Slow Food Shoreline is a local chapter of the national non-profit organization Slow Food USA. As a local chapter we invite our community to taste, celebrate, and champion the foods and food traditions of Connecticut.

Our Local Mission:
Slow Food Shoreline’s mission is to promote cooking and nutritional education, with a focus on using local ingredients, to improve the health of the region. Our focus is on teaching scratch cooking using whole ingredients, with an additional focus on fresh, local, and seasonal products. We believe that teaching core cooking skills and encouraging a love of food and cooking, is the best way for participants to sustain what they’ve learned and change eating habits long term, as well as become better informed consumers. Through cooking demonstrations, tastings, cooking classes, and other food education opportunities, we’ll provide the community with the confidence, knowledge, and motivation to build healthy and delicious food habits.

2013 Board of Directors
Michael Cook- Chapter Leader & Chair
michael@slowfoodshoreline.org
Michael is an intrepid food explorer, utilizing his personal and business travel to seek out interesting, creative, and authentic foods. He was duly inspired by his first trip to Italy and his first visit to the Atlanta suburbs, to see the extremes of what can happen when corporate chains dominate a food system, and what can happen when a community makes better choices. Since then he has been committed to the support of local and independent food businesses, and an evangelist for their support in the community, before food traditions are lost forever. Michael attended culinary school, and has utilized his skills in cooking for homeless shelters in Michigan and Connecticut. During the day he leads Online and Mobile Marketing for a division of GE.

Renee Cook- Vice Chair & Event Chair
renee@slowfoodshoreline.org
Renee has attended culinary school with a focus in artisan breads and pastries. She has traveled extensively learning about food traditions throughout the United States and overseas. Her passions include preserving food traditions and sharing her culinary expertise with others. Renee grew up on a farm in Michigan, the youngest of 15 siblings, where she learned scratch cooking, canning, and the art of what is now commonly called “snout to tail” and “stem to root ” eating. She enjoys gardening, seed saving, her chickens, and collecting antique cookbooks.

Amanda Tripp- Secretary & Treasurer
amanda@slowfoodshoreline.org
Amanda is passionate about food policies, cooking, and fixing our food system. Her interest in Slow Food stemmed from growing up in a small California farming town where she learned, first hand, the importance and power of good food. Currently, she is pursuing her PhD in Health Policy and Economics at Yale University. Amanda studies obesity policies within the Federal Nutrition Assistance Programs that affect our diets and local agriculture.

Alex Cordova- Membership Chair & Volunteer Coordinator
alex@slowfoodshoreline.org
Alex grew up in the suburbs of Washington D.C. in Maryland. Having grown up in the D.C. area his main focus was on issues of socio-economic class, racism, and domestic and international politics. However, after having been surrounded by small organic farms and progressive agriculture policies in Oregon for five years, he realized the transformative effects that local sustainable agriculture can create in low income and under-represented communities. Alex is interested in food policy and believes that good, clean, and sustainable food is a right, not a privilege.

Margaret Read- Communications Chair
margaret@slowfoodshoreline.org
Margaret is passionate about food. She was born and raised in Louisiana where her parents instilled in her various food traditions of appreciating cajun cuisine and supporting local farmers. Additionally, her and her sisters grew up tending to an incredibly large garden that produced much of the fruits and vegetables they consumed. Currently, Margaret works for the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University where she is committed to changing our food environment. She believes we can change reverse the obesity trend through food policies that will change the way we are exposed to food, purchase food, and consume food.

Vanessa Lamers- Non-Profit Partnerships & Community Outreach Chair
vanessa@slowfoodshoreline.org
Vanessa hailed from Oregon and is currently pursing a masters in public health and forestry and environmental sciences at Yale University. Vanessa is interested in cooking from scratch, making traditional recipes vegetarian, and promoting access to healthy food in our community. She loves learning and talking to others about our food system.