"slow food" news and stories

As 2009 comes to close, so do this year's food festivals. Here is a selection the end-of-the-year picks, a couple of which involve the warm caress of alcohol, as often required to survive Jack Frost's lengthy stay.

Annual Holiday Ale Festival, Portland, Ore., Dec. 2-6: This sudsy soiree bills itself as the premiere winter-beer tasting event. With more than 50 craft quaffers, such as Bear Republic Brewing Company Barrel-Aged Old Baba Yaga, Hopworks Urban Brewery Kronan the Barbarian and Alameda Brewhouse Papa Noel's Special Reserve, we're inclined to believe it. On Dec. 6, don't forget to attend the sixth annual Beer and Brunch Event. Among the menu items will be Belgian-style favorite La Fin du Monde and cheeses galore from the Willamette Valley Cheese Co.

Indio International Tamale Festival, Indio, Calif., Dec. 5-6: This celebration of a quintessential Mexican food, started in 1992, will offer customary festival attractions, carnival rides and a parade. But what's not to love about a plethora of Mariachi bands and a tamale-eating contest?

LU Crème Roulee Tin. Image: Amazon.

A few of the best stories spied elsewhere on the Web this week:

Slow Food advocates organize potluck "eat-ins" to boost school lunch funding.

T.G.I. Friday's to give first 500,000 Facebook fans free food.

Club Med launches food blogger camp program, mixing beach bathing with blogger seminars led by prominent writers.

French snacks come to Mercedes Benz Fashion Week with a LU Café, exhibiting designer Erin Fetherston's limited-edition Crème Roulee Rolled Wafer tin at the Bryant Park Tents.

Michael Pollan, author of "In Defense of Food," calls for food industry reform in the wake of Obama's health care reform speech.

Unsuspecting teachers got high off "church bake sale" brownies. Symptoms they chalked up to food poisoning were actually the result of pot brownies at a sidewalk sale that was, evidently, not benefiting a church.

Julia Child's illustrator isn't a foodie and doesn't have much interest in seeing the movie "Julie & Julia."

At my huge public middle school, overcrowding was addressed by serving school lunch in 25-minute rotating shifts. The earliest group, A Lunch, had to shovel down their chicken fingers and green beans at 10:30 a.m. By 3 p.m. everyone was starving again, just in time for the school to turn on the vending machines full of Coke and Butterfingers. Not exactly your model of healthy, mindful eating.

Now, some people are advocating higher-quality, less-rushed school lunches as a key to lifelong good health habits. In the New York Time's Well column, health writer Tara Parker-Pope talks with Dr. Arthur Agatston, a cardiologist and creator of the South Beach Diet, about promoting better childhood eating habits through better school lunches. "I think having the kids sit at a family table and get used to it at schools - and then bring the parents in to encourage that at home - that would be huge," he says.

What were your school lunch experiences like? How do you think they affected your current eating habits?

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Soft-serve gets a makeover at upscale ice cream joints. Think spiced cantaloupe topping, balsalmic cherries, a "creamsicle" of white nectarine granita and jasmine tea soft-serve.

The Slow Food movement plans a Labor Day Slow Food Nation festival, to be the "Woodstock" of food festivals. Hope they bring more porta-potties than the original.

The Rutgers Tomato Project brings back the Jersey tomato.

The Minimalist does a no-bake summer cheesecake with blueberries.

Some New Yorkers are apparently unable or unwilling to leave their own neighborhoods for dinner.

Wasabi fudge, lavender caramels, blue cheese truffles.

Whether I can afford to bid or not, it's always fun to check out the items available at auctions. The Slow Food USA auction is particularly fun because it is almost all foodie items!

Slow Food has a long list of items to bid on. I want them all! I am now dreaming of making my own pizzas in the wood fired oven. I'm also imagining myself eating everything from the basket of apples to baked goods with pure vanilla. Don't even get me started with all the culinary tours and vacations.

Be sure to check out the complete list of auction items before the auction closes on June 26. For more information on Slow Food USA, visit their website.

What item would you (or did you) bid on?