Food Book Curators
Tammy Maitland
Tammy is a coastal Massachusetts transplant who has been living in the high desert of New Mexico for the past 16 years. She has mainly worked in the field of education, either as a 4th grade teacher, substitute teacher, or environmental educator. In the last few years her love of food has blossomed right along with her growing obsession with books. Tammy has been a board member of Slow Food Albuquerque for about a year. You can find her on Instagram as @quibit_the_cat.
Katie Johnson
Katie discovered her local Slow Food chapter in Chicago five years ago while working at a commercial food broker, scratching her head at the gap between the midwest-grown blueberries they sold across the nation and local food markets. She got involved with the Chicago chapter as a blog writer and is now a chapter leader, having taken on many roles over the years, including program manager for the chapter’s food book club. Katie officially added the title of “librarian” to her resume, graduating in May of 2019 with a MSLIS. So it is only fitting that those two worlds collide in establishing Slow Food Books! You can find out more about Katie on her website or instagram @katydid_katiejohnson.
Cedar Schimke
Cedar has learned to see the Slow Food movement as a gateway to decolonizing our lives, using food as the medium. Her food philosophy is shaped by visionaries like Robin Wall Kimmerer (Braiding Sweetgrass), Winona Laduke (Honor the Earth), Edgar Villanueva (Decolonizing Wealth), and Melanie Harris (Ecowomanism). Books are a medium for exploring and examining the stories we have about, and relationships we have with, our food. Cedar has been a journalist, brewer, line cook, cheesemaker, and facilitator. Cedar also hikes ~2,000 miles per year!
Margaret Woodruff
Margaret Woodruff first learned about Slow Food while researching local foods for library programs at her library in Vermont. Since that time, she has been part of the Slow Food Vermont board and worked to fold Slow Food initiatives into libraries across the state, including Plant-a-Seed gardens at the Charlotte Library where she serves as director. Books and food seem like such a natural combination!