4/24 > Abito leaders retreated to nearby Sunriver for a review of progress year to date and to look forward. Everyone’s creative energy was fueled by the resort’s Chef Dingle who put on a feast for the senses and spirit. The theme was sustainability and the process that was encouraged was “Slow Food” – an international movement that was initiated in 1986 by Carlo Petrini when a McDonald’s opened a branch beside the famous Spanish Steps in Rome.

Slow Food stands for sustainable farming, leisurely dining with family and friends. It brings forward the notion that eating well can, and should, go hand in hand with protecting the environment. It puts small producers in touch with each other and promotes their wares to chefs, shops and gourmets around the world. It seeks artisanal foods that are on their way to extinction and helps them gain a foothold in the global market. At its heart, the movement is about pleasure.

By 2003, 87,000 members in 50 different countries had found their way to this modern approach to living. In America membership is over 8,000 and rising. One example of what Slow Food has accomplished in the U.S. is a successful campaign to resurrect the tasty rare breed turkeys – Naragansett, Jersey Buff, Standard Bronze, Bourbon Red – that were the centerpiece of every American Thanksgiving until bland factory-farmed birds took over.

Slow Food fights for bio-diversity, opposes the genetic modification of food stuffs and promotes organic farming.

Chef Dingle involved us directly in his menu and cooking techniques. The aromatic quality of the experience had us in the READY TO EAT position long before we sat down to the table. The evening began with Russian, sustainably harvested, diver scallops that were absolutely incredible. Oregon bred, bone-in pork shank…braised over 9 hours earlier that day was the main course. Vegetables and greens were all organically grown. And a blue cheese from Rogue River Creamery in Southern Oregon was carefully folded into a French, stone ground polenta to accompany the fall-off-the-bone pork shank. We finished off our Slow Food feast with a rhubarb crisp over which Julie’s organic ice cream from Eugene provided a sweet, silky smooth counter-point. Oregon wines were well matched to the food.

*Check out Citta Slow (Slow Cities) which is a spin-off of the Slow Food world-wide movement…it is limited to towns under 50,000 inhabitants. Pretty restrictive, but very interesting as a trend source.

—Steve Robertson, President, Abito