Happy Negroni Week! At its heart, Negroni Week is all about raising funds for a great cause, and for this episode, we explore some of the projects supported by Negroni Week through our giving partner Slow Food via their Slow Food Negroni Week Fund. Guests include Bilal Sarwari, international councilor for Slow Food; “Slow Drinks” author Danny Childs; and Hansel Morales, an Austin bartender and recipient of a 2024 Negroni Week Fund scholarship.
It’s Negroni Week, the time of year when thousands of bars and restaurants worldwide come together to celebrate the Negroni and its relatives, and to raise funds for a great cause. Over the years, Negroni Week has raised more than $5 million for charitable causes, and for this episode, we explore some of the projects supported by Negroni Week through our giving partner Slow Food via their Slow Food Negroni Week Fund. Guests for this episode include Bilal Sarwari, international councilor for Slow Food; Slow Drinks author Danny Childs; and Hansel Morales, a bartender and manager at Siti in Austin, Texas, and a recipient of a 2024 scholarship through the Slow Food Negroni Week Fund.
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Paul Clarke
Hey everybody, welcome back to Radio Imbibe from Imbibe Magazine. I'm Paul Clarke, Imbibe's editor-in-chief.
And Happy Negroni Week. Here at Imbibe, every year since 2013, we’ve celebrated Negroni Week. It's a whole week dedicated to one of our absolute favorite cocktails and all of its relatives, and it's all for a good cause. What started as a cluster of bars and restaurants that first year has turned into a massive global celebration with thousands of bars worldwide regularly participating. And over time, those contributions have added up, with more than $5 million raised to date for charitable organizations.
In 2022, we started doing something a little differently by partnering with Slow Food as our dedicated giving partner. Slow Food, of course, is an international movement of local communities and activists seeking to change the world through food and beverage. With programs like the Slow Food Cooks Alliance, the Coffee Coalition, the Wine Coalition, and the Snail of Approval, Slow Food is doing exactly the kind of work that so many of our participating bars and restaurants are engaged in themselves as part of their day-to-day business, so the partnership is a great match for Negroni Week.
With support from Negroni Week, Slow Food established the Slow Food Negroni Week Fund, which supports initiatives around the world that have a direct bearing on hospitality and beverage communities. Some of this is through the Negroni Week Innovation Awards, some of it’s through the Slow Food Exchange, and some of the funding also goes to educational scholarships for individuals working in food and drink, to give them the kinds of access and information they might not otherwise have.
For this episode, we’re going to share a bit more insight into the kinds of work the Slow Food Negroni Week Fund does. To do this, we're chatting with Bilal Sarwari, the international counselor for Slow Food USA, Danny Childs, the author of Slow Drinks and one of the leaders and coordinators of the educational scholarships, and Hansel Morales, a bartender and manager at Siti in Austin, Texas, and a recipient of a 2024 scholarship from the Negroni Week Fund that brought him for the very first time to Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans.
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Paul Clarke
Bilal, Danny, Hansel, welcome to Radio Imbibe.
Bilal Sarwari
Thank you, so much.
Hansel Morales
Thanks
Paul Clarke
Thanks so much to all of you for being a part of this conversation. And Danny, welcome back. You've been on before. And at the time folks are hearing this episode, we'll be right in the middle of Negroni Week 2025, which is something that kicked off in 2013 and that, since 2022, has worked with Slow Food as the official global giving partner. What that means is the donations raised from Negroni Week go to Slow Food to support its global mission, which we'll talk about in a moment. And some of that money also goes to the Slow Food Negroni Week Fund, which has a number of projects under its umbrella. Each of you has been involved in those projects in some way, so I'd like to share with our audience a little bit exactly what this means. So we could start with Bilal, you know, you work with Slow Food and you've worked with the Negroni Week Fund. For folks who may not be all that familiar with Slow Food, what is the organization and what does it do?
Bilal Sarwari
Yeah, thank you so much for having me, Paul. As you mentioned, my name is Bilal. I'm the international counselor for the United States for Slow Food. Slow Food is a global organization that is in over 2000 communities worldwide and over 170 countries across the globe. Our motto is "Good, clean, fair food for everyone." And our goal is to achieve that for every single person in the world. We’re a food justice organization. We are a seed saving organization. We have something for anyone who is fired up about food, whether it be agriculture, health, preserving cultural food ways. The organization is immense. And what I love about it is that we take a big tent approach to food sovereignty and we have a place for everyone.
Paul Clarke
And it's easy sometimes to get caught up in abstract ideas and concepts and goals. But when we look at work on the ground, what kinds of projects is Slow Food actively engaged in that benefit from this kind of support?
