It’s a pretty good time to be alive. I don’t find myself often wishing that I had lived in earlier times. However, there are events in the past that I would give my right arm to have been able to experience first hand. One of my top choices for time-travel destinations would certainly be the 1893 Worlds Fair in Chicago. I’d love a week to explore the wares of the world amidst Olmstead’s gardens.
There may not ever be another event so grand as that, but when it comes to American food and wine, Slow Food Nation may very well be the equivalent for those who enjoy the pleasures of the palate. There’s so much stuff going on over the weekend of August 29th to September 1st all I can really do is point you to the web site and offer you good luck in drooling your way through artisan bread tastings, cooking demonstrations, speakers, films, farmer’s market, concerts, tours and field trips, hikes, and more.
What I will tell you is that the part of the weekend known as the Taste Pavilions will be a wonderland for bay area wine lovers, especially those interested in sustainable, organic, and Biodynamic™ wines. More than 450 wines will be available for tasting, and perhaps a hundred of them will be from exotic places like Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, New York, and Texas. There will be hundreds more from well known places like California, Oregon, and Washington. All told it will likely be the single largest tasting of sustainable wines yet held in the U.S. Here’s a full list (PDF) of the producers who will be pouring and their wines.
The Taste Pavilions, which have both mid-day and afternoon sessions on Saturday August 30th and Sunday August 31st will also offer a huge variety of other foodstuffs and drinks, all from Slow Food friendly purveyors and producers.
Tickets for the mid-day sessions are already sold out, so if this smorgasbord of amazing food and drink appeals to you, you’d better plan on freeing up Saturday or Sunday evening over labor day to go check it out.
Slow Food Nation
August 29th – Sept 1st
Fort Mason Center (and other locations)
San Francisco
Tickets for the taste pavilions are $65 (or $45 if you’re under 21) and they must be purchased in advance online. This event will likely sell out in the next week or so.
