Kelly Gibson

Kelly Gibson and Portia Belloc Lowndes are longtime Chicago residents and co-leaders of the Slow Food Chicago chapter or "convivium."

Slow Food is an international movement, founded in Italy in 1986. Today it has some seventy thousand members in more than forty-five countries. Slow Food is dedicated to preserving regional cuisines and food traditions worldwide. In addition the organization advocates biodiversity, taste education, conviviality, and the pleasures of the table. Participants in the Slow Food movement are committed to finding alternatives to the standardization of the world's tastes while promoting local, seasonal foods and virtuous globalization.

Slow Food U.S.A. is a nonprofit organization that oversees the activities of its more than 12,500 members and 150 local chapters, or "convivia." Each convivium advocates sustainability and biodiversity through educational events and public outreach that encourage the enjoyment of pure foods that are local, seasonal, and organically grown.