Contact
If you are interested in joining the Slow Food Santa Cruz Board or in working with us on a project or event, please email us atinfo@slowfoodsantacruz.com.
If you are are a local business or organization interested in partnering with Slow Food Santa Cruz on a project or event, fill out our Partnership Form, Slow Food SC Partnership Form or our Event Promotion Form, Slow Food SC Partners Event Promotion and email it to partnerships@slowfoodsantacruz.com. We look forward to hearing from you!
2012 Slow Food Santa Cruz Board
Allison Clark – Chair
chair AT slowfoodsantacruz.com
As the Chair of Slow Food Santa Cruz, I strive to connect the dots in our local food system. My interest in food and its origins started early – at age 8, I announced to my family that I was becoming a vegetarian! My passion for Good, Clean, and Fair food grew as I learned about the connections between the environment, food systems, and health. As a Nutritional Sciences undergraduate at UC Berkeley, I recorded oral histories of farmers’ market pioneers and wrote my thesis on the scientific backing (or lack thereof) for the 60-day rule for raw milk cheese. After a brief stint on a permaculture farm in Costa Rica, I moved to Italy to complete a Master at the University of Gastronomic Sciences. Inspired by Europe’s rich food culture and eager to bring my experiences with Slow Food Italia back to my hometown, I joined Slow Food Santa Cruz in 2007. I currently work for CCOF (California Certified Organic Farmers) and spend my free time exploring the food landscape of Santa Cruz and beyond in the kitchen, the garden, and the community.
Sarah Ory – Vice Chair
vicechair AT slowfoodsantacruz.com
Growing up in a vegetarian household and eating organic food gave me an appreciation about where our food comes from and its importance for human and environmental health. My passion for the environment developed throughout my youth and came to fruition when I went to college in Washington to study biology and the environment. I was able to apply my commitment and interest about the environment and our food system to different research projects regarding organic strawberry production and integrated pest management. My background in biology has given me an understanding of the value of biodiversity and sustainable food systems. Additionally my experience doing research on organic strawberry farming on the central coast of California has provided an understanding of the significance of local food culture and food justice. I currently work at California Certified Organic Farmers and I strive to involve myself in current issues pertaining to local agriculture and food systems. I am very excited to join the board of Slow Food Santa Cruz this year and contribute my passion and enthusiasm for Good, Clean, and Fair food.
Stephanie Iwanciow Haas – Membership
membership AT slowfoodsantacruz.com
I have been a long time food lover but gained passion for “slow eating” when I began growing my own food in a little garden in Santa Cruz. In that year of growth (in many aspects) I discovered that I actually liked tomatoes! Since then I have grown a passion for gardening, particularly in cooking and eating the food that I grow. My interest in local and organic food brought me to find interest in Slow Food Santa Cruz. In addition to all things edible, I am also a teacher and educator. I received my bachelor’s degree from UC Santa Cruz in Community Studies emphasizing in sexuality education and HIV prevention for high risk youth. In more recent years I have found my second teaching passion in special education, recently completing my master’s degree in Special Education. I have been in the field for 9 years and currently teach young adults with autism skills to help them in their transition to independence, or wherever adulthood will lead them. I have always found a way to combine my passions to produce positive social change. I look forward to a year of education on a new topic, that of slow eating, so that I may further my own education as well as help to spark passion for slow eating in the lives of others.
