We believe that every one of us has a right to enjoy good, clean and fair food and that every one of us can be a “food activist,” especially in our everyday lives. You don’t have to attend meetings or sit in trees to claim a stake in the food system: food activists are people who cook, garden, share meals, meet their farmers and food producers, cooperate and invite new and old friends to come sit down at their table.

Become a member
Slow Food is a grassroots non-profit supported by members who pay annual dues. There are nearly 400 dues-paying members in East Bay and over 15,000 in the U.S. You should become a Slow Food member for the same reason you would attend a march: because you believe in the cause. In Slow Food East Bay, the benefits of membership are discounts to events, a seat at the annual members’ potluck and a subscription to Slow Food’s print journal, The Snail. 

There are 3 ways to become a Slow Food member:

  1. Online at www.slowfoodusa.org
  2. By phone at (718) 260-8000
  3. By mail. Download the form here.

Everyone can get involved in Slow Food East Bay. Whether you’re a dues-paying member or just a supporter, you can:

Propose a new event, program or partnership
Our leadership team loves new ideas, but we don’t always have the time or resources to follow through on them. If you’re thinking about organizing an event (a soup night, weekly drinks, a garden workday, a rally) or if you’re already involved in a project or organization in the Bay Area and you think we can work together, write us.

Share a new resource
If you own or know the owner of a local business, community space, theater or church that would happily host Slow Food events, write us.
If you know a restaurant, grocery or farm that would happily donate food, write us.
If you love to volunteer and want to help out at an event or program, write us.

Contribute to your local food community
Perhaps the most important way to get involved is to “vote” for healthy food and agriculture in your everyday life. Get cooking. Buy local, organic food from the farmers’ market and from locally owned groceries. Support local ranchers with the Bay Area Meat CSA. Pack a bag lunch. Plant a kitchen garden. Make things from scratch. Conserve, compost and recycle. Drink unbottled water. Sign the Food Declaration. Organize an Eat-In. Speak out about food injustice. Learn the Bay Area’s food stories. Shake the hands that feed you.

Talk Slow Food
A very easy way to take action for healthy food and agriculture is to talk about it. Organize an Eat-In with your friends, your church, your book club or the neighbors on your block. Tell politicians to read The Omnivore’s Dilemma and get their act together. Write letters to editors. You’ve got to start somewhere.

Start a Slow Food East Bay chapter program
Slow Food East Bay’s leaders are all volunteers, and though we’d like to do more, our time and resources are limited.

Here are some ideas for programs we think would help support the local food community.

We invite you to take one on, or write us to suggest another.

  • Biweekly drinks and discussion at a bar serving good local beer
  • A monthly picnic after the Saturday farmers’ market
  • A workday at a community garden or with a program like City Slicker Farms or the People’s Grocery
  • Visits to nearby farms
  • Film screenings
  • Neighborhood food, garden or foraging walks
  • Church potlucks
  • Cooking lessons
  • Volunteer days
  • Seedball workshops and guerilla gardening expeditions
  • Co-sponsored events
  • Seed exchanges
  • Teach-ins, talks and more

Contact us at info@slowfoodeastbay.com