Spilling Beans

Talking With: Slow Food South Shore's Brad Lee Fuller

By / Photography By | December 15, 2014
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Slow Food is global organization that works at a local level, promoting local, sustainable eating.

What is Slow Food?

Slow Food is global organization that works at a local level, promoting local, sustainable eating and getting people more aware about where their food comes from.

What inspired Slow Food South Shore? What is your connection to this place and its food?

We started putting Slow Food South Shore together a few years back. What inspired our team to get this up and running is our lack of local food options. That isn’t to say that there isn’t great food produced here—because it is abundant. The issue is that most of that food is going elsewhere. I have lived in Northern Indiana now for five years. When I say lived, I mean slept; I would spend most of my time in Chicago. When I started spending more time here, it was obvious to me that we had to look at how to better our food choices. 

Tell us about your Sunday Suppers.

Slow Food Sunday Suppers are our first project. We have held two very successful suppers and are looking to do our next one this spring. We work with local chefs, farmers and producers to put on a seasonal dinner. We serve these dinners family style at a communal table to encourage people to talk with strangers, smile, laugh and come together over the dinner table. We also include a presentation to help educate the guests on the choices of eating local from small independent producers.

How does your interest in Slow Food relate to your business, Forage & Foster?

Forage & Foster is my specialty food distributor, primarily of meat and cheese. We focus on ethically produced specialty goods with a specific focus on animal welfare. We work with producers and farmers who practice good animal husbandry and treat their animals with love and respect.

Favorite foods, farms, brews from the Michiana area?

We have so many people doing amazing things in the area!

Some of my favorite places are: Stop 50 in Michiana Shores, Indiana, for pizza; David’s Deli in New Buffalo, Michigan, for sandwiches and coffee; Oh Mamma’s in South Bend, Indiana, for sandwiches; the Octave Grill in Chesterton, Indiana, for burgers; and Café Navarre in South Bend, Indiana, for a nice dinner out.

There is a lot of great beer being made in the area these days. Some of my favorites are: Pleasant House in Three Oaks, Michigan; Burn ’Em Brewing in Michigan City, Indiana; and The Livery in Benton Harbor, Michigan.

There are so many great producers in our area and it is exciting to see the direction they are going to make better food for us and for the land. I love Granor Farm in Three Oaks, Michigan; Fairstream Farm in North Judson, Indiana; Barefoot Acres in Rolling Prairie, Indiana; and Domaine Berrien in Berrien Springs, Michigan (great wine and the view is amazing!).

Slow Food South Shore holds monthly meetings the last Friday of the month at 9:30am CST at Bartlett’s Gourmet Grill and Tavern, 131 E. Dunes Hwy, Beverly Shores, Indiana. Everyone is welcome.
Facebook.com/slowfoodsouthshore
southshoreslowfood@gmail.com

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