Goggin: Many events in Athens celebrate local food

I am in constant amazement at the plethora of wonderful organizations and fantastic projects right here in the Athens community. Great people doing great things for great causes are everywhere!?

I recently attended an event at local Italian restaurant, A Tavola!, and learned about one of these inspiring groups. Slow Food Athens is not only passionate about good food, but they actively support local farmers and producers and take an active role in being informed consumers about the food they eat.

Slow Food's philosophy believes in the "strong connection between plate, planet, people and culture."

I love the story of how Slow Food International was started and laughed at the visual of grown men madly waving bowls of penne pasta at McDonald's. In 1986, Carlo Petrini and his pals heard McDonald's was building a restaurant near the Piazza di Spagna in Rome. Appalled that fast food was trying to steal their way of life, he started the slow food movement as a protest against fast food, fast life and nonsustainable farming. Today, Slow Food International is a worldwide organization with more than 100,000 members in more than 150 countries with more than 1,300 chapters. Slow Food events center on promoting local farmers who grow delicious food, enjoying freshly prepared meals together and presenting learning opportunities and seminars on important food production issues.

Our local chapter hosts monthly events for members as well as the general public. Thursday is a blind tasting workshop at the Bishop Park Farmers Market. Children and adults are invited to sample delicious produce from local farmers and market vendors. Oct. 23 is Soup Fest at the Foundry Park Inn & Spa, and for $5 you can sample some of the yummiest soups you've ever tasted. Slow Foods' entry promises to be a crowd favorite, but I was sworn to secrecy on any more information on the kettle's contents.

Other events this season include a screening of the film "GROW!," which takes viewers through an entire growing season with 12 young farmers in Georgia.?December is Pot Luck Lunch at Farm 255 and promises good, clean fare for all attendees. For more information on Slow Food, visit slowfood.com.?

Another champion for healthy food right here in the Classic City is my friend Ginger Hurst, who started a program called "Fresh Fruit Fridays" at her son's Oconee County elementary school.?One day a month, students at High Shoals Elementary enjoy the sweet, simple pleasures of freshly cut fruit thanks to Ginger and oth

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