Come meet us in person!
Join us at the Crossing (1127 University Ave) for Family Dinner Night every Monday at 6:30pm, and for our café lunch every Wednesday 11:30 to 2pm. Questions? Email slowfooduw@gmail.com for more info!
Slow Food Spring 2012 Leaders
Jenna Liberman, Co-director
Jenna is Senior business student majoring in Marketing. She is the Codirecto, which entails helping folks get more involved with Slow Food UW’s projects and acts as front of the house for FDNs and the Cafe. Jenna thinks "good, clean, fair food" rocks and especially loves the community aspects that go along with all of Slow Food UW’s projects. Jenna enjoys cooking and rollerblading, but not at the same time.
Jen Bloesch, Co-Director
Jen’s interest in sustainable agriculture originated from a book called Eat Here by Brain Halweil. After reading this book, Jen discovered how food is interconnected with all different aspects of life and society, and she fell in love with the field! Jen has been with Slow Food since the winter of 2009, her first dinner being the Chinese New Year. She was quickly hooked by the friendly people and good food! Serving as the Farm to University intern for one semester, Jen began the implementation of local foods in the University dining halls. She has served as communications coordinator for two semesters, and now serves as one of the two directors. One of the best parts about being director, she feels, is meeting people from all over the community, being present at all the events, and leading the group towards a over-arching vision. Email jen@slowfooduw.org
Tori Law, Treasurer
Tori is a junior majoring in Food Science-Business. Tori’s passion for food and cooking are what initially drew her to Slow Food, but the projects and goals of the organization, as well as the community of diverse people are what sparked her enthusiasm to become more involved. She was the Family Dinner Night Intern in the spring of 2010 and the Membership Coordinator in spring of 2011. Outside of Slow Food, Tori enjoys reading, going to concerts, and doing anything outdoors including running, cross-country and downhill skiing, and taking walks in the woods.
Ruthie Young, Communications Coordinator
Ruthie is a senior majoring in English and Environmental Studies. Though she's loved food since she first licked cookie batter off a spatula, her love has matured through jobs in several unique restaurants, through the abundance of her family's backyard garden, and through Slow Food UW. The aromas of a Middle Eastern Family Dinner Night lured her in to Slow Food one fall night in 2009. Despite the fact that she spent that first night crying over a mound of to-be-cut onions, she couldn’t help but return every week. Since then, Ruthie has served as an intern for the Farm to University project and as the group's Social Media Coordinator. She spent last spring studying in Europe, and was impressed by the close relationship food and community always seemed to have. She wants to extend that sense of community as Communications Coordinator this year by making SFUW as accessible as possible to all of you. Don't hesitate to contact her with any questions or other delicious insight at
rayoung2@wisc.edu
Matt Anderson, Social Media Coordinator
Matt Anderson began his slow food journey many moons ago as fresh young man in the start of his college career. His love for all things delicious and slow has only grown over time and he is currently serving as SFUW's social media coordinator. If you have any questions, please shoot him an email at mnanderson@wis
Tyler Green, Family DInner Night
Tyler Green, Family Dinner Night Tyler splits his time between his painting studio, the children museum, and of course, the slow food kitchen. All these things he sees as slowing down this circuit world into something real and tactile. Food and making pictures and sharing these things with kids and everyone else is what keeps this cat's gears running fine and smooth. Check out some of his pictures here:
http://crabvomit.blogspot.com/
Leia Young, Family Dinner Night
Leia Young is loving every minute of her Family Dinner Night internship; dishes and all. She is graduating this spring with a BS in International Studies- Global Environment, Psychology and Environmental Studies. The past couple years Leia has rediscovered her fascination with the kitchen she had when she was young. After college, with the help of her Slow Food roots, she aims to find a career that will allow her to spread the joys of discovering the wonderful journey good food makes from garden (Shout-out to the FH King gardens), to kitchen, to plate.
