Stout, WI, USA — January 18, 2017 — For the first time in two years, Slow Food USA is opening a new chapter: Slow Food University of Wisconsin-Stout. Under the guidance of students Kristine McIntyre ‘17 and Sarah Studley ‘17 with faculty adviser Matt Giguere, Slow Food UW-Stout has hosted several eat-ins and international food events this past semester, and has ambitious plans to help bring good, clean, and fair food to UW-Stout’s students and community. As of this month, they are officially a full Slow Food USA chapter.
Both McIntyre and group vice president Sarah Studley are dietetics students, and McIntyre describes her approach to food issues as “science-based nutrition.” However, studying in Italy and attending Slow Food’s Terra Madre Salone del Gusto, she says, “taught me a lot about how food is interconnected with culture.” The student leaders of Slow Food UW-Stout emphasize that intercultural connection. Last semester, the group hosted an Ethiopian coffee ceremony, a dinner with Indian cuisine, and a Thanksgiving eat-in. They visited local farms and orchards and contributed to a campus-wide event inviting Saudi exchange students to share their food and culture, bringing together the Stout community in the wake of the tragic death of a classmate.
The students of Slow Food UW-Stout are advocating for material changes, too. There are plans to start a campus farmers market, although McIntyre says “that’s been a slow process… getting the right permissions and paperwork from the administration.” They also want to build raised beds to grow seeds on the Ark of Taste, a catalog of delicious and endangered foods, and are advocating for more local and sustainable products in the campus student-run store.
For more information on the UW-Stout chapter, visit their Facebook page.
Press Contact
Anna Mulé
Director of Communications and Campaigns, Slow Food USA
anna@slowfoodusa.org
718-260-8000 x152
