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Upcoming Events

Slow Food Events

Community Events

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    Social Media Intern Position

    Slow Food Madison, a local chapter of the international Slow Food organization, is seeking a social media specialist. This is a volunteer position.

    What You’ll Do

    Publicity Support

    • Ensure local events are posted to the Slow Food Madison (SFM) calendar, FB, & Twitter
    • Support event producers with tech support on above channels, Eventbrite, etc.
    • Work with other SFM volunteers & board members to make sure SFM & SFUW events are well publicized on Twitter, FB, email newsletter, and the SFM website.
    • Work with Philip on the weekly and monthly email newsletters
    • Be able to provide SFM Board with monthly numbers on things such as likes, shares, followers, retweets, friends

    Community Engagement Online

    • The ideal candidate will learn the culture, values, and priorities of Slow Food Madison and will eventually be able to engage the community (along with the leadership and volunteers) on behalf of the organization:
    • Engage (RT, replies, etc) with local artisanal food producers on both FB and Twitter
    • Cultivate good follow-lists and network connections with same
    • Engage with followers of FB and Twitter (replies)
    • Consult the board on ways to further utilize social media to engage with the greater Madison community and broadcast the SFM message
    • Interact with members and community for sharing of event photographs, event idea capture, etc.

    How Great It Will Be

    The social media intern position will offer the ideal candidate real-world experience in the nuts-n-bolts administration of social media presence and strategy for a small-scale not-for-profit organization with global brand appeal, and local credibility.

    Several members of the current leadership team have extensive experience with social media strategy and web/internet culture, and the candidate would be able to learn/work-with them.

    Interns will participate in leadership team meetings as desired, can attend Slow Food Madison events, and will have ample opportunity to meet food-related luminaries like farmers, chefs, artisans in and around Madison.

    Contact philip@slowfoodmadison.org if you are interested.

    UMF #10 Istanbul Supermarket

    On Sunday April 14th UMF visited Istanbul Supermarket, at 745 S. Gammon Road. It has been open almost exactly a year and is still in the process of expanding.

    Hospitality was on view from the moment we arrived, as the owner, Yashar, plied us with mineral water, coffee soda, delicious cookies filled with hazelnut cream and dipped in chocolate. We even got samples size tubes of olive oil hand cream.

    The shelves are full of Turkish items ranging from fantastic preserves, to tea and coffee (including a set sold with the traditional enameled pot), to tinned meats, pickled vegetables, and nut studded candy. There are also some Indian and Middle Eastern items mixed in, both on the shelves and in the coolers and freezers.

    One of the biggest draws for many of the market’s customers is the halal meat. There is fresh meat, such as lamb and goat, as well as frozen, and items such as a spicy, precooked sausage similar to chorizo, but with a fragrant twist.

    Our guide, Oktay, talked about the various ingredients we encountered as we went from aisle to aisle and spoke about all the wonderful dishes his mother would cook for him growing up. The UMF tours will always leave you hungry and ready to try some new ingredients in the kitchen!

    Yasher is in the process of getting some new coolers installed and hopes to eventually expand to be able to have a deli area too, where he can serve food and Turkish coffee. That will be a happy day.

    UMF #9: Chocolaterian

    Saturday, March 10th we had an urban market forage to the Chocolaterian on Madison’s east side.

    Chocolaterian is the newly established home base of Leanne Cordisco, the creator of Christine’s Toffee and Caramels. The café lives in the historic Schenk-Huegel building on 2004 Atwood Avenue, which was remodeled from its retail origins into a café and candy-making haven. Chocolaterian features decadent desserts like macaroons, crème puffs, ugly cookies (cocoa, pistachios, and toffee) and a rich Parisian hot chocolate, but the showcase pieces are the toffee and caramel. A large glass window gives visitors a view into the kitchen where they can see the shop’s treats being made. For most of the day, Leanne and co-owner Kimberly Vrubley are in there working on making their candy.

    Leanne brought us behind the glass to give us a toffee-making demonstration, taking us from the initial heating of the large vat all the way to the cooling, cutting, and chocolate coating. Whether it was the infrared gun at her hip or a simple dangling stick above the pot, she kept a thermometer nearby throughout the process. Making the candy is all about precision—the main difference between toffee and caramel is temperature—and Leanne tells us that being off by even just a few degrees is the difference between candy and garbage. Leanne and Kimberly are comfortable with the science however: both spent most of their life at a company that worked with medical devices. The transition from corporate to chocolate has been a dream fulfilled for both women.

    After snacking on bits of toffee and chocolate, many of us reached for the bacon toffee next. The famous concoction, which has starred in Emmy Awards goodie bags, has been a hit for Christine’s. The flavors trigger all five of your taste buds, producing an experience that is both overwhelming and immensely pleasing. It’s the secret, she tells us, to making an irresistible piece of candy.

    CSA Time

    This coming Sunday is the CSA Open House at the Monona Terrace.

    Attend free workshops and learn how to best use your share and choose the right farm for your family. Children’s activities, a raffle to benefit Partner Shares, which helps low-income families to join farms, and recipe samples!

    Approximately 1,000 people typically attend this annual event. It’s free and open to all.

    There’s a new CSA that we’re particularly interested in. The Spring Rose Growers Co-op has started a CSA this year. Spring Rose is comprised of Latino and Hmong farmers.  Here’s a blurb from their site:

    We have grown beyond the Farley Center to six farm members, both Hmong and Latino. Since November 2010 we have been working under a USDA Small Socially Disadvantaged Producer Grant to design and implement technical assistance programming targetd specifically at farmers like ourselves.

    If you’re not familiar with the CSA model, the CSA Coalition has some great information on their site.