Board members not pictured above: Claudine Nayan & Becky Chidester

Thank you to everyone who joined us at our Annual Public Board Meeting on November 5th. This is always one of our favorite events each year because we get to share our accomplishments and hear more directly from you about our work and initiatives.

We had the perfect day! The weather was beautiful, and the location, Veterans Park Community Center, was ideal with a gorgeous view of the Peconic Bay and the company even better. We know we are lucky to have so many friendly, talented, and caring people in our Slow Food community.

This year we celebrated with lots of delicious food, guests and board members brought potluck offerings from goat cheese toasts with local honey brought by Gabriella Macari, Al Goldberg brought his famous fish cakes from fish he recently caught near Montauk, Main Road Biscuit biscuits – were so delicious you know why the restaurant is named Biscuit! We also poured an amazing assortment of wines donated by members of the Long Island Wine Country wineries, LIWC celebrated 50 years of viniculture on Long Island this year and has been a sponsor of our events this year, a special thank you to: As If Wines, Chronicle Wines, Saltbird, Brooklyn Oenology, Lieb Cellars, Macari Vineyards, Pellegrini Vineyards, Rose Hill Winery, SuhRu Wines, Sparkling Pointe Vineyards & Wolffer Estate Vineyard.

The day was wonderful, but also bittersweet as we said goodbye to two of our amazing Board members who are at the end of their term limits: Pennie Schwartz, president, and Robin Tyson-Stoehr, secretary and so long to Peter Berley, an amazing chef who is off to new adventures, you will all be missed. But we know you will continue to be part of our community because we have become friends, we know that we will all see each other over wine and food on the forks.

Our annual meeting is also the day we vote new Board members into office, all have already participated in previous events we’ve hosted this past year, are members of our organization, and support our mission. We are thrilled to have them aboard and excited for the coming new year.  We’ll share more information about our new board in an upcoming newsletter.

Congratulations to all our 2024- Slow Food East End Board Members 

Maria McBride – Chair

Sunita Narma – Vice Chair

Becky Chidester

Alyson D’Anna

Marissa Drago

Stacey Isaacs

Gabriella Macari 

Claudine Nayan

Ralph Reinertsen

Nicole Sinning

Susan Wachter, guest leader, nonvoting board member

Our annual meeting is also the night we kick off our Feed the Forks Virtual Auction it is now live and ends November 12th at 9 pm EST. Start bidding now! There are 85 great items to bid on from cooking lessons to great East End activities on both the North and South forks. Auction items make great holiday gifts, feel free to share the link with friends! The proceeds from the auction will fund SFEE  initiatives including Flour Power, School Gardens, Snail of Approvals, and Resilience Grants. 

We are grateful to everyone who comes out to learn more about Slow Food East End. Your support allows us to help local farmers & food producers who support a healthy environment, good soils, and clean waters for all. 

We hope you’ll join us for many events we’re planning in the new year, meanwhile, enjoy these photos from our 2023 Annual Meeting.

The week of  September 18-24, people across our East End community enjoyed the iconic Negroni while supporting the Slow Food movement. With shared Italian roots and interest in a fair food and beverage system, Slow Food, Campari, and the Negroni are the perfect pairing.

For the past 10 years, Slow Food, Imbibe Magazine, and Campari have joined forces to increase their collective impact by using donations raised during Negroni Week to provide incubator grants for activities that support and promote good, clean, and fair food and beverage. 

Here on the East End, we were fortunate to receive a grant earlier this year to expand our Flour Power program.  This is a program that provides healthy and nutritious bread to people in need.  The additional funds from the Negroni Week grant will be a significant boost to our efforts.

Thanks to all the restaurants, bars, art museums, liquor stores, and chocolate shops across the Forks that participated.  We had fourteen venues on the East End register, and several of our participants sponsored some specials and fun events during the week.  Pictured here are a few highlights:

• An evening with our guest leader, Nichole Sinning, enjoying the Negroni variation “Your Momma Don’t Dance” at Townline BBQ
• Tropical Negroni and snack pairing at Love Lane Kitchen in Mattituck, cocktails crafted by Joe Coleman at Doublespeak Cocktails
• Dinner at Noah’s with a round of classic Negroni’s enjoyed by guest leader, Becky Chidester and her East Marion friends. 

Seafood was on the menu and everyone’s mind as our Slow Food family and friends at the Suffolk County Marine Environmental Learning Center came together to enjoy a night to celebrate our unique East End Merroir. We tasted oysters from four different local merroirs and incredible fresh local seafood dishes, all paired with local wines while learning so much about sustainable fishing operations in our local waterways. 

