A New York City slow-food dinner organized in part by a La Follette School student has garnered press attention from the New York Times, Gourmet and Slow Food USA. Jonny Hunter, co-founder of the Underground Food Collective in Madison, helped to cater the seven-course, family style meal that featured heritage pork, Wisconsin cheese and local seasonal vegetables.
Jonny HunterOne element that distinguished the meal was that the Wisconsin cheesemaker and the farm family that raised and slaughtered the pigs for Hunter traveled to New York City to eat with the dinner’s guests and the chefs. “As we prepared the food and introduced the producers, we shared stories about our crafts with the guests, many of whom were food writers and other aficionados,” Hunter says.
Hunter and the other chefs offered their meal on three nights in January in two friends’ apartments in Brooklyn, and at a larger gathering at the Astor Center in Manhattan, a fundraiser that was co-sponsored by Slow Food USA.
Hunter is a first-year master of public affairs student focusing on agriculture policies. Madison’s Underground Food Collective is a catering company that emphasizes the use of sustainable agriculture and local foods. It is part of the national slow food movement that advocates a way of living and eating that links the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment.
“We conceived of these dinners to celebrate raising and processing pigs with care and integrity at every level without shortcuts,” Hunter says. “We didn't know much about pigs two years ago when we first decided to raise, slaughter and process these pigs with the help of farmer Henry Morren. It still feels intimidating to think about doing it again, but our knowledge is growing as we continue to meet, and learn from, more and more people raising pigs in a sustainable way.”
A 'Pre-Industrial Pig Dinner,' Imported to Brooklyn, January 28, 2009, New York Times
The Pre-Indistrial Pig, January 23, 2009, Slow Food USA Blog
Where the Pigs Have No Name, January 22, 2009, Gourmet
Student helps bike ride raise $20,000 for food program, October 8, 2008, La Follette School News
— posted February 2, 2009