Anya Fernald was integral to the planning of Slow Food Nation and has been writing posts on their blog recapping the event from a “behind the scenes” perspective. To put on the Slow Food Nation event in San Francisco last week it not only took a lot of time, but also a lot of dough - the green paper kind. One thing that really hit me as I was reading her latest post, The Backstory of the Taste Pavilions, was how much they wanted to ease the burden on small producers financially, which thus affected the price of a ticket for consumers into the Pavilion. When I first purchased the tickets and saw it was $65 for half a day at the Pavilions, I admittedly gulped as I clicked through the checkout process. After attending the event, I certainly felt differently. My money was well spent, but there was something in Anya’s post that made me feel even better.

One thing I had heard loud and clear during our initial outreach was that farmers and food artisans were tired of coming to events (Slow Food and other) and being asked to do everything for free, including donate product and work, for the benefit of (often well-heeled) ticket buyers. So we came up with the idea of buying all the products and building the stands that would feature the product for our event. If the producer had the means and desire to attend, they were welcome, but this event would support them and would strive to not be a financial burden on the people we were trying to help. The only exception was the wine pavilions, where we asked each featured producer to donate one case of wine because we simply did not have the financial resources to purchase them all. This would turn the trade-show concept on its head—no stall fees, vendors, or sponsor zones.

Being involved in the specialty food business, I am well-aware of how most food shows work. And they don’t work for small producers. The Fancy Food Show for example has made the cost so high for vendors to attend (I’ve heard that it’s around $15,000 for booth space, samples and travel costs) that it is simply unreasonable for small producers to attend. I applaud Slow Food for the decision they made, albeit a difficult one, to get creative in the way they funded the Slow Food Nation event. It was the right choice to put some of the burden on us, the consumer, to have the opportunity to taste and learn about some of the finest food being produced in our country.