Lauren Barlow, Family DInner Night
Brian Schneider, Farm to University Project
As I enter into my senior year, food has food has finally conquered it's quest in taking over my mind. I love helping things grow in clean, healthy soils and watching them turn into beautiful works of edible art. And the only thing I love more than that is eating them! I'm working hard on trying to get the campus food system as well as students to feel the same way. I encourage people to stop and think about the vast implications of the single act, of choosing a food. Growing power market baskets are a great way to eat good, clean, and fair food. If you'd like to get a basket check it out on our webpage. If you'd like to get involved or have any questions shoot me an e-mail!
Erica Johnson, Farm to University Project
Jared Ottman, Farm Mobbing (Outreach)
Hi! My name is Jared and I am a Freshman at UW studying Materials Science and Engineering. This semester I am one of the Family Dinner Night interns. Originally drawn to Slowfood UW snooping for a good meal, I quickly found it as an outlet to express my love for cooking. I love how close gardening, cooking and eating together brings people, and am proud to volunteer for an organization that promotes that. Outside of slowfood I spend a lot of time sailing, and am a member of the UW Sailing team. This semester you can catch me on Monday nights in the kitchen, say hi!
Sophie Gavell, Outreach
Lauren Stinson, Outreach
Lauren is a sophomore majoring in Environmental Studies and Consumer Affairs. She is from a suburb of Detroit, MI where her interest in urban farming first began to sprout. Lauren is a new edition to the Slow Food leadership team this spring semester and hopes to inspire students and other community members to enjoy clean, healthy and safe food through her Outreach intern position. Lauren believes that the interface between humans and food is a very important consideration for how humans treat the environment and it should be enjoyed with health, sustainability and strong communities relationships in mind.
Taylor Pratt, Grant Writing
Kristen Schumacher, Historian
Joe Shook, South Madison Team
Joe Shook, a junior studying Community and Environmental Sociology and Environmental Studies, will be helping out the South Madison team this semester as the Family Voices intern with the Boys and Girls Club. He has a strong interest in working with kids, especially through interactive education on topics like sustainability, good food, and whether a momma ankylosaurus could beat up a hungry T Rex (no doubt). Joe loves everything East Africa, being outside, and of course food! He will be coordinating Saturday cooking events with the Boys and Girls Club so if you are interested in getting involved, shoot him an email at
jwshook@wisc.edu.
Angelica Engel, South Madison Team
Angelica Engel is a creative writing and philosophy double major from rural Central Wisconsin. After a lot of confusion and existential angst, she finally found herself...junior year, underneath a pile of metaphors. As a senior considering graduate school in counseling psychology, Angelica looks forward to building relationships with the compassionate, passionate people involved in this organization. She loves to synthesize ideas across disciplines; therefore, philosophy will creep its way into her discourse. (She feels like she should apologize for this, but will resist the temptation.) Angelica loves the ideology and vivacity of Slow Food UW, and looks forward to getting down and dirty while relating to the public this semester.
Andrew Gilbert, Cafe Cook
Ali Loker
Claire Jones
Amy Verhey, Cafe Communications
Amy grew up in a small town outside of San Francisco with weekends full of farmer’s markets and being in the kitchen with her mother. After moving to the midwest, she continued to cook and explore the importance of what she was eating. However, not until coming to Madison as a student at the UW did she really understand the importance of local products. After receiving emails from Slow Food for a few semesters she finally went to a café and never turned back. Like many other people involved in Slow Food she was instantly hooked and now give back to Slow Food by being the Communications intern for the café. This allows her to combine her love of food and talking about food! She is a senior earning a major in Communication Arts here at UW Madison and hopes to see many of you at the various Slow Food UW events. To contact her, please send an email to amy@slo Bon appétit!
