ABOUT US
Slow Food East End is a chapter of Slow Food USA and part of a global, grassroots organization founded in 1989 in Italy, by Carlo Petrini to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, counteract the rise of fast life and combat people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from and how our food choices affect the world around us. Since its beginnings, Slow Food has grown into a global movement involving millions of people in over 160 countries, working to ensure everyone has access to good, clean and fair food for all.
We are an all-volunteer Chapter on the East End of Long Island — the North and South forks of Long Island from Riverhead to Montauk — that connects the Joys and Justice of food with a commitment to our local community and the environment.
We are fortunate to live in a bountiful area where the principles of Slow Food are lived by our farmers, fishermen, vintners, and artisanal food producers. Slow Food East End works to inspire our community and to partner with like-minded organizations to create a food web that is environmentally sustainable, preserves cultural traditions, is healthy and delicious, and celebrates the Joys and Justice around food that is Good, Clean and Fair.
All contributions to Slow Food East End are tax deductible through our affiliation with Slow Food USA, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, tax exempt organization.
Meet Our Board
Maria McBride | Chair
I grew up in Wilmington, Delaware the eldest of 12 children. The desire to slow down began at a young age, our daily mission of feeding everyone meant dinner prep was usually fast-paced but always home-cooked. The reward was slowing down together around the table for laughs and advice. Sharing a meal with loved ones is still where I am happiest.
College drew me to NYC and I stayed to pursue a career in publishing where I became an editorial influencer as style director at BRIDES, Conde Nast. The publishing world opened many doors around the world. I became friends with passionate culinary experts, gardeners, artists, and activists while I produced photo shoots, wrote books, managed events, and raised two kids.
It took finding an old barn on the North Fork before we explored a life beyond the Big Apple. Flash forward many years and we’ve moved from weekenders trying to recharge our batteries to full-time residents with more time to connect locally and enjoy the bounty of living where much of our food is farmed, fished, and produced.
Professionally my career then evolved to event production with a focus on servicing non-profits including the Retreat, Sylvester Manor, Oysterponds Historical Society, CAST and NYC public parks. Five years ago, looking for a new adventure, I studied for a real estate license and then the pandemic changed a few things.
My life has always included community service, it’s important to get involved; my role as a big sister taught me that together we can make wonderful things happen. I am inspired by doers who chase goals and accomplishments that also help others. I trust in the power of a motivated network. I am determined to find ways to trod gently and leave the world a better place.
I started my tenure on the board of SFEE as the events chair just as we slid into the Covid era, demanding we find other ways of engagement. I enjoyed producing virtual events like Chef Series and the short film We Are Slow Food, then tiptoeing back to live events with al fresco Slow Hours and community celebrations for Earth Day and more. It’s an honor now to hold the role as Chair working with our superb team encouraging people to slow down and to be thoughtful about how we live. What we eat is defined by how well we protect our environment; achieving good, clean, fair food for all is an ongoing journey and a mission I look forward to championing.
Sunita Narma | Vice Chair | Communications
Sunita is a self-proclaimed lifelong foodie. Having enjoyed the East End as their second home for many years, she and her husband moved full-time to Southold to enjoy the next chapter in their life (including empty nesting having raised 3 wonderful boys).
Sunita has found a deep love and appreciation for the slow-paced North Fork Life. Taking a few minutes every day to watch a daily sunset at one of the many local beaches along the sound and sharing the beautiful local views has become a sacred daily ritual for her, that she cherishes very much.
Sunita’s experience as an entrepreneur and her appreciation for the importance of community living shines through in her weekly live chat show on Instagram. Sunita is the creator and co-host at “NOFO LIVE ” a weekly live podcast, showcasing and sharing information about local artists, small business owners, events, activities, and all things North Fork.
The foodie in her naturally is drawn to the farm stands and the fresh locally grown produce. Soon after being introduced to Slow Food East End and its missions, Sunita offered to volunteer her time and skills to help with the communications committee and took over the tasks of managing and curating our Instagram account. Sunita’s focus is to find new ways to expand our social media presence and have our message reach more of the local community and help our chapter continue to grow and thrive (even stronger than the most active chapter that we already are in the USA).
