Carlo Petrini, author of Slow Food Nation, hit town on a whirlwind book tour last week that coincided with the announcement by Alice Waters, Slow Food's International VP, of a huge public celebration to be held in San Francisco next May 1-4 (that's 2008), to be called—what else?—Slow Food Nation. There will be a market of artisanal products; a Slow Fish Boat (docked near Fort Mason, where the event will take place) dispensing info on sustainable seafood; cooking demonstrations; and outdoor feasts on closed streets in neighborhoods all over town. For me, the celebration kicked off early when Waters asked me to cook for a small fundraising lunch, with Petrini in attendance. I served a Dungeness crab salad, roasted asparagus on toast with a swirl of prosciutto holding a poached egg surrounded by peas and fava beans, and a grass-fed steak tartare from the local Uruguayan importer, Estancia Beef (the only non local food), that Petrini said reminded him of the tender, flavorful beef from Italy's Piedmont.
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