Slow Food Hudson Valley Celebrates Kathleen Finlay at Wild Hudson Valley Benefit

I love this time of year in the Hudson Valley because it’s when so many great events start “springing” up, and this weekend was no exception. On Sunday, Liberty Farms in Ghent hosted Wild Hudson Valley, a spring benefit for Slow Food Hudson Valley. The barn was filled with chefs, farmers, community leaders and people who care deeply about the future of food in our region.

Slow Food, for anyone new to the movement, is a global organization devoted to protecting biodiversity, preserving food traditions, and shaping a food system that is good, clean, and fair. The name began with a moment of resistance in 1986, when a McDonald’s opened near the Spanish Steps in Rome. The founders pushed back against what fast food culture was erasing such as seasonality, pleasure, and the stories behind our food. The word “slow” became the heart of their response and the spirit they carried forward.

That philosophy was on full display at Liberty Farms. Hudson Valley chefs cooked strictly from what the land is offering right now: ramps, fiddleheads, mushrooms, and micro herbs. The menu leaned on regional staples such as porchetta, handmade pasta, grilled steelhead trout, local cheeses, wine, and hard cider. Even pickled knotweed made an appearance. It was the kind of food that makes you pause long enough to taste not just the flavors, but the land and labor behind them.

The afternoon centered on honoring Kathleen Finlay, President of the Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming and founder of Pleiades, a national network of women leading environmental and food‑system change. Kathleen is someone whose work you follow because of the steadiness and conviction she brings to it. Her career has been shaped by a deep commitment to environmental justice, regional agriculture, and women's leadership, and she carries that work in a way that makes others feel they can step forward too.

Slow Food recognized her with a Snailblazer Award, an honor for people who chart new paths by choosing intention over speed. The snail has long been the symbol of Slow Food, a reminder to be deliberate and resist the relentless pressure of industrial food culture. A Snailblazer is their version of a trailblazer, someone who leads the way while staying rooted in that philosophy. For someone who has spent her career deepening the relationship between farmers, eaters, and the land, it could not have been more deserved.

I left the event feeling full in every sense of the word. Full from the food, the conversations, and the reminder that this work is part of something larger. And it is exactly the kind of work HudsonValleyEATS exists to shine a light on. Because none of it matters if people don't know it is happening. Awareness is the bridge between what organizations like Glynwood and Slow Food are building and the communities they are building it for.

That bridge is also at the heart of the My Mindful Kitchen (MMK) Method, a way of helping people bring these values home, into daily practice. The movement lives in the fields and at events like this, but it also lives in the small choices we make in our own kitchens. MMK is about that everyday translation: how we shop, cook, and eat in ways that reflect the world we want to support, using the kitchen as a place of practice for mindfulness, belonging, and purpose.

If you’re not already connected to Slow Food Hudson Valley or Glynwood, I hope this gives you a reason to look them up. And if you want to stay close to the people, farms, and stories shaping the future of food in our region, you’re in the right place.

If this sparked something in you, maybe a pull toward living a little more intentionally around food—you can join me at My Mindful Kitchen where I explore how to bring these ideas to life in your own home, in your own kitchen. Because that is where change begins.