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Slow Food links the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment.
Leadership Team
Slow Food Madison has a leadership board of up to 7 people, elected from the general membership. These folks administer the organization, plan our events, design our projects, and volunteer often in our community. Here are the current leaders:
Matt got involved in Slow Food as a leader in the NYC chapter in 2005 after reading a book about the history of agriculture: it became clear to him that food was at the center of everything, and was a good place to volunteer. He loved the people he met through Slow Food: the farmers, chefs, activists and volunteers who were passionately working to make the food-shed in NYC a more good, clean, and fair one (he loved the foodie-gossip too.) In 2009, Matt moved to Madison, and joined the leadership team here, where he now sits as chair.
He loves to cook, loves the “DIY” aspects of Slow Food. He loves craft cocktails, micro-brew, wines, coffee, arugula, pickles, tacos… etc. He also has backyard chickens, a community garden spot, makes pickles, and makes-do with a pretty low-fi apartment kitchen.
For the hour or two a week that he’s not thinking about or talking about food, he works as an IT, marketing, and research guy for a small start-up in the steel industry that is based in Austin and Münich. He attends Buddhist philosophy lectures, bowls a shaky 160 and takes some photographs.
Born in nearby Sauk City, Gail grew up on her family’s farm in Illinois just south of Monroe, WI. The farm was settled by her ancestors in the 1840’s, so she has a deep love of and respect for this region, the farmers/producers who opt for quality over quantity, the rich land and the great variety of food produced upon it. Sustainable farming and traditional cooking rank high on her list of interests… and food, as part of a slow, heartfelt engagement, has always been a central part of her life.
When she moved to Madison after college, she decided to “try every local [non-chain] restaurant in town”. This never-ending goal continues to be a joyous work-in-progress and a great way to forage the local food culture. Gail considers herself an average cook with moments of sublime greatness … and likes to experiment in the kitchen. Gail joined the board in 2011 and looks forward to learning more about local food initiatives and helping to enrich the lives of others through her work in classes, events and outreach work.
Philip has long been interested in food, economics, and health. He learned to cook from his mother and older sister Susan and gardening from his father. He has fond memories of working in his family’s community gardening plots growing up in Chippewa Falls.
Philip’s interests in foraging, DIY, health, and food led him to create Madison FoodCamp in the spring of 2012. FoodCamp focuses on neighbors helping neighbors learn about creating their own food.
When not designing or writing software, he loves spending nights and weekends running, foraging, fishing, gardening, or anything else outdoors.
Lisa was fortunate enough to have been introduced to good food at a very young age. She grew up between New York City and Rome, with parents and grandparents who were all accomplished home cooks. Summers meant wandering the open-air market in Rome with her grandmother and aunt, looking for the freshest fruit, vegetables, fish, and meat for the family meals. Slow Food was an everyday experience.
She first heard about Slow Food Madison when her daughter was just a toddler. Determined to introduce her daughter to the same kinds of fresh, local foods she had grown up with, Lisa started attending Slow Food events. In the decade-plus since, she has been a member, a board member, Slow Food Madison leader, advisor and now back to board member. She was also a translator for Madison’s Italian sister city Slow Food chapter, Slow Food Mantova.
When she’s not at Slow Food meetings, Lisa is a jewelry maker, Italian tutor, and a happy Flamenco student.
(Carly is a key volunteer who manages our Happy Hour project in conjunction with the leadership board.)
Carly Hood is a Portland Oregon native who received her Master of Public Affairs from the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs and her Master of Public Health and Global Health Certificate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health in August 2012. Her graduate research culminated in a policy review of the Wisconsin food environment and how policy impacts access to fruits and vegetables for low-income populations.
Carly has lived and worked internationally in many settings including Vietnam, Mexico, Czech Republic, South Korea and Australia. In each country, food and its connection to health, the environment and the community it creates has drawn her attention. Her work on the Slow Food movement stems from a desire to see the impact local foods can have on health outcomes, and her passion and motivation lie in social and food justice. This work dovetails nicely with her day job is as a Population Health Service Fellow for the UW Population Health Institute.