Marissa Drago | Secretary
Marissa is the owner of the award-winning comfort food spot Main Road Biscuit Co. in Jamesport, NY. Long Island born and bred, she has traveled quite extensively in her adult life motivated by her search for the best food and wine. As a child, she helped her Sephardic grandmother in her Queens kitchen make spanakopita and supported her father’s affection for making his own Chinese food simply because “good food isn’t hard to make.” As the oldest of 3 siblings, she was appointed to help with weekly food shopping, the fresh-baked cookie she was always awarded perhaps the unspoken motivator.
She is an active member and supporter of multiple local organizations, notably Riverhead Chamber of Commerce, North Fork Women in Business and currently sits on the Education Committee of the North Fork Reform Synagogue. A graduate of The Institute of Culinary Education in NYC, she worked in catering, catering sales, and management positions for 15 years – most notably at New York food institutions, including Barefoot Contessa, Dean & DeLuca, City Bakery, Friedman’s Lunch, Balducci’s, Financier and Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery in NYC. Marissa lives in Mattituck with her husband of 20 years, Bryan, their son Gavyn and their 4-legged son, Jack.
Alyson D’Anna | Membership
Alyson and her husband Daniel Goldner have been supporters of Slow Food East End for the past 10 years. Drawn by the goals and the very motivated SFEE Board, she became a Board member in 2022 with a focus on developing sponsorship concepts to assist in SFEE funding, among other efforts.
Prior to SFEE, Alyson dedicated significant time over the last decade advising not-for-profits on how to build funding and growth strategies. She was previously chairperson of fresh art NYC, another not-for-profit focused on providing resources to challenged artists.
Currently, Alyson is Vice President of Executive Search for Madison Square Garden Entertainment. Her professional background includes Executive Recruiting and Career Coaching with 20+ years of experience in both corporate and nonprofit organizations.
Alyson holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Fairleigh Dickinson University and a Master of Arts in Counseling from Montclair State University. She is also trained as a Neuro-Linguistic Programming Coach.
Alyson and her husband split their time between The North Fork and NYC. Together they are working on building an organic garden to better understand the challenges and opportunities for North Fork farmers.
Gabriella Macari | Board Member
Gabriella has worked with her family at Macari Vineyards since inception in 1995. As Director, she manages education, distribution, marketing, and assists in the cellar and vineyard. Formally an Account Manager at a boutique PR firm in Brooklyn, NY, she closely worked with Ribera del Duero, Rioja, Wines from Spain, and Moët Hennessy’s Estates & Wine. Gabriella continues to consult for wineries and regions across the globe. A graduate of Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business, she holds a B.S. in Business Administration with a Concentration in Marketing, a Minor in English, and a specialization in International Business. Gabriella is a Certified Sommelier with the Court of Master Sommeliers and completed the Wine Executive Program at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management. She recently received the highest-level recognition from the WSET — Level 4 Diploma in Wine and Spirits — and is a second stage Master of Wine Candidate.
Ralph Reinertsen | Board Member
Ralph Reinertsen is a full time North Forker who really enjoys all the East End has to offer. He is a retired elementary school teacher, a retired motivational speaker for a nutritional organization, a former CSA core member and a current Slow Food volunteer. He has an outgoing personality and a willingness to work to achieve Slow Food goals. Having played a lifetime of athletics, he understands the importance of being a team player, and he welcomes the opportunity to work with his fellow board members.
Stacey Isaacs | Board Member
Stacey is a writer and creator of Kitchen of Youth and the owner of The Harvest Inn in Peconic. Over the years she has worn many hats – chef, lawyer, writer (author of The Chinese Medicine Cookbook). In addition to her law degree, she also has a Master’s degree in Oriental Medicine/Herbs and a license in Acupuncture.