Kate Morrick, Cafe Team
My name is Kate Morrick and am a junior in the Textile and Apparel Design Program with a textile focus. More specifically, I am passionate about working on sustainable and recycled designs. You might be wondering how Slow Food is at all related to textiles and to be honest, so was I when I began on this journey. I’ve since come to realize though, that the origins of both my passions are precisely the same. I love being completely and intricately involved with what I’m working on from start to finish. Seeing the creation of my fabric is equally as thrilling to me as seeing the ingredients of my side salad being cultivated amongst each other. I love that Slow Food asks people to really ponder the sustenance they are bringing into their bodies. Taking part in this dialogue has given me more pleasure than I ever could have imagined. I am thrilled to be involved with such a revolutionary, yet back to basics movement.
Alex Tucker, Cafe Supplier
Chloe Quinn, Cafe Supplier
Donald Malchow, South Madison Team
Donald Malchow is a fifth-year senior at the University studying History and Sociology. He fell in love with Slow Food during the past year after going to Family Dinner Nights with his friends. Donald has helped out with Growing Power’s Market Baskets and wanted to find ways to help out in the Good Food Movement. Donald is a South Madison intern this semester and enjoys going to the Southside Farmers Market, biking, playing hoops, reading newspapers, helping out in the kitchen, and learning new things.
Shelbi Jentz, South Madison Coordinator
Hi all! I'm
Shelbi and I am a junior majoring in Community and Environmental Sociology. This year I am co-faciliating a Slow Food UW Food Justice Action Collective class and am also working with the Boys and Girls Club gardens and cooking classes through a Wisconsin Idea Fellowship. It's going to be a great year! In addition to feasting at Family Dinner Nights, I love to play music and sing, read books, sail, bike, and play. I also tried to dabble in a bit of gardening this summer. It was tasty! Food has so much potential for helping us build relationships, have a good time, and feel good. The wonderful people at Slow Food know this and take advantage of it, that's why I love Slow Food!
English-creative writing student. He has attended Slow Food’s family dinner
nights for the past two years and is enthusiastic about including more
university organizations that are focused on social justice into the Slow Food
family. He is a DJ at WSUM, a volunteer at the FH King garden and Allied Safe
Haven’s after school program, and a member of the Madison Review. Ben loves to
cook, write poetry and share it with friends, organize events, plan ahead, sing
and play guitar, and eat healthy, local and sustainable food with friends!
Wally Graeber, South Madison Garden Intern
In his second semester with Slow Food UW, Wally’s interest in good, clean and fair food will include volunteering this Fall as Slow Food UW’s South Madison Garden Intern. As a senior Landscape Architecture student, he and a group of Slow Food interns were fortunate to receive a Wisconsin Idea Fellowship, sponsored by the Morgridge Center. This 9-month project will help connect low-income families with healthy food both by sustaining year-round gardens at two Boy’s and Girl’s Club locations in Madison, teaching cooking classes with ingredients raised by the kids and coordinating frequent visits with middle-school children to farms scattered around Dane County. If you are interested in volunteering for any of these projects please email Wally at wcgraeber@gmail.com.
Nick Crowley, South Madison Team
Nick Crowley, one of the South Madison interns this fall, found his affection for Slow Food immediately upon his discovery of the organization.
He was once overheard in a dingy tavern, whispering over a butterbeer, “Mark these words, Weasley, there is no organization on [the UW-Madison] campus with a more powerful message, nor a more satisfactory effort for the benefit of society than Slow Food and its unifying principles of sustainability and health.”
Given his stance on the betterment of society by way of sustainable, healthy food options, Nick is probably proud to be a part of this group of people who hold similar ideals.
His zeal for food-based environmentalism began in high school with a self directed campaign against non organic milk and a backyard garden.
Occasionally slipping out of class on sunny days to weed, Nick gained a strong appreciation for the earth and a vehement opposition to factory farming.
Life in Madison, with its environmental attitude and renowned farmers markets, has augmented his desire to push for a societal acceptance of sustainable consumption.
Among his numerous lofty goals for the next 10 years of his life, Nick hopes to invent a new color and spend a few months marauding around Barbados with Cpt. Jack Sparrow.