Our knowledgeable friends at Cornell Cooperative Extension located along the scenic shores of Cedar Beach in Southold study our local waters looking for solutions to keep them healthy, productive, and sustainable so they remain that way for years to come. Commercial and recreational harvesting of seafood is a way of life on Long Island so preserving the viability of this industry and essential food source is critical for our community and marine resources.  

Presentations by Cornell Fisheries and Aquaculture specialists were informative and engaging.   We learned about Cornell’s “Choose Local F.I.S.H.” (Fresh. Indigenous. Sustainable. Healthy) initiatives to encourage all to discover the variety of local fish choices Long Island has to offer.  

Purchasing local seafood enables consumers to know the direct origin of their food. Increased marketing of local seafood supports the economic viability of our coastal fishing communities and small businesses and boosts the economic value of Long Island’s seafood industry while providing consumers with fresher and higher-quality seafood. When purchasing locally caught fish, you can be sure that fish is sustainably harvested and in compliance with U.S. and state regulations which are some of the strictest in the world.   So do eat more local seafood! 

Guests toured the amazing hatchery, where tens of millions of oyster seeds are hatched, raised, fed, and released each year.  These remarkable shellfish are natural water purifiers, each adult filters about 50 gallons of water a day making oysters among the most sustainable seafoods on earth.   The CCE hatchery has perfected nurturing the minuscule shellfish seeds in containment away from predators to be released when they reach adult size into local creeks and bays to promote wild settlement.   The staff also developed the community SPAT program to enlist community members to learn to grow oysters. Over 1000 locals have taken part in the program so far, many going on to start their own oyster companies.  If you are interested in fostering thousands or so babies, new SPAT memberships are available each year. 

Four oyster companies provided shellfish, shucked to order by hatchery staff, it was wonderful to do side-by-side tastings to easily compare the distinct flavor differences between oysters harvested from farms in different local waterways. Served were:  Davy Jones Shellfish, known for wild-caught and farm-raised oysters; Hampton Oyster Company specializing in deep-water, surface-grown oysters; Montauk Pearls which are seeded in Lake Montauk and followed by deep water finishing in Block Island Sound; and Peconic Gold Oysters which are raised in the beautiful Great Peconic Bay between the North and South forks. 

No food tasting would feel complete without wine to accompany the flavors. From sparkling wine to white varietals, classic roses, and ruby reds everyone got to enjoy comparing a variety of wines donated by Long Island Wine Country wineries.  We encourage all to enjoy the fruits of our local terroirs as LIWC celebrates 50 years of local viniculture this year.

The additional educational components rounded out the night’s festivities:

* We learned to filet a variety of local fish and to shuck like a pro! 

* We were lucky enough to be able to ask the Cornell Marine experts all of our marine and aquaculture questions. 

* We met artists and artisans who are inspired by the waters.  Thank you Lisl Reuschle of Adrift Designs (@adrift_northfork)  who creates art from beach finds, a special favorite was her handcrafted oyster spoons.  Al Goldberg displayed his famous handmade custom fishing rods and discussed what rods were best for different waters and species.  Al has been a member of the Slow Food East End family for years, he has taught so many local fishermen and hobbyists how to fish properly.  Thank you to Rory MacNish, part of the Cornell family and an SFEE friend who donated art and his talents photographing the night. 

Proceeds for this event helped support two amazing not-for-profit organizations, Slow Food East End Feed the Forks initiatives and Choose Local F.I.S.H programming. 

Thank you to the local businesses who made donations to our raffle and auction:

Little Fish 

Love Lane Kitchen

Calamity Janes  

Al Goldberg

Rory MacNish 

Sea Adventures Day Camp

Choose Local FISH  

Stefanie Villani, Author

The CCE SPAT Program

Sea Explorers Marine Camp

We owe a big, delicious thank-you to Lombardi Catering of Love Lane Market. The amazingly beautiful spread they prepared for this event, kept us all happy and satisfied. We really enjoyed savoring the elegantly prepared fresh local fish sliders, salads, and other dishes. Owner Lauren Lombardi is known for her hospitality and delicious locally sourced menus but Lauren has also long been a supporter of Slow Food East End and was previously on the board of Slow Food East End.   

Thank you also to At Your Service Party Tents and Events for donating essential and helpful rentals for our special event.  If you are located on the East End and looking to support a local business that is ready to take care of all your rental needs, give the new owner, Steve Winick a call AYSPR is located in Mattituck.