What is Slow Food?

Slow Food Tri-Cities is a newly established local chapter of Slow Food USA, the American arm of an international movement founded in Italy in 1989 by Carlo Petrini. What started as a protest against a fast food restaurant opening near the Spanish Steps in Rome became one of the world's most significant food and farming movements and is now active in over 160 countries.

Our chapter brings that mission home to the mountains of Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. This region has one of the richest food heritages in America: Cherokee foodways, Scots-Irish preservation traditions, generations of farmers who have fed their families and their neighbors from this land. We believe that heritage is worth protecting, celebrating, and building on. We also believe that heritage is under threat, and we aim to do something about it.

Our programming will include The ARK of Taste, Snail of Approval, cooking demos and potlucks with regional, indigenous and BIPOC chefs, a cookbook of local recipes, and a Tool Library for backyard gardeners/farmers.

Learn more by visiting www.slowfoodtricities.org or find us on the socials at FACEBOOK or INSTA