Hi All,

This has been another incredible week for the Long Island Food Movement! Friday was Sustainable Long Island‘s 7th Annual Conference, where we had a chance to review and evaluate the response to Hurricane Sandy and take a look at what worked and what didn’t. Obviously, there was a lot of room for improvement, but those that were working to get people food, did an incredible job, given the obstacles. This past Sunday, Slow Food USA hosted a regional meeting for all of the NY, NJ and CT chapters. It’s always so nice to meet the other leaders in our region. Together, we confirmed our shared commitment to the principles of Slow Food, and recognized the importance of continuing to host educational events, as well as our food events. A current theme, shared by all of the chapters, was the challenge in maintaining membership. The Slow Food movement has helped to change the current landscape in how the public views it’s food system, and in spreading the knowledge of what a local and sustainable food system might look like, but we can’t do it without the support of all of you who benefit from the work we have done. Slow Food Huntington is not alone. We are in need of your support, so we can grow our Slow Food in School Program, continue our “Food on Film” Series, develop our restaurant “Snail of Approval Program” and support our garden in Africa. This Sunday, we have our first big event of the year, an “East Meets East” Dinner Party, to welcome in our new Board of Directors and to honor the work of Ann Rathkopf, my past co-chair, who is stepping down. I hope you can join us! Wherever you live, I encourage you to connect with your local Slow Food Chapter. If there isn’t one near you, feel free to start one. Go the the Slow Food USA website and sign up! It’s a movement that can change the world!

Speaking of changing the world, how about helping us to change Huntington Station? Source the Station is a crowd sourcing organization that is currently collecting support for ideas on revitalizing Huntington Station.? These ideas will help shape the redevelopment of the area and offers you a once-in-a-lifetime chance to help shape that plan. To participate, you need to register with http://sourcethestation.com/, then you can vote for 2 great projects that were proposed by our community members. One is called Multi-purpose Foodie Headquarters and the other is Incredible Edible Huntington. Help these great projects get the funding they need!

This week, my guest on the Progressive Radio Network is Melissa Kogut, the Executive Director of Chef’s Collaborative, another organization that is changing the way people eat. Most of you probably are not aware of this organization, because it mainly serves chefs, but since we all eat out so much, you have probably benefited from the work they do in chef education. Chef’s Collaborative has played a big part in raising the awareness of chefs to purchase sustainably raised meats, local and seasonal agriculture, wild fish that is not endangered, and antibiotic free and hormone free dairy. Knowing where your food comes from, is a shared motto to those chefs from Chef’s Collaborative and Slow Food alike! They also just came out with a wonderful cookbook that includes recipes from chefs from across the country that are committed to local and sustainable ingredients. Listen in, to what promises to be an enlightening conversation.

Don?t forget, you can catch my show live on the?Progressive Radio Network?every Thursday from 10-11 AM EST. To tune in, navigate to?PRN.fm?and click the ?Listen Live? button on the left. Also try downloading the?PRN mobile app, and take the station with you wherever you go! Also try calling in to listen live by phone 24/7 at?(832) 280-0066.

You can also download all my shows on?iTunes, or find the?full archive?on my Radio page!

In love and peace,

Bhavani