Tickets Now On Sale for the Third Annual Slow Food Nations Festival

New York, NY/Denver, CO (May 2, 2019) — Today, Slow Food USA announced the schedule of events for the third annual Slow Food Nations, a three-day culinary celebration on Larimer Square in Downtown Denver, Colorado. Opening with a rockin’ Colorado-themed block party and ending with a zero waste community supper made from the leftover food from the weekend, Slow Food Nations will feature over 100 free and ticketed cooking demonstrations, food tastings, family activities, block parties and talks centered around food that is good, clean and fair for all. Festival entry is free, with select ticketed events starting at $20, now on sale at slowfoodnations.org.

Honored guests Alice Waters and Ron Finley will be joined by headliners Drew Deckman, Kristen Essig, Caroline Glover, Sandor Katz, Adrian Miller, Kevin Mitchell, Davia Nelson, Urvashi Rangan, Steven Satterfield, Alex Seidel, Alon Shaya and Pierre Thiam, who will lead workshops, talks and demonstrations around this year’s theme “Where Tradition Meets Innovation.”

Highlights of the Weekend:

The Kitchen Counter

• The Kitchen Counter is a public stage on Larimer Square that is visible to all to experience the tastes and story of Slow Food with nine cooking demos and discussions throughout the weekend. New this year, a ticketed option at the Kitchen Counter for $40 gets you a front row seat to engage directly with the chefs.
• Senegalese Chef Pierre Thiam will showcase fonio, a forgotten ancient “miracle grain” from West Africa.
• New Orleans chef Kristen Essig will join expert Sheila Bowman of Monterey Bay Seafood Watch and Colorado chef Sheila Lucero to explore sustainable seafood.
• Culinary historian Adrian Miller and chef Kevin Mitchell will offer a journey to Africa as they create different tastes using ingredients of the African Diaspora. They will share stories of how the ingredients traveled to the new world, and what these ingredients mean to African Americans and the southern food cannon.

Block Parties and Offsite Experiences

• Colorado Fare, on Friday, July 19, will bring together farmers, restaurants and purveyors to showcase the best tastes of Colorado. Tickets range from $65-$85 for this signature party.
• Food Over Fire, on Saturday, July 20, will explore cultural traditions, innovative techniques and unexpected preparations over open fire. Tickets range from $65-$85 for this signature party.
• Chefs Steven Satterfield, Caroline Glover, Kristen Essig, Eric Lee and others will collaborate to host the Zero Waste Community Supper to repurpose all the rescued food from the weekend with this pre-service style meal. Guests will be inspired by how delicious leftovers can be. Tickets are $65 for this anticipated event.
• Pop-up experiences and intimate dinners will happen throughout the weekend in restaurants and at farms around town including an Indigenous foods dinner, a fermentation feast, and a special evening with farming innovator Row 7.

Slow Food Nations Tasting Room

• Newly-introduced this year, the Slow Food Nations Tasting Room is a guided journey for your taste buds. Attendees will be able to experience the depths of flavors, meet with makers and learn the stories behind the food for a reasonable $20.
• There will be guided tastings of American honey, artisanal cheeses, Fortuna Chocolate, edible insects, Fire Brew Holistic Health Tonics and more.

Slow Food Summits

• Slow Food Summits offer the opportunity to explore tradition and innovation, and current topical issues related to good, clean and fair food. Summits are hosted at the University of Colorado Denver’s College of Architecture and Planning and start with a one hour talk followed by a 30-minute social gathering over small bites and/or beverages that relate to the talk. Tickets are $40.
• Trailblazer and visionary chef Alice Waters and gangsta gardener, designer and artist Ron Finley explore the intersection of guerrilla gardens, school-supported agriculture, seasonal cooking and the power of sharing food — and how these create social and environmental change.
• Consider regenerative agriculture and the future of meat with Applegate’s Gina Asoudegan and rancher Greg Gunthorp.
• Respected podcaster and The Kitchen Sisters producer Davia Nelson will host a storytelling summit on how to prepare and conduct interviews for produced radio segments and find your voice as a host.

Workshops

• The Taste of Yucatan Peninsula hands-on workshop is a rare opportunity to experience an ancient dish, presented by the brilliant, young rising star of Mexican gastronomy, chef Regina Escalante Bush. Learn the methods and history of cochinita and understand why Regina’s hometown of Mérida has made an impact on the international culinary scene. Tickets are $60.
• Fermentation revivalist Sandor Katz will host a hands-on demonstration to explore the possibilities of vegetable fermentation. Learn the simple concepts underlying sauerkraut, kimchi, pickles, and all fermented vegetables and take some home to enjoy. Tickets are $60.

Taste Marketplace

• The centerpiece of the weekend – the Slow Food Nations Taste Marketplace – is open to the public and takes place both Saturday and Sunday. The Taste Marketplace is an open-air, free-entry marketplace that takes over the streets of downtown Denver. Visitors leisurely sample, shop, and meet the makers behind our food while engaging in experiences throughout the market.

The festival is hosted by Slow Food USA, a nonprofit that inspires individuals and communities to change the world through food that is good, clean and fair for all. All proceeds support Slow Food USA’s initiatives.

2019 Slow Food Nations presenting sponsors are Larimer Square, Visit Denver and Whole Foods Market.  Signature and Sustaining sponsors include 11th Hour, ARC International, Big Green Egg, Colorado Tourism Office, Danone North America, Gourmet Foods International, Airbnb, Camellia Brand, Davines, FoodPrint, Kimpton Hotel Monaco, Kimpton Hotel Born, Niman Ranch, NRDC, Seattle Fish, TIAA.

For the complete schedule of events and to find more, visit slowfoodnations.org and follow @slowfoodnations for the latest news. Visit the Slow Food Nations Media Room to learn more background about the event and access images of the event. Media pass applications are available now until June 15. Apply here.

About Slow Food:

Slow Food is a global, grassroots organization, founded in 1989 to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, counteract the rise of fast life and combat people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from and how our food choices affect the world around us. Since its beginnings, Slow Food has grown into a global movement involving millions of people in over 160 countries, working to ensure everyone has access to good, clean and fair food. There are over 150 chapters in the USA.

Media Contacts:

Lori Lefevre Wells
[email protected] or 914.630.0961

Anna Mulé
[email protected] or 718/260-8000 x152