Third Annual Food Fest Slow Food Nations Expected To Draw 20,000 Attendees And Culinary Luminaries Alice Waters, Ron Finley, Steven Satterfield, Pierre Thiam, Davia Nelson And More To Downtown Denver

NEW YORK and DENVER, July 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Slow Food USA will kick-off the third annual Slow Food Nations, a three-day international food festival on Larimer Square in Downtown Denver, Colorado from July 19 - 21st. Opening with a Colorado-themed block party and ending with a zero waste community supper made from rescued leftover food from the weekend, Slow Food Nations will feature over 100 free and ticketed cooking demonstrations, food tastings, family activities, block parties and talks centered around food that is clean, fair and good for all. Festival entry is free, with ticketed events starting at $20 at slowfoodnations.org.

The weekend is expected to attract 20,000 attendees throughout the three days.

200 chefs, farmers, educators and makers including Alice Waters, Ron Finley, Drew Deckman, Kristen Essig, Caroline Glover, Jennifer Jasinski, Sandor Katz, Adrian Miller, Kevin Mitchell, Davia Nelson, Urvashi Rangan, Steven Satterfield, Alex Seidel, Alon Shaya and Pierre Thiam will be participating in the events. Weekend highlights include:

The Kitchen Counter Demo Stage:

• Senegalese Chef Pierre Thiam will showcase fonio, a forgotten ancient "miracle grain" from West Africa.
• New Orleans chef Kristen Essig will join expert Sheila Bowman of Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch and Colorado chef Sheila Lucero to explore sustainable seafood.
• Culinary historian Adrian Miller and chef Kevin Mitchell will offer a journey to Africa as they create different tastes using ingredients of the African Diaspora. They will share stories of how the ingredients traveled to the new world and what these ingredients mean to African Americans and the Southern food cannon.

Block Parties and Tasting Events

• Colorado Fare, on Friday, July 19, will bring together farmers, chefs and makers to showcase the best tastes of Colorado and the rich food and beverage culture of the state.
• Food Over Fire, on Saturday, July 20, will explore cultural traditions, innovative techniques and unexpected preparations over open fire.
• Chefs Steven Satterfield, Caroline Glover, Kristen Essig, Eric Lee and others will collaborate to host the Zero Waste Community Supper on Sunday, July 21st to repurpose all the rescued food from the weekend with this family style meal.
• Pop-up experiences and intimate dinners will happen throughout the weekend in restaurants and at farms around town including an Indigenous dinner and a series of exclusive Airbnb Social Impact Experiences including a Slow Beer Tasting, a farmers' market tour and collaboration dinner with Row 7 and chef Caroline Glover with guest chefs.

Slow Food Summits:

• Slow Food Summits offer the opportunity to explore tradition and innovation, and current topical issues related to good, clean and fair food. Summits are hosted at the University of Colorado Denver's College of Architecture and Planning and start with a one hour talk followed by a 30-minute social gathering over small bites and beverages that relate to the talk.
• Trailblazer and visionary chef Alice Waters and farmer Ben Burkett explore the intersection of guerrilla gardens, school-supported agriculture, seasonal cooking and the power of sharing food — and how these create social and environmental change.
• Applegate's Gina Asoudegan and rancher Greg Gunthorp will debate regenerative agriculture and the future of meat.
• Respected podcaster and The Kitchen Sisters producer Davia Nelson will host a storytelling summit on how to prepare and conduct interviews for produced radio segments and find your voice as a host.

Workshops:

• The Taste of Yucatan Peninsula hands-on workshop is a rare opportunity to experience an ancient dish, presented by the brilliant, young rising star of Mexican gastronomy, chef Regina Escalante Bush. Learn the methods and history of cochinita and understand why Regina's hometown of Mérida has made an impact on the international culinary scene. Tickets are $60.
• The Injera 101 workshop will examine the history of the most important component of any Ethiopian meal as chef Genet Gabeye, originally from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, demonstrates the process of making the bread, mixing the dough and creating the starter. Tickets are $60.

Taste Marketplace:

• The centerpiece of the weekend – the Slow Food Nations Taste Marketplace – is open to the public and takes place both Saturday and Sunday. The Taste Marketplace is an open-air, free-entry marketplace that takes over the streets of downtown Denver. Visitors leisurely sample, shop, and meet the makers behind our food while engaging in experiences throughout the market.

Family Pavilion:

• Families will be able to engage in hands-on activities like cooking, gardening, art and other fun adventures. Free to the public, there will be scheduled and drop-in activities all weekend long, including the Whole Foods Market Planting Project, a pollinator seed bomb making workshop, story hours with the Denver Public Library and the Tattered Cover, Breakfast bowl class, and garden to taco workshops .

Free Talks:

• Discussion on mental health in the hospitality industry with John Hinman, Katherine Miller, Patrick Mulvaney, Alexandra Palmerton and Zander Tekus.
• Lead by Denisa Livingston and hosted by the Slow Food Turtle Island Association, the Indigenous Foodways and Lifeways talk will feature indigenous community members, organizers, advocates and leaders as they share their efforts, initiatives and programs to re-introduce indigenous traditional foods, seed sovereignty and policy and advocacy efforts.

The festival is hosted by Slow Food USA, a nonprofit that inspires individuals and communities to change the world through food that is good, clean and fair for all. All proceeds support Slow Food USA's initiatives.

Slow Food Nations 2019 presenting sponsors are Larimer Square, Visit Denver and Whole Foods Market.  Signature and Sustaining sponsors include 11th Hour, ARC International, Big Green Egg, the Colorado Tourism Office, Danone North America, EIJ Working Group, Gourmet Foods International, Regenerative Agriculture Foundation, Airbnb, Camellia Brand, Davines, FoodPrint, Kimpton Hotel Born, Kimpton Hotel Monaco, Metro Denver EDC, Niceland Seafood, Niman Ranch, TIAA, NRDC, Seattle Fish, New Belgium Brewing, Odell Brewery, and Stem Ciders.

For the complete schedule of events and to find more, visit slowfoodnations.org and follow @slowfoodnations for the latest news. Visit the Slow Food Nations Media Room to learn more background about the event and access images of the event.

About Slow Food:

Slow Food is a global, grassroots organization, founded in 1989 to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, counteract the rise of fast life and combat people's dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from and how our food choices affect the world around us. Since its beginnings, Slow Food has grown into a global movement involving millions of people in over 160 countries, working to ensure everyone has access to good, clean and fair food. There are over 150 chapters in the USA.

SOURCE Slow Food Nations

Related Links

http://slowfoodnations.org