Our Leadership

The leaders of Slow Food Berkeley are ordinary people who volunteer their time to bring Slow Food's values to our community. We aren't "foodies" and we don't all work in food. We do all believe that organizing our community to share and support good food is a cause that's worth our time and passion.

The leadership team is 3+ co-leaders with organizer positions and a steering committee that advises them, offers input and plans events. The team meets once a month. There are no limits to the size of the steering committee, but committee members agree to attend meetings and to co-organize at least one event per year. Leaders are confirmed at the annual members' potluck, which takes place in the first three months of each year. If you'd like to learn more, please download our bylaws.

Leaders

Rebecca Alon, Treasurer
Rebecca moved to the Bay Area in 2006 from St. Louis to open and manage a retail jewelry store in downtown San Francisco. Once settled, she began familiarizing herself with the historic landmarks of San Francisco: Tartine's morning buns, Stella's cannolis, Bi-Rite Creamery's salted caramel toffee ice cream and Foreign Cinema's slow cooked brown sugar smoked bacon. Once she discovered that Slow Food Nation was unfolding in San Francisco, Rebecca decided to quit her day job and dedicate as much time as possible to the cause. Her interactions with the staff and fellow volunteers at Slow Food Nation (not to mention the Italian donuts the Director regularly brought in), helped ignite a personal call to action in the quest for good, clean and fair food.

Dario Barbone, Co-Secretary
Dario was raised in Piemonte (Italy) on Parmigiano Reggiano and Prosciutto. He grew up in the kitchen at his mother's and grandmother's sides absorbing their passion for food. It wasn't until his seventh birthday, when he mastered a textbook veal schnitzel, that he gained the position of sous-chef in the family. His leitmotiv is to make everything from scratch, bypassing the temptation of industrial food. He draws his inspiration from traditional peasant recipes and is always seeking the next culinary inspiration. Naturally oriented towards studying how things work, he got a degree in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology and a PhD in Molecular Medicine. He is now a postdoctoral fellow at UCSF.

Maria McLaughlin, Co-Secretary
Maria hails from a small New England town where her mother steadfastly kept the nightly dinner ritual. Maria explored food traditions and cultures in Florence, Italy while attending University and later promoted wine and cooking for an Italian-centered villa agency. Over the last ten years in the Bay Area, she has learned to pick her own grapes, to make her own wine and to love to spread the word about Slow Food to the people around her. Maria is a free-lance graphic designer.

Steering Committee

Andy Beahrs

Anna Clark

Jon Eldan

Anya Fernald

Ed Lewis

Renato Sardo

Will Gerard

Arthur Perley, Webmaster