With a passion for food as a means towards healing and wellness, Stacey loves to cook delicious, chef-quality food that’s good for you and easy to prepare. As an eastern medicine practitioner, she looks at foods with an eye toward their healing properties and combines complementary foods with the right herbs to create a unique system to promote healing.
A journey that began with cooking foods for specific dietary needs, and expanded to being a personal chef of sorts to people with cancer, gluten intolerance, Parkinson’s, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, arthritis, and those who were seeking to lose weight and look and feel more youthful and healthier.
She and her husband Steve moved from Manhattan to the North Fork and opened The Harvest Inn Bread and Breakfast in 2021. Nowadays she can be found at the inn cooking decadent breakfasts with a healing twist. She loves everything about this amazing East End community, its farms, its vineyards, and the amazing people, and feels lucky to have found her way “home.”
Becky Chidester | Board Member
Becky Chidester is an activist focused on inspiring healthy behaviors. It is a passion she discovered while working on Capitol Hill in grassroots politics and honed during a career spanning more than 30 years at WPP, one of the largest marketing and advertising organizations in the world. During a journey that included founding and serving as CEO of Wunderman Thompson Health for more than a decade, Becky developed a particular interest and expertise in behavior change in the areas of health & wellness.
Now a full-time resident of the North Fork, Becky joined Slow Food East End to further her accomplishments in promoting better food and nutrition choices utilizing the abundance of locally grown organic produce and shellfish. One of the driving factors in selecting to live on the North Fork was discovering the plethora of locally grown food and the commitment to good, healthy food and sustainable practices. She is excited to partner with the members of Slow Food who share the belief that integrated food and nutrition is an essential tool for treatment and prevention.
Becky still ranks her family as her greatest of life’s achievements. She is married and has raised two extraordinary sons, who she can proudly say she has taught to have full and fulfilling lives.
Claudine Nayan | Board Member
Claudine (she/her) is dedicated to working in the food & farming world in various positions from early childhood education to fine dining education and curating culinary experiences.
Inspired by a (farm dinner) tour to meet hundreds of hardworking farmers and feeding thousands of hungry guests across the world at more than 1,000 small farms, she’s on a mission to get food to the people.
Now at a non-profit farm, Amber Waves, Claudine proudly leads the women-powered farm in fundraising and partnerships while balancing a slow life in Amagansett.
Susan Wachter | Guest Leader
Susan and her husband Paul, visited family on the North Fork six years ago and were immediately drawn to this laid back, welcoming, beach and farming community. After raising their family in Westchester, and having busy careers in the Entertainment industry in NYC, they happily jumped into a very different life that includes oyster farming, gardening, tennis and more.
Susan was introduced to the Slow Food community through friends she met at a book club. Since then, she has actively helped out at most SFEE events that bring the community together to find ways to ensure that everyone has access to good, clean and fair food.
Throughout her life, Susan has alway been an active volunteer in her community, particularly helping children who may not have the resources to excel. She has mentored high school students with the Let’s Get Ready program to help guide them through their college application process; she tutors elementary school students in a public Montessori school in Yonkers; and volunteers as a “baby cuddler” in the NICU of Westchester Medical Center.
As a former executive at a major media conglomerate, Susan hopes to bring her 30 plus years of managerial experience, and her analytical approach to problem solving, to the SFEE mission.
Al Goldberg | Acting Treasurer
Al was born and raised in NYC. After graduating high school in 1959 Al realized college wasn’t a top priority at the time. He was able to find a job, however, and quickly realized that a college education was the way to go. He achieved his B.S. in Accounting, joined a CPA firm, and studied for a CPA license. After ten years in public accounting, he was recruited by the firm’s largest public client and worked his way up. While working there for ten years he went back for graduate study later earning an MBA. Armed with a new set of skills he quickly rose through the ranks eventually into general management and strategy. The remaining years of his business career were in senior management positions in finance, operations and finally as a management consultant specializing in assessing and fixing distressed companies. Al has traveled extensively, both domestically and overseas.
