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I was quite surprised to learn in the past few days about some negative reactions to a passage called “Green California” in my just-published book, Slow Food Nation, and wanted to take a moment to try to explain my intentions and clarify what I believe happened. First of all, I want to apologize for any offense caused by this passage, whether to your organization or the many farmers who are your members and collaborators. It was absolutely not my intention to denigrate or attack the farmers of the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market or of any farmers market, for that matter. I hope that you will consider the rest of my book, not to mention the range of Slow Food projects I have founded over the past twenty years, a testament to the deep admiration I feel for the farmers who grow sustainably and depend on the direct market economies of farmers markets, both in the United States and around the world. The network of farmers and food producers that we brought together at Terra Madre has only helped to reinforce how strongly I believe in the importance of farmers as defenders of the earth and stewards of our future.
In part, I believe that the translation of this passage was, unfortunately, not as accurate as it should have been, and that the misinterpretation of certain phrases and the omission of a few key words resulted in a tone that differs significantly from the spirit of what I wrote in Italian. In fact, my original words were meant to demonstrate the positive impression I had of the two farmers with whom I spoke, based on their apparent success in making farming a viable livelihood for themselves.
