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By Mister Foto
How, in one short and concise sentence, can one define Slow Food? I'm faced with this daunting task every so often when we set up an informational table at one of our local farmers' markets. Last Saturday morning (July 3, 2004) we hosted and judged the Aptos Certified Farmers Market berry baking contest, celebrating the peak of the berry growing season in our area. As we were collecting entries, casually curious folks would ask, "So, what is Slow Food, anyway?"
"Well, it's the opposite of fast food." Inevitably the eyes roll and the response is a self-deprecating "Duuuh" and the figurative palm slaps its own forehead. But is that exchange of ideas enough?
Last Saturday afternoon (same date) we attended a dinner that I think, at least in one way, defines what Slow Food is. Andy and Julia run Mariquita (Ladybug) Farm, a diverse organic farm and half of the Two Small Farms CSA in our local area. One of their employees was injured in an auto accident and couldn't pay the bills, so they organized a fund raising dinner on the farm. One of the 'pet' goats was sacrificed, and, at fifty bucks per head, we were started off on a birria dinner adventure.
When things are slow in Mexico professional chefs migrate north to work on our California farms. Have you ever butchered a goat? I haven't. Ahn-drays hadn't (that's how it's pronounced on the farm). But one of the other workers knew how, and, according to 'Hoo-lee-ah', he had this kid dressed faster than she can dress hers for school in the morning.
The pictures really are worth a thousand words. 
Outdoor deep-fat turkey cooking rigs are popular right now, and one of these was modified into a low psi pressure cooker and set up in a cleaned-up outbuilding for a long, slow simmering of the goat bits. 
Folks collected in the farmhouse kitchen with their favorite knife for the salsa preparation 'event.' (Thanks to Happy Boy Farm for the heirloom tomatoes, melons, and many other locally organic goodies.) Farmers' market folding tables came together with hay bales to make a dining area under the trees. 
An old family cast iron cauldron was set up over an open fire to cook the beans. 
Another fire got started for the comal, the only 'right' way to warm a corn tortilla
We sat down and ate together, and talked together, and drank together, and cleaned-up together, and when we were done you couldn't have told that forty people had feasted together in this place, on a meal you couldn't find in any restaurant, anywhere. To me, that's a big part of what Slow Food is.
The Menu:
Tortilla 'Chips' Hecho a Mano con Pico de Gallo
Ensalada de Napolitos
Sopa & Frijoles de Cazuela
Calabacitas con Crema
Calabacitas Asadas & Cebollas Rabo Verde a la Parilla
Birria de Chivo con dos Salsas
Postre--Melones & Fresas
For the truly interested...the Michaocanos make a wonderful goat version of haggis. The stomach is stuffed with chopped potatoes and the other organ meats and cooked very slowly along with the birria. It's considered a real delicacy but they were a little reticent to share it with us Californianos. It's delicate and aromatic and nothing like one might imagine. DO NOT skip it if it is offered to you in the future--it really rates as a delicacy.
