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 at info@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!
Board Meetings
Slow Food Santa Cruz board meetings are held the 1st Thursday of each month at 6:30pm at the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) office, 2155 Delaware Avenue, Suite 150, Santa Cruz. Board meetings are private, however two meetings annually are open to the Slow Food Santa Cruz Members.
Board of Directors
The Slow Food Santa Cruz Board of Directors for 2010:
Erin Justus, President |
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| Erin is a California native with a love for food and community. She has educational roots with a degree in Agriculture and a passion for farming and connecting people with local honest foods. Upon furthering her education at the Farm & Garden program at UCSC, she discovered that baking fresh artisanal baked goods was a great way to connect the fields to a product. She continues to provide the Santa Cruz community with sourdough and rustic pastries through her small bakery Companion Bakers. Erin also serves on the board of the Friends of The Farm & Garden and she is now pleased to be a part of Slow Food Santa Cruz. | |
Kathryn Lukas, Vice-President |
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| Kathryn woke up to the delicious and soul satisfying world of local, seasonal foods in 1994, the year she opened Das Augustenstüble, a cozy neighborhood restaurant in Stuttgart Germany. When she returned to the U.S in 1998 she continued to work in the industry as a Food and Beverage manager for Bernadus Lodge in Carmel Valley. In 2000 she went about the business of finishing her education where she wrote a senior thesis on pre-corporate traditional foods. It was during this time that she realized regional food systems were the key to restoring good health to the planet and it’s inhabitants. When Kathryn discovered the nearly lost art of fermentation, the oldest form of preserving seasonal bounty through a natural chef culinary program, it was love at first bite. In early 2008 she started Farmhouse Culture, an artisan sauerkraut company in Santa Cruz that makes “terroir” focused krauts using organic, locally sourced ingredients. Her Holy Smokes (smoked jalapeno) sauerkraut was enthusiastically received at Slow Food Nation’s Farmers Market Place in September 2008. She has been a member since 2006 and is excited about Slow Food’s commitment to education and advocacy. | |
Jody Biergiel, Secretary |
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| Jody began her forays into local food at Fairview Gardens in Goleta, CA, where she worked during college. She continued to explore the unique American food system and our agricultural history at Tufts University, and came back to California to work at CCOF. She enjoys collecting local food experiences when she travels, and is always happy to return the her favorite bountiful food region – Santa Cruz. Olallieberries and Brussels sprouts and Pineapple Guavas, oh my! | |
Carolyn Smith, Treasurer |
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| Carolyn comes to Slow Food with the love of all things “food”. With the passion that one lives to eat, Carolyn is a self-described farmers market “junkie” and is enthusiastic about sharing and promoting the mission of Good Clean Fair that Slow Food represents. Residing in Santa Cruz since 1978, Carolyn has a background in managing finance and administration for software and manufacturing companies. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from UC Santa Cruz. | |
Allison Clark, Projects Co-Chair |
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| Allison’s interest in food and its origins started early – at age 8, she announced to her family that she was becoming a vegetarian! Her care for the environment and its relationship to our food choices drove her to focus her education and career on this complex field. As a Nutritional Sciences undergraduate at UC Berkeley, she researched California farmers’ markets and wrote her senior thesis on the scientific backing (or lack thereof) for the 60-day rule for raw milk cheese. Still seeking a deeper understanding of food, Allison moved to Italy to complete a Master at the University of Gastronomic Sciences (founded by Slow Food). In Italy Allison had the opportunity to meet Slow Food’s founding fathers and attended the second Terra Madre. Eager to bring her experiences with Slow Food Italia back to her hometown, Allison joined Slow Food Santa Cruz when she returned in 2007. She currently works for CCOF and spends her free time exploring the food landscape of Santa Cruz and beyond in the kitchen, the garden, and the community. She also serves on the Board of Santa Cruz NEXT and hopes to get more young people actively engaged in the Slow Food movement. | |
Camille Nava, Projects Co-Chair |
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| Serving the Slow Food Santa Cruz convivium is a natural culmination of life’s best for Camille. She grew up knowing slow food in a homestyle way. Reared in New Orleans, Louisiana, she moved to Santa Cruz at 19. Though she has lived other places since then, she has returned to Santa Cruz repeatedly for new discoveries. Her career food-endeavors include membership in Women Chefs and Restaurateurs, restaurant management, menu planning and writing, organic industrial ingredient supply, and more. She is looking forward to meeting the members and being part of the Slow Food living organization. A perpetual student, her most recent class just happened to be food writing at Stanford. | |
Rev. Donna Rose Gardner, Events Chair |
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| Donna is passionate about supporting food growers and vendors that are local, who utilize sustainable practices, and are fair with their labor practices. She brings her creative and organizational talent to Slow Food Santa Cruz by assisting with planning events that support these tenants. Her experience includes serving on the planning committees for community events such as the Capitola Art and Wine Festival, Hearts for the Arts, and Santa Cruz Women in Business. She works at Seascape Beach Resort, a certified green hotel, as the Sr. Conference Services & Catering Manager. She is also a Certified Meeting Planner through Meeting Planners International. Her title, Reverend, is granted through the Center for Sacred Studies. This is an organization that is under the Guidance of the Council of 13 Grandmothers, a group of indigenous grandmothers from around the world, who work diligently on our Planet’s sustainability, the right to clean water, cultural language preservation, and the right to cultivate seeds and grow heritage plants. | |
Sarah Reed, Membership Chair |
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| Sarah graduated from UC Santa Cruz with a BS in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and worked in the Biotech/Pharmaceutical industry. During an Immunology conference, she read Barbara Kingsolver’s “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” and realized that she needed to get out of the lab and get closer to one of her passions – food! Sarah works at CCOF and loves supporting local farmers and producers. At last count, Sarah had four different CSAs and is always on the lookout for more. This is the first board that she has served on and she is intrigued to learn about the inner workings while being involved in a movement with so much potential to change everyday life for every Santa Cruzian. Sarah would like to see a Slow Food presence on our local campuses so please let her know if you are a student interested in getting a campus chapter up and running! | |
Thomas Howard, Communications Chair |
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| Thomas knew he was a foodie when his travel reservations started with restaurants, not airlines or hotels. Growing up, his mother would regularly bring home a box of whatever produce was in season from the large farming operation where she worked in the Central Valley of California. Now, he seeks unique experiences with local food producers and consumers which includes being an inaugural member of the Santa Cruz Mountains Gourmet Dining Club (SCMGDC). Thomas works over the hill as a Marketing Engineer for Cisco Systems but usually works from home in Felton where he lives with his wife and their dog. Thomas has a BS in Computer Engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. |
Mailing Address
Slow Food Santa Cruz
c/o Farm House Culture
303 Potrero St. #01A
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
