As readers know, I spent labor day weekend hanging around at Slow Food Nation in San Francisco, taking in the talks, as well as the blackberry mint coolers and masa cakes of change for an improved future food system in America. It was a celebration of food but also a virtual manifesto that brought out 60,000 like-minded and/or curious, hungry folks to partake in the various events, from music, to tastings, to idea-sharing.

Food for Thought got down and dirty with the food policy discussion, featuring the biggest names in food, notably Wendall Berry, Carlo Petrini, Vandana Shiva, Michael Pollan, and Raj Patel. I confess, I’m a wonk. So I took it in like a succulent meal, taking furious notes and even writing a breakdown for the Slow Food Nation blog for day 1 and day 2.

Above is the video for the panel on the world food crisis, which was the opening star-studded talk at Food for Thought. Keep an eye on the Slow Food Nation site in the coming weeks for all of the panel videos, free for all to view. One of the biggest takeaways from the conference was that we can’t think about the environment, oil dependency, education, health, or most anything else without dealing with the issues surrounding food. All of the panels were enlightening, but I highly recommend the panel on climate change and food, and the Slow Food Nation panel featuring Wendall Berry, who if you couldn’t tell by now is my food warrior hero. I even waited in an hour-long line to have him sign my copy of The Unsettling of America (a prescient book of essays about our culture and agricultural policies, published in 1977). Berry was humble, but everyone sharing the stage with him had taken inspiration from his writing. He said he felt a change coming, alas. When I met him I shook his hand and let him know that our generation was taking him up on that. I hope to be proven correct.