NEGRONI WEEK AND SLOW FOOD USA
For one week in September, bars and restaurants around the globe will come together to celebrate the iconic Negroni cocktail while supporting Slow Food’s mission to foster a more equitable and sustainable world of food and beverage. Proceeds from thousands of Negroni-serving food and beverage businesses will benefit Slow Food, Slow Food USA, and the Slow Food Negroni Week Fund, which issues grants to food programs that advance good, clean and fair food for all. Cheers!
THANKS TO OUR NEGRONI WEEK PARTNERS
PARTNER SPOTLIGHT: AVIATION AMERICAN GIN
As the official American gin for Negroni Week 2023, Aviation American Gin has made a financial commitment to support Slow Food USA and to partner with our chapter in Portland, Oregon, through in-person experiences at their distillery.
SIP AND CELEBRATE NEGRONI WEEK 2023
JOIN AS A BAR, RESTAURANT OR RETAILER
Food and beverage businesses can support Slow Food by joining Negroni Week. Your spot will appear on an interactive map with thousands of Negroni Week participants!
FIND SUPPORTING BUSINESSES NEAR YOU
Cocktail lovers can look up participating businesses on the interactive Negroni Week map and sip to support good, clean and fair food and beverage for all from Sept. 18-24!
MEET US-BASED FOOD PROGRAMS BENEFITING FROM SLOW FOOD NEGRONI WEEK FUND
Thanks to the funds raised during 2022 Negroni Week, 33 local community-led projects received funding to advance their work in the summer of 2023. These programs are leading the transformation of the global food and beverage system in 23 countries worldwide. Meet the 11 inaugural grantees from the USA:
Coffee Education for the Culinary Industry
USA (California) – As part of this project, professionals will be trained on the nuances in coffee and their connection to where and how coffee is grown. Chefs and other coffee professionals will be provided with hands-on training and educated about coffee’s cultural context so that they can develop a fuller appreciation for the farmers that grow coffee and the supply chains that deliver it to their establishments. The project will work closely with the Slow Food Coffee Coalition, drawing on its training materials.
Slow Food East Bay’s Cultural Food Traditions Project
USA (California) – The project consists of organizing event dinners during which a culturally relevant meal is cooked by a chef from an immigrant or refugee background, paired with a discussion with the chef and a presentation by a partnering nonprofit. The goal is to create a safe and inclusive space to celebrate diversity in food while calling attention to the role of migration in the historical development of global foodways and the ways in which immigration is integral to the development and current structure of our food system.
Slow Food Denver Farm Dinner
USA (Colorado) – Now in its second year, the Farm Dinner organized in the fall by Slow Food Denver is a program of events where farmers and chefs work together to create menus featuring local products. These dinners will be an opportunity to raise awareness and strive to empower the next generation of consumers to become the changemakers for a more sustainable food system. The dinners provide not only economic support to the farmers and chefs, but also foster closer connections between diners and producers.
TLC Kitchen
USA (Colorado) – The Learning Council has created the TLC Kitchen food equity project to support farmers and ensure sustainability in agriculture. At this community kitchen and learning center, farm-to-table meals are prepared using local products and served to the community, and winter markets and agricultural classes are also held here. The project aims to create synergies in the community, feeding the most vulnerable and educating people. Cooking classes and lunches are also provided to local school children, with the goal of creating a healthier community.
Socially Disadvantaged Farmers Grow Greens for St. Louis Market
USA (Missouri) – With this project, Slow Food St. Louis aims to boost community support for diverse farmers in the St. Louis area, helping them sell their products to local chefs and the public and organizing training and exchanges. Connections between farmers, chefs, farmers’ markets, consumers and agriculture education communities are vital: This project focuses on each of these connections, working to strengthen them and help the community come together. A final celebratory meeting will be held in the spring of 2024.
Slow Food Vegas
USA (Nevada) – The project aims to promote good, clean, and fair food for all by expanding Slow Food Vegas’s Snail of Approval program. Slow Food Vegas will empower the development of local food systems by focusing on the needs of local residents, such as helping local seniors and students understand how to prepare and store fresh produce through chef demos. Slow Food Vegas will also work to identify local food deserts, mapping them and seeking to address the barriers that prevent communities from accessing fresh produce.
Flour Power
USA (New York) – Flour Power is a community-powered baking cooperative organized by Slow Food East End. All the participating bakers use the same nutritious recipe, packed with whole grains and seeds, to ensure a uniform product. The goal of Flour Power is to provide consistent access to the kind of good, nutritious, high-quality bread that many local people cannot afford. The project also provides education, resources and support to home bakers and facilitates partnerships with food pantries.
Ujima Garden and Urban Farm Expansion in East New York, Brooklyn
USA (New York) – The Ujima Garden is an urban farm that provides vital food distribution and educational services to the New York community. It is located in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn, an area with high rates of obesity, diabetes and food insecurity as well as an extremely high concentration of fast-food restaurants. The project is aiming to reach a wider area and offer educational programming for young children in collaboration with schools, as well as a place for city dwellers to experience nature and gardening.
Growing the School Garden Movement
USA (Texas) – The Slow Food Gardens Network in the USA strongly believes that garden-based learning is the key to growing a healthier planet and creating change, especially among children. This project intends to support the program in Texas, including surveys to create new tools and methodologies adapted to the local context. The project will use local seeds and native plants as a way to foster biodiversity and regenerative agriculture methods.
Humble Eats
USA (Virginia) – The Humble Eats program teaches inner-city youth about fresh produce and ingredients so that they are empowered to cook nutritional meals. The project modules provide an interactive, hands-on learning experience, promoting food education and including topics like farming and growing fresh produce, safely cooking nutritious meals and food equity in the community. Students will also receive food vouchers to purchase healthier groceries so that they can provide their households with a wholesome, substantial meal rather than fast food.
Quillisascut Farm School for Chefs & Culinary Students: Scholarship Support
USA (Washington) – Quillisascut Farm in Seattle works with chefs and culinary students to bring sustainable food system values to the table. This project is focused on the organization of a five-day immersion workshop in late summer 2023, targeting both culinary professionals and culinary and nutrition students from Bastyr University. Workshop attendees will experience all aspects of food production and be exposed to a variety of topics, with the goal of helping them evaluate their potential role as changemakers.
