Heirloom Expo set to showcase pure food

In two weeks, Sonoma County just might be home to the largest
display of heirloom foods in North America—ever.
“We look at it as being a pure food event,” said Paul Wallace,
manager of the Petaluma Seed Bank. “There’s been so much interest
in the pure food movement, and now we have over 65 speakers from
all over the country. Dr. Vandana Shiva is coming here all the way
from India.”
The National Heirloom Exposition, taking place September 13
through 15, is poised to be an informative gathering of farmers and
consumers at the forefront of the pure food movement. (Pure food
has its roots in traditional breeding and seed saving, as opposed
to genetic modification.) Heirloom produce and heritage livestock
will be on display, coming from local farms as well as farms across
the country.
The idea for the National Heirloom Exposition came about last
fall at an heirloom auction in New York designed to benefit
farmers. Actual farmers were priced out of the expensive event, and
the idea for a more accessible, affordable and informative
celebration of heirloom agriculture was born.
“We thought, wouldn’t it be nice to have an event that was
primarily about the produce, to show the variety of produce that
our country has to offer,” Wallace said.
Once word of the expo started getting around, farmers and
consumers jumped on board. Dozens of local chefs, farmers, and
agricultural non-profits will be represented. Members of local Slow
Food convivia—a membership organization which also focuses on
heirloom foods—are particularly excited, and will share a table to
educate visitors about the local projects being undertaken by Slow
Food.
“Biodiversity is such a big part of what Slow Food is about,”
said Paula Shatkin of Slow Food Russian River. “The people who come
to this are going to see us there, and see us being part of this
heirloom seed movement which is so much about biodiversity.”
Shatkin looks forward to not only educating visitors about her
chapter’s Gravenstein apple and heritage turkey projects, but also
absorbing information herself.
“I’m very excited because Vandana Shiva is going to be there. I
don’t know if you’ve ever heard her speak, but it’s a life changing
experience,” Shatkin said.
Dr. Vandana Shiva is one of three keynote speakers, along with
Alice Waters and Jeffrey Smith. But they are by no means the only
speakers attendees can expect to hear.
“We’ve got three speaking locations going continually at the
same time with farmers, chefs, and authors, all speaking on food,
farm or gardening related topics. In addition we have movies
running continually throughout the three days, with focuses on food
and farming,” Wallace said.
It’s not by chance that the National Heirloom Expo ended up in
Sonoma County, either. Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co. opened the
Petaluma Seed Bank in 2009 partly due a strong demand for heirloom
seeds in the region. So when the time came to decide where to hold
the expo, Wallace said the choice was clear.
“The fact that we have the seed bank in Petaluma, we figured it
was a natural place to have it. Also to the north of us, Mendocino
is GMO free, and to the south of us Marin is GMO free, and we
thought it would be a good opportunity to use the event as a
platform to educate people about GMOs and their impact on food,”
Wallace said.
For the National Heirloom Exposition, children 17 and under are
free, and tickets for adults are $10 per day or $25 for a three-day
pass. Kid-friendly activities such as butter making, seed ball
making, and sack races will take place on Wednesday. More
information can be found at theheirloomexpo.com.