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The Inside Scoop column in the San Francisco Chronicle informs readers about some serious fighting words that Slow Food founder Carlo Petrini has for the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.
Petrini, who had been scheduled to sign copies of his recent book, Slow Food Nation, at the Ferry Building, was cut loose from the event when it was discovered that he had harshed on the Ferry Plaza’s considerable buzz.
From the piece:
Among other things, [Petrini] called the prices ‘astronomical … boutique-y,’ the market ‘extremely exclusive,’ the farmers ‘all well-to-do college graduates’ and the customers ‘either wealthy or very wealthy … most of whom seemed to be actresses’ who showed off their vegetables ‘like jewels, status symbols.’
One young farmer was singled out for confiding that he charged high prices so he could limit his attendance to twice a month, still support his family and spend hours surfing.
The Inside Scoop goes on to describe a contentious meeting between Petrini and his interpreter (Petrini’s Italian) and several Farmers Market farmers and purveyors, including Steve Sando of Rancho Gordo and Nigel Walker of Eatwell Farm. The point of the meeting was to discuss the scuttled book signing, as well as the involvement of CUESA (which runs the Farmers Market) in the upcoming Slow Food Nation, “the four-day artisanal food event planned for 2008 in San Francisco and a pet project of both Petrini and Chez Panisse’s Alice Waters, who sits on advisory boards for both CUESA and Slow Food USA.”
Clearly, the meeting didn’t go well.
Walker says Petrini first said the farmers were overreacting, then blamed the translation.
‘I came out of that meeting as angry as I’ve ever been,’ Walker says. And he stayed an hour longer than Sando of Rancho Gordo, who had a lively exchange with Petrini in Italian and then left, feeling that Petrini’s response was unsatisfactory.
Meanwhile, Rancho Gordo fans have been receiving updates and Steve Sando’s account of the situation over at his site. In his May 14 post, Sando makes sure to note:
Carlo Petrini is the head of Slow Food, an international organization that mostly raises awareness about the deplorable state of modern food production. They’ve done a lot of good and opened many eyes. I’ve made some good friends and learned quite a lot, so I don’t want to discount the whole organization.
And then goes on to quote a substantial part of a passage in Petrini’s book that lauds the foodie beauty of the FP Farmers Market but opines that the prices are “boutique” range and comments on preferential treatment given to some of the wealthier customers. (SVWL’s note: I’ve also observed preferential treatment, but I’ve seen that it has more to do with the regularity of customers than pocket size. Of course, that could just be me.) After quoting this passage, Sando addresses each one of Petrini’s assertions, agreeing that the produce is expensive, but taking serious issue with some of the other comments.
Sando has a follow-up post on May 16 that describes the CUESA-Petrini meeting in serious detail. After explaining how Petrini shot back at Sando that he has “preconceived” ideas about him, Sando writes:
Now here is where I have to laugh. I had no idea that to be in Slow Food was to be in the Cult of Carlo. My local Napa Slow Food group is a fun, tight-knit community that likes to get together and support each other and eat well. At Terra Madre, Petrini seemed to be just one of many boring speakers. I have never read his books before. In other words, I had no preconceived ideas about him except for the very words he had written.
Still with me? Good, because over at the Ethicurean, DairyQueen writes:
I am trying to give Petrini the benefit of the doubt, not being able to read it in the original Italian and also not knowing Petrini’s point of view quite well enough to ascertain if what sounds like insults are really neutral statements, coming from him. However, I do think Slow Food’s U.S. team should have tread more carefully when publishing this section, as it deals with some of the same divisive issues of class and access to good food perhaps even more clumsily than I did in a recent post about my food-buying habits.
And finishes her well-structured response and analysis with this:
We have so much to do. We need everyone who cares about any aspect of this mission—including full-quiver fundamentalist Christians, longtime back-to-the-landers, concerned soccer moms, globe-trotting eco-gastronomes whose organizations have hefty membership fees, environmentalists, vegan animal-rights warriors—to pull a chair up to the table and start passing the salad, dammit. Let’s save the finger-pointing as to who doesn’t deserve the golden halo of ‘good, clean, and fair’ for when real food hits at least the 10 percent milestone, shall we?
Seriously, isn’t there some saying about people living in greenhouses not throwing food?
Here is the letter Carlo Petrini wrote to CUESA. He wrote and sent this to CUESA BEFORE the meeting with the farmers which went so poorly. CUESA chose, for reasons unknown, not to share this letter with the farmers before that event. I don’t know if they have done so yet.
*****************
Dear CUESA,
I was quite surprised to learn in the past few days about some negative
reactions to a...+READ
Here is the letter Carlo Petrini wrote to CUESA. He wrote and sent this to CUESA BEFORE the meeting with the farmers which went so poorly. CUESA chose, for reasons unknown, not to share this letter with the farmers before that event. I don’t know if they have done so yet.
*****************
Dear CUESA,
I was quite surprised to learn in the past few days about some negative
reactions to a passage called *Green California* in my
just-published book, Slow Food Nation, and wanted to take a moment to
try to explain my intentions and clarify what I believe happened.
