Slow-food movement grows on Long Island

Bhavani Jaroff grills portabella mushrooms topped with goat cheese in the middle of a quaint garden off of Route 110 in Huntington Station.

More than a dozen people watch her every move and take samples as she flips each mushroom flawlessly.

The Slow Food Movement of Huntington, which has about 80 members, sponsored the free cooking demonstration Tuesday in the Gateway Community Garden to show people what they can do with vegetables they grow.

Jaroff, a member of Slow Food Huntington, hosted the event as part of an initiative to get Long Island residents to eat locally, organically and seasonally.

The Slow Food Movement was founded in Rome in 1988 and has grown into an international project to educate people on the importance of purchasing local food. There are about 70 chapters throughout the United States. In 2003, Slow Food spread to Long Island where there are now chapters in Huntington and on the East End.

“Food should be medicine, and if you buy most of it in the processed department in the grocery store, you are awfully far removed from your food,” said Kate Plumb, president of Slow Food East End and founder of a farmers market in East Hampton.

The movement’s mission is to educate. Both Long Island chapters have sponsored projects to show parents and children how to “connect with their local food growers,” said Ann Rathkopf, also of Slow Food Huntington.

Slow Food East End, which has about 280 members, focuses on children and has sponsored greenhouses in schools so students have a chance to grow their own food.

“It gives children a whole different experience than buying a plastic something from a big grocery store,” Plumb said.

Gateway Community Garden, where Slow Food Huntington hosted the cooking demonstration, is a haven of fruits and vegetables sponsored by the Long Island Community Agricultural Network and open for free to anyone who would like to start growing their food organically.

“It was an abandoned lot in a neighborhood with crime for over 12 years,” Rathkopf said. “Now it’s a place where people from all over are coming together, because everybody is equal in the garden.”

The garden is one of several growing projects supported by the Slow Food Movement.

“Slow Food is all about the pleasures of a meal,” said Plumb.

For more information about Slow Food on Long Island, visit www.slowfoodusa.org.

Photo: Bhavani Jaroff demonstrates how to cook organically grown vegetables.