Al has been a passionate fisherman since childhood. His passion drew him to Montauk and the Northfork in the late 1960’s. His dream was eventually to live out east when he retired. Al and his wife eventually bought a small condo on the beach in Montauk in the early 1980s for a weekend retreat. Eventually, buying a house in Montauk in 2002 and moved there full-time when he retired in 2006.
Al was introduced to Slow Food in 2012 and became a member shortly thereafter. He worked on the events committee in planning future events. He has also given classes in sustainable seafood and taught classes in the Chef to School program. His financial skills drew the attention of the board and was later asked to review their books and practices. Eventually, Al was asked to join the board as treasurer and was elected three times. He will continue as acting treasurer until a replacement is recruited and will continue as an advisor.
Pennie Schwartz | Advisor
Pennie has been a member of Slow Food East End for five years. She came looking for a place where people had interests like hers: food, cooking it, and where it came from. She has volunteered on the Snail of Approval Committee and anywhere else she was needed, including selling raffle tickets at SFEE potlucks and coming early to help set up events. Pennie was elected as a Leader in 2017 and immediately began serving as Secretary during 2018. She was elected Chapter Chair for 2019 and 2020. Pennie played an instrumental role in starting Slow Food East End’s Flour Power program and is very passionate about it. She will continue to play a vital role in growing that program.
Pennie spent 30 years as a chiropractor, always recommending whole, clean food as part of healing. She is currently pursuing certification in Permaculture Design, which is a combination of landscape design, environmental ecology, and sustainability. She wants to design edible gardens, so when we promote local…it’s in our own yards! She and her husband Paul love living on the East End – it is a Slow Food dream. Pennie’s yard is also a Slow Food dream, filled with beehives, chickens, and food growing everywhere.
Laura Luciano | Advisor
Laura Luciano is a professional graphic designer and writes the blog Out East Foodie: a food blog that shares the edible stories of the North and South forks of Long Island. She contributes to Edible East End and Edible Long Island Magazines for her “What’s in Season” column and is one of the founders and coordinator for the Long Island Cheese Pumpkin Project, a squash listed on the Ark of Taste.
Laura became immersed with the Slow Food movement in 2013, the same year she, and her husband Christopher Jeffrey, an Architect, built their Energy Star Rated sustainable home Sheridan Green in Hampton Bays, NY that has a rooftop garden filled with heirlooms and Ark of taste varieties. It is there that she hosts potlucks and dinner parties for like-minded people to come together to talk story, enjoy amazing food and drink and share inspiration in a great space.
After attending Terra Madre in 2016 as a guest leader, she was elected to the board for Slow Food East End. In October of 2017, she became the Slow Food Governor for New York State, where she oversees all regional chapters and shares her unwavering passion for biodiversity, food sovereignty, and coveting culinary traditions.
In 2018, she was recently appointed to Slow Food USA’s National Board as Chair of the Network Development Committee and awarded the Snailblazer award for Emerging Leader. Laura’s appointment provides multiple benefits to SFEE & other NYS chapters such as direct communications with Slow Food USA and first-hand access to news, initiatives, and campaigns, both nationally and internationally. She also has “her finger on the pulse” of chapter happenings throughout the country and can identify networking and knowledge sharing opportunities. Laura’s passion, creativity, and resourcefulness will most certainly have an impact nationally, as well as locally. Our chapter is excited by the possibilities for growth and serving our community better due to her appointment.
Robin Tyson-Stoehr | Advisor
Robin has always had an avid interest in cooking and entertaining which grew when she and her husband moved to the North Fork and began to become better acquainted with what the community offered in terms of fresh and local ingredients.
She joined Slow Food East End in 2014 and began working with other members to build the Snail of Approval Program, which recognizes businesses that incorporate the Slow Food values of good, clean and fair food into their businesses.
Robin worked as a Human Resources executive in the financial services sector where she focused on developing future leaders and implementing large scale change initiatives. Robin hopes to bring her love of food along with her organizational experience to continue to support the important and significant agenda of Slow Food East End.