Andrea Doonan – Partnerships
partnerships AT slowfoodsantacruz.com
I grew up playing in the orchards of Santa Clara Valley in a very food centric Italian extended family- rich in edible traditions. From a young age I was exposed to edible gardening, small scale home farming, canning, regular family hunting trips at my family’s property in Mount Hamilton…. and LOTS of cooking (and eating). My passion for gardening and food carries on in my adult life – now self employed as a landscape designer and horticulturist in Santa Cruz, in my free time I enjoy hiking, foraging, cooking, art and music. Having grown up in Cupertino, I experienced first hand, the rapid growth of the Silicon Valley and the simultaneous disconnect between the food we eat and where it comes from. Simply put: food is an integral and common thread that weaves through all of us and I believe should be consciously put on the front burner of all of our day to day. I’m excited to be a part of this great and inspiring Slow Food Santa Cruz board and am looking forward to using my skills to partner and network with members of the community via local organizations, companies and individuals while educating, learning and exchanging the contagious passion for delicious and sustainable food
Charles Taylor Patrick Gillespie – Volunteers
volunteer AT slowfoodsantacruz.com
Slow Food, being the initial catalyst to the relocalization of our communities, plays an integral role in bringing people back together and connecting them with each other in an age where the trend has been quite the opposite. When we unplug from one-way media delivery devices and integrate into our communities through food, whether helping to grow it with friends and neighbors, eating it together as a shared sensory experience, or even conversing with one another about its diverse variability and our affinities toward those peculiarities, we start a conversation that’s motivated by passion, harmony, and love. This experience accentuates our bond to the tangible world and Earth as provider. The positive emotions that inform our relationship to food are unquellable and unquenchable. Such an emotional upwelling inevitably enlivens other aspects of our lives. How can that not be a good thing?
I come to the Slow Food Santa Cruz Board via careers in International Business and Sustainability and International Environmental Law. These were followed by a scholastic endeavor in Intellectual Property Law and has culminated in a life of local entrepreneurship informed by deep ecology. This experience has informed my awakening to the invisible grounding and nutrification roles of root structures being just as important as visible vibrant foliage.
Cameron Speir – Treasurer
treasurer AT slowfoodsantacruz.com
I believe Slow Food Santa Cruz and the Slow Food movement in general offer a great opportunity to help people, the environment, and our community be a lot healthier. I grew up in a farming community and recognize the impact (good and bad) that agriculture can have on communities. Plus, I love to eat fresh, local food.
I have a professional background in the economics of agriculture and fisheries. Also, I grew up in a farming community and worked on a fruit and vegetable farm for many years. I’m a bit of a “numbers guy” so managing SFSC’s finances as treasurer is good way for me to help contribute to the organization’s mission.
Kate Purcell – Events
events AT slowfoodsantacruz.com
I am a Landscape Designer, focusing on food education. Through my business, Kate’s Kitchen Gardens, I promote the culture and cultivation of homegrown foods. I am a graduate of UCSC with degrees in Environmental Studies and Latin American Studies. I’ve studied plants, foods and peoples through my service with the United States Peace Corps and continuing education at Cabrillo College Horticulture Department. I believe that gardening is an essential part of eating well and is a perfect partner for SlowFood ideals.
Peter Ruddock– Communications
comms AT slowfoodsantacruz.com
I have long been a traveler, hiker, environmentalist and explorer of culture. And of food, which acts as the connection between all of my other interests. So, a few years ago when I discovered Slow Food, I thought that it would be a great fit, with its dual philosophy of protecting and celebrating food. Little did I know that it would end up re-defining my life. Not only have I been active with Slow Food, in both the South Bay and Santa Cruz chapters for the last few years, but I have also created a food working group at Transition Palo Alto, initiated a South Bay working group for Slow Money Northern California and regularly participate as a member of the San Mateo County Food System Alliance.
Rosemary Quinn – Secretary
secretary AT slowfoodsantacruz.com
I enjoy serving on the board of Slow Food Santa Cruz because I am very passionate about access to sustainable and organic food for everyone; I want to help spread the message of Slow Food to our local Santa Cruz community. Its great to be a part of an international movement at the local, community level and to help translate the vision of the Slow Food movement to fellow members of my community. As a board member of SFSC, I would like to help plan fun, low-commitment gatherings around sustainable food in order to build SFSC’s membership base. I bring my experience in marketing, event promotion and social media, as well as my commitment to food justice and passion for sustainable food.
Mailing Address
Slow Food Santa Cruz
P.O. Box 7225
Santa Cruz, CA 95061
