United States Civic Center Plaza In 2008, Slow Food USA hosted its largest gathering to date dubbed Slow Food Nation in
San Francisco. The event reconvened in 2017 as Slow Food Nations, the stateside equivalent to
Terra Madre Salone del Gusto, and was held in
Denver, Colorado. The event is scheduled to continue in 2018. , Slow Food USA has a membership of roughly 12,000, down from over 30,000 in 2008. In 2011, the organization was forced to make a series of staff layoffs and reductions and had faced a significant reduction in their income from wealthy supporters. This was partly attributed to the economic recession, but also to disagreements within the movement and a loss of several key personalities. As of 2024, Slow Food USA has 200 chapters, down from 225 chapters in 2011. These are locally based and governed 501(c)3 non-profit organizations that hold events and education outreach programs that benefit their communities while carrying out the message of the slow food movement and advancing the local environmental movement. The movement also encourages the creation of urban gardens. Beyond the chapters established within the cities in the United States, a number of universities are becoming recognised by Slow Food USA, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Slow Food-University of Wisconsin has five projects that are dedicated to the movement's efforts, including a Family Dinner Night, weekly café, and a Farm to University scheme. From then, 46 Slow Food chapters have been established on campuses of higher education. Notable members include
Alice Waters,
Eric Schlosser,
Pamela Sheldon Johns, Fabrizio Facchini and
Michael Pollan. As of 2021, the executive director is Anna Mulé. In October 2014, the organization formed an initial 15-month partnership with fast-food chain
Chipotle Mexican Grill, which had the company funding $500,000 toward Slow Food USA's National School Garden Program; 100
school gardens in different cities across the US would be funded in an effort to teach children where food comes from and how food is grown.
United Kingdom Slow Food UK works to raise strategic awareness about
sustainability and social justice issues surrounding food and farming in Britain. In 2014, Slow Food UK devolved into Slow Food England, Slow Food Scotland, Slow Food Cymru, and Slow Food Northern Ireland. Slow Food UK as an entity provides administrative support to those nations and local groups, and the Slow Food UK Board is now made up of directors from the nations (Shane Holland, Chair & Director for England; John Cooke, Director for Scotland; Illtud Dunsford, Director for Wales; and Paula McIntyre, Director for Slow Food Northern Ireland). The numerous local groups are led by Slow Food members, who take significant grassroots action in their local communities. The many notable Slow Food UK members and supporters include
Raymond Blanc and
Jamie Oliver. Some of the local groups are very large, such as Slow Food London, and run programmes such as the Slow Food Global Schools Twinning Programme, which are more akin to the work of a national office. Slow Food London is also the major campaigning Slow Food body within the UK, responding to every local, national, and European consultation on food,
fisheries, and agriculture, and has even been a co-signatory in judicial review against the UK government in regards to food and farming, retaining a leading firm of solicitors
pro bono on an ongoing basis. Besides running national education programmes, such as Slow Food Kids, and Slow Food on Campus, Slow Food UK National Office co-ordinates fights to preserve British culinary heritage through the Chef Alliance and Forgotten Foods programmes (UK Ark of Taste). The Chef Alliance is a network of chefs committed to protecting Britain's edible biodiversity by cooking with Forgotten Foods, or foods that are produced on a very small scale and are being lost due to commercial varieties overtaking the market. The Forgotten Foods programme is part of the Slow Food International
Ark of Taste. In 2014, the Chef Alliance had over 100 members, and now over 150 Forgotten Foods are recognized.
Australia The Australian slow food movement aims to increase community awareness of the value from farm to market of good, clean, local food. A campaign is being mounted to have included in Slow Food International's
Ark of Taste (nationally nominated threatened produce and food products) the following Australian foods:
Kangaroo Island's Ligurian bee honey, the Queensland-native
bunya nut, bull-boar sausage from Victoria, and Tasmanian leatherwood honey.
The Netherlands In the Netherlands especially the
Slow Food Youth Network (SFYN) is very active. SFYN is a worldwide network of young people creating a better future through food. SFYN believes that they, as young people, must play an important role in the future of food production and consumption. That is why they bring young consumers, producers, farmers, chefs and students closer together. In the Netherlands they do this through eat-ins, tastings, events such as World Disco Soup Day, the talkshow Als Warme Broodjes, campaigns such as food education and projects such as the SFYN Academy.
Latvia In 2005, British-born Latvian chef
Mārtiņš Rītiņš became the president of the newly founded Latvian Slow Food Association, which has been organizing slow food festivals in cities across Latvia with cooking demonstrations by Rītiņš and other chefs, tastings by local organic producers and cultural handicrafts (such as fine silver
jewellery,
beeswax candles, leather books,
pottery and
hemp clothing) by local
artisans. ==Wine==