'Eco-gastronome' to speak at N.C. State

Carlo Petrini, the Italian founder of Slow Food International, will speak at N.C. State University's McKimmon Center at 7 p.m. on May 23. He will discuss the importance of preserving food traditions and biodiversity, and "protecting food that is good, clean and fair," according to an NCSU press release.

Slow Food describes itself as "a non-profit, eco-gastronomic member-supported organization that was founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world." The organization includes a Triangle chapter -- or what Slow Food prefers to call a "convivium" -- that promotes local foodways here in the Raleigh area.

The May 23 lecture, which is free and open to the public, is the Center for Environmental Farming Systems’ inaugural Sustainable Agriculture Lecture. It's part of a two-day celebration with Petrini called "Farm-to-Fork: A Celebration of Local Foods and Local Farms," that also includes a picnic in his honor at the Chapel Hill Creamery.

CEFS is a research, teaching and extension center in Goldsboro focused on sustainable agriculture. It's a partnership involving the NCSU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, N.C. A&T State University and the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Before the lecture, Friends of CEFS will host a private benefit reception with Petrini at the N.C. State University Visitor Center, 1210 Varsity Drive, adjacent to McKimmon Center, from 5 to 7 p.m. Friends of CEFS is a nonprofit organization supporting CEFS’ work promoting sustainable agriculture. For more information about Friends of CEFS, contact Lisa Forehand at 919-513-0954 or e-mail cefs_info@ncsu.edu.

For more information about CEFS, local foods or sustainable agriculture, contact Dr. Nancy Creamer at 919-515-9447 or e-mail nancy_creamer@ncsu.edu. Creamer is a professor of horticultural science at N.C. State and CEFS director.

(Photo of Carlo Petrini courtesy of Slow Food.)