Slowing Down Our Food

Muncaster started by becoming a member of Slow Food in Twin Falls, Idaho, called Snake River Slow Food, but since they rarely had events, she called that group leader and asked to start her own Slow Food chapter. Five women signed on, three being from over the Teton Pass in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and one in town, the owner of the local healthy food restaurant, Miso Hungry. Therein began Slow Food in the Tetons.

First there was the Thai cooking class, which I attended, where we sat around one long table at Miso Hungry, touched and smelled rare Thai ingredients, learned to cook the meals in the kitchen, and then came back to enjoy the meal at the table. Muncaster hasn’t focused so much on the current rage of organic food, but instead, along with Slow Food’s goal, has focused on promoting sustainability. She learned the importance of redeveloping local food economies at Terra Madre. “By supporting the family farms, we create a reasonable income for those people who are creating our food,” she said. The next event she has created is called, “Locavores Night Out,” in order to promote eating food that has come within 100 miles of where they live. She invited the local food producers and a local chef who will create dishes using the producers’ ingredients.

And when I asked Muncaster why Slow Food in the Tetons when almost everything has to be flown into this little town nestled in the mountains? Her answer made sense. “I’ve never been this radical nor environmental. I do my recycling. But you’re always giving something up and scrimping. I found this food movement [to be] one of the ways to salvation. With Slow Food, you’re not giving something up.” And for Muncaster, that means gaining a love of food by developing a taste for those foods that help preserve what could one day be lost.