Like many health-conscious Americans, I try my best to eat generous portions of fresh fruits and veggies every day.  We’ve all been told time and time again how important fresh produce is to healthy living — but how many people, like myself, feel frustrated by emerging reports about the toxicity of pesticides used on the same fruits and veggies that are supposed to be keeping us healthy? I do try to buy organic produce as often as I can, but this can get discouragingly expensive. I find myself trying to pick and choose what produce is best bought organic and what conventionally grown items I can still buy without to much concern. All this in an effort to keep both  diet and  checkbook balanced…but how in all this headache do I know which foods to buy organic and which have the lowest levels of pesticides?

Here’s a helpful tool created by the Environmental Working Group, an advocate for stricter pesticide controls, to help concerned shoppers like myself decipher what foods I should choose to buy organic. They’ve organized groups of popular fruits and veggies into the “Dirty Dozen” and the “Clean 15″, with apples, celery, and strawberries coming in at the top of the “Buy Organic” list and onions, sweet corn, and pineapples being the safest of the pesticide-grown group.

Even with helpful tools like this, navigating the grocery store and cooking a healthy meal can seem like daunting tasks for many of our patients who lack the resources and the education to do so. While I might struggle to decide between types of produce, many of our patients are unable to purchase fresh foods at all due to their fixed or limited income. At St. Anthony Medical Clinic we strive to bridge that gap and help patients access the foods they need while arming them with the tools necessary to make prudent, healthy food choices. Here at The Clinic, we offer cooking classes and a fresh fruits and veggies program to connect our patients with fresh, organic or locally grown foods and the skills patients need to prepare them. We offer nutrition counseling, weight management counseling and even provide patients with bags of fresh groceries during our Diabetes Outliers Days and Asthma Outliers Days. We help patients understand nutrition labels and how to plan menus that accommodate their specific health needs.  It is our goal to improve the health of our community; we do this in part by striving to ensure all our patients have access to fresh produce and the knowledge to prepare delicious and healthy meals for themselves and their families.

“The trend I see in culinary schools is bringing together social justice and food,” stated Tannis Reinhertz, the moderator for Slow Food for the People, St. Anthony’s first symposium to celebrate our 60th anniversary. And to help her answer that question were three knowledge, passionate panelists who collectively work to prepare 3,000 hot meals a day to hungry people in the Tenderloin; distribute 24,000 lunches daily to kids in San Francisco public schools; and ensure delivery of 43.5 million pounds of food a year to families, seniors, and struggling individuals in our city. Charles Sommer, Manager of St. Anthony’s Dining Room; John Curry, Food Resources Manager at the San Francisco Food Bank; and Paula Jones, Director of Food Systems at the SF Department of Public Health spoke to a captive audience who were gathered in person and on twitter to discuss how prominent nonprofits in San Francisco adopt principles of the Slow Food movement.

Shari Roeseler, the executive director for St. Anthony’s pondered that, “we didn’t know Slow Food would be so hip when we opened our Dining Room in 1950.” What was clear after last night’s panel was that nonprofit food providers in San Francisco are at the forefront of adopting incredibly innovative ways of ensuring healthy, fresh food makes it from the fields of the central valley into the mouths of hungry people in the fastest, most efficient way possible. If you didn’t get a chance to be at this exciting event, stay tuned to our blog and facebook page to see how this discussion progresses. Or come visit any one of the organizations featured in this panel to find out how you can be a part of this incredible collaboration, all of whom ensure a healthier San Francisco, one meal at a time.

“I may be slow” said the turtle to the hare, “but I am sure!” Do you remember this story—the one of the race between the turtle and the hare? As a kid, I heard it often from my parents after I raced from one childhood predicament into the next. Or “haste makes waste!”, and the one I heard most often—“Marie; think before you speak!” Oh well, not to go any further into memory lane, but geez! These old adages (except maybe for the last one) are music to my ears these days, and rarely heard music at that. More like a million forms of “Hurry!” along with mega multi-tasking are the accent of the day for many of us…And, in some ways—sure, this pace and multiplicity of doing can be a good thing, but something dear and creative can be realized by slowing down too.

Hence, the “Slow Movement” is resonating with more and more folks world wide. We were having a little discussion about the meaning of “slow food” at work here the other day, and though it’s an actual historical endeavor (beginning in 1986 with Italian resistance to a certain fast food establishment opening in Rome), the nuances of meaning in most folks’ super hectic lives are inviting all sorts of relevance 25 years later. Here at St. Anthony’s, we are recognizing “Slow Food” as the theme of our May 17th Symposium—part of our celebration of 60 years (and counting!) of service. We say this is something that we’ve been doing for 60 years, and that’s true—our Dining Room meals are “slow cooked”, nutritious meals, but it’s not only the way we prepare our food that’s the ticket here. The name “Dining Room” implies that the meals are for sitting down at the table and sharing a meal together—actually slowing down, sharing a conversation, making real time connection with each other. It’s amazing to me that first decade of service at St. Anthony’s, the 1950’s, was the decade of a revolution in home kitchen meals, ala new kinds of frozen foods and quicker fixins, as well as a boom for kitchen appliances that has only mushroomed ever since. As much as this kitchen revolution made things a little easier for my mom and so many of us since trying to juggle a jazillion things in complex & fast paced times, I’m very grateful! However, we all know the losses of not having “time at the table” with one another.

Fr. Alfred Boeddeker didn’t found the St. Anthony’s and the Dining Room because the pace of living was too fast. He opened the Dining Room to feed people that were hungry for actual food and for genuine belonging. Here we are 60 years later with more people than ever hungry for both, but in addition, more people than ever are also hungry not only for Facebook—but for face-to-face and enough time to be present for each other (and even for ourselves!). It’s so often that it is the guests of St. Anthony’s and the volunteers who serve that most important ingredient of every meal: recognizing and welcoming one another as kindred. Bless this food, slowly and surely!

“Slow Food for the People”, the first in St. Anthony’s series of 60th anniversary symposiums, explores how local policy makers, food banks, and feeding programs integrate into the Slow Food Movement.  According to the San Francisco Food Bank, 197,000 people go hungry in our city.  How do we, as a community of people living in the Bay Area, ensure that Slow Food, defined as “Good, Clean, and Fair Food” has space for everyone at the table?

Panelists include Charles Sommer, Manager of St. Anthony’s Dining Room; Paul Ash, the Executive Director of the San Francisco Food Bank; and Paula Jones, Director of Food Systems at the San Francisco Department of Public Health.  The Panel will be moderated by Tannis Reinhertz, Department Chair of Culinary Arts and Hospitality Studies at City College of SF

Please  join us on Tuesday, May 17th, 2011 at 5:30pm at the San Francisco Public Libary in the Latino/Hispanic Community meeting room for a lively discussion on this topic.

The San Francisco Public Library

100 Larkin St. (at Grove)

Latino/Hispanic Community Meeting Room is located on the Library’s lower level (Enter at 30 Grove St. Proceed downstairs to the lower level).