Bilal Sarwari
Yeah, we have one program called the Slow Food Farms Campaign, which works to create a network of farmers across the globe to share resources, to provide business training. And it's a newer program for us that we're really excited about. Through the Negroni Week Fund, we are able to send a cohort of, I like to call them scholars, they're professionals in the beverage industry. And we get to send them every year to Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans in the summertime. And it is an amazing experience where they are able to not only gain professional skills, but also connect with other people in the industry. It may be that they weren't able to get there on their own. But it's through this partnership that we're able to send these amazing people every year.
Paul Clarke
I want to get into the educational scholarships in a minute, and we've got plenty to discuss there. Before we do, could we touch upon the global reach of some of this work that's being sponsored through the Negroni Week Fund, through the Innovation Awards? I mean, there are projects in Colombia and Belgium and Uganda being funded.
Bilal Sarwari
That's correct, yes. funding projects all over the world. Through the Innovation Fund, we're able to allow Slow Food members to apply for funding through Slow Food International, where they're able to do work on the ground directly with restaurants, with food producers, with farmers. And that work looks like connecting people to their food, creating markets for people to send their produce, to send their ingredients. And it's through this Negroni Week Fund that we're able to fund and support culturally appropriate programs across the world.
Paul Clarke
And in addition to the global work, Slow Food and the Negroni Week Fund also function here in the US. For folks wondering what kinds of programs this fund benefits that may be available to or recognizable to them, what are we talking about? What kinds of activities is this fund sponsoring in the US?
Bilal Sarwari
I can think of one specifically in the Midwest, where we had an exploration of grain around the Chicago area. Through the Negroni Week Fund, we were able to fund one of the Slow Food chapters in the Midwest in Chicago to get a group of people out to the distilleries and before that to actually see the farms where the grain is grown. So they're starting from seed to spirit all the way at the very end, to see where the product is coming from, who were the people growing it, but then who are the people processing, distilling, and then distributing that to the public.
Paul Clarke
And to be clear, some of these projects, many of these projects directly impact and benefit food and beverage and hospitality workers here in the US. It's actively a part of their work and their career.
Bilal Sarwari
That is correct. And I think you can tell that, wow, the work that I'm doing in my restaurant, or the work that I'm doing at my bar or business actually touches so many different aspects of the industry here in the US, but also in other parts of the world.
Paul Clarke
Okay, let's get to the Education Scholarships because this is where I first met all of you through the Tales of the Cocktail Scholarship last year. And we're now in the second year for this. Danny, you've been directly engaged with putting together the scholarship program. Fill us in. What are these scholarships? Who do they benefit? And how does this thing function?
Danny Childs
Definitely. Thanks so much for having me back again, Paul.
These scholarships are awarded to, first of all, people who embody Slow Foods values of good, clean, and fair. And we are looking for people who are underrepresented or maybe newer to the industry that haven't had a chance to go to some larger events and network and connect with people the way that some industry veterans may have. So we started last year with Tales of the Cocktail. We brought a group of 12 scholarship recipients down there, mostly from the US and Canada. And then in September of last year, we took another group of scholarship recipients. This time I think we had like six or seven different nations represented going to the Terra Madre conference in Turin, Italy, which happens every other year. This is Slow Food’s sort of annual giant gathering of people from all over the globe. And with these individuals, the Tales conference was more people directly in the bartending space. Terra Madre had people that were... We had a coffee farmer from South Sudan, we had an indigenous rice wine maker from the Philippines. We had a wine bar owner from Argentina. So people that were really from different sectors and representations from just the beverage world in general, both from the producer side, the purveyor side, and then also bartenders.
So this year we went back to Tales, we had a little bit more of global reach with our group this year. We had somebody from India, we had somebody from Mexico, and we are getting ready to go to Terra Madre Americas, which will be kind of alternate years with Terra Madre in Italy. So this year it's our turn here in the US. This will be held in Sacramento from September 26th to 28th. And we have 13 individuals, again, from much different... I think we have one bartender in this group, and then the rest represent different professions in the beverage industry from around the world. So, while we're with these people, we are meeting, connecting, I always say this to the groups, it's kind of like two different challenges when we are going to Tales. It's like, all right, how do we inject Slow Food principles into this very beverage focused conference that oftentimes is, you know, giant parties, giant brands, lots of money. How do we stay true to our values and, like, keep that programming intact amidst all the sort of other noise?
With Terra Madre, it's usually more food as a huge umbrella focus. So how do we inject more beverage programming into that and how do