First of all, I want to apologize for any offense caused by this
passage, whether to your organization or the many farmers who are your
members and collaborators. It was absolutely not my intention to
denigrate or attack the farmers of the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market - or
of any farmers market, for that matter. I hope that you will consider
the rest of my book, not to mention the range of Slow Food projects I
have founded over the past twenty years, a testament to the deep
admiration I feel for the farmers who grow sustainably and depend on the
direct market economies of farmers markets, both in the United States
and around the world. The network of farmers and food producers that we
brought together at Terra Madre has only helped to reinforce how
strongly I believe in the importance of farmers as defenders of the
earth and stewards of our future.
In part, I believe that the translation of this passage was,
unfortunately, not as accurate as it should have been, and that the
misinterpretation of certain phrases and the omission of a few key words
resulted in a tone that differs significantly from the spirit of what I
wrote in Italian. In fact, my original words were meant to demonstrate
the positive impression I had of the two farmers with whom I spoke,
based on their apparent success in making farming a viable livelihood
for themselves.
I have also come to realize that this specific passage may be
vulnerable to misunderstandings when judged outside of the context of
the chapter in which it resides, not to mention the book in its
entirety. For this I can only apologize for the imperfections of my own
writing, in my attempt to explore some of the contradictions that exist
within the highly relative concept of sustainability.
The loss of biodiversity in our food supply; the rights of migrant farm
workers; the elitism argument against organic and artisanal foods; not
to mention the twin epidemics of obesity and hunger that plague our
planet, are all contradictions which we need to acknowledge and explore
in a way that respects multiple cultures and points of view.
I believe strongly that the only way in which we can overcome these
contradictions is to create a dialogue where we face these issues with
an open mind and a generous heart, and I hope that with this in mind, we
can come to the table together to recognize our common values and chart
a path forward that unites our work in the pursuit of food that is good,
clean and fair.
In friendship/Sincerely/With respect,
Carlo Petrini
President
Slow Food International-COLLAPSE
Generally SF food community does not seem to take well to criticism:
http://thegurglingcod.typepad.com/thegurglingcod/2007/05/karl_malden_is_.html
Earl Grey: I am just stating what I was told by restaurant owners in San Francisco....
Antony Sf, I'm afraid you have many of your facts wrong. CUESA has two guys monitoring the loading areas in front of the the market exclusively for chefs. Try "just unloading" there and see how quick they are on you. Chefs can park and unload in the front. It's a fact.
Mariquita has seem thoer profits go down and Catalan and some new smaller people have seen their profits go up. Maybe...+READ
Antony Sf, I'm afraid you have many of your facts wrong. CUESA has two guys monitoring the loading areas in front of the the market exclusively for chefs. Try "just unloading" there and see how quick they are on you. Chefs can park and unload in the front. It's a fact.
Mariquita has seem thoer profits go down and Catalan and some new smaller people have seen their profits go up. Maybe Mariquita's turn is over and now it's time for some little guys to try and make it to Mariquita's level. The market is just redefining itself. That's what makes it interesting.
The biggest mistake you state is that farm stalls are lost to prepared food. This just isn't true. There is one new prepapred vendor and that's La Cocina and they are very limited in what they can sell. I was complaining about the state of tamales to CUSESA management and they couldn't care less. They are only letting in new farmers.
If Petrini's (and yours) views are true, why aren't you citing real world examples? Why did Petrini make up his examples? Why did he only visit the market with his pal Alice Waters? Why not wander around on his own?
Come before 11am, take a look and see all that is going on there. It ain't perfect, it's kind of glam but it's not as Petrini describes.-COLLAPSE
After hearing about the recent dustup between Carlo Petrini's passage in his new book and the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market, I decided to ask a few of my restaurant owner friends and local food critics their take on the issue. They all agreed with Carlo about his description of the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market, saying maybe he overstated it a bit. They went on to explain how the Ferry Plaza Farmer's...+READ
After hearing about the recent dustup between Carlo Petrini's passage in his new book and the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market, I decided to ask a few of my restaurant owner friends and local food critics their take on the issue. They all agreed with Carlo about his description of the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market, saying maybe he overstated it a bit. They went on to explain how the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market has become a tourist destination, much like Fisherman's Wharf. Tourist do not buy bags of veggies, but are only looking for a coffee and sandwich. New stalls at the market have gone to "prepared food" vendors, which attracts tourists. Instead of catering to chefs, by having open loading areas, these areas are now packed with expresso coffee makers and a roasted chicken truck.
The regular farmers can not make money with tourists and they are leaving the farmer's market. "Small Potatoes has left for this reason, as well as most recently, the cornerstone of the market, Andy Griffin from Mariquita Farm. (you can read his farmer's market swan song here ---> http://www.mariquita.com/Farmers%20Market/whatwerebringing.html ) Their revenue has steadily gone down since the market moved from Green Street a few years ago.
So Carlo has ruffled a few feathers with his new book (Slow Food Nation - Why our food should be Good, Clean and Fair), but remember he started the first University of Gastronomic Science and put together an artisan food trade show in Turin last October that drew 150,000 attendees, not to mention Terra Madre. Very few people has done so much for farmers and artisan food producers.-COLLAPSE
Lovely wrapup of the whole kefuffle -- nice to have all the links in one spot! :)
I am far from wealthy, however I have been a long time customer at Ferry Plaza. Yes. I do get preferential treatment because the vendors know me as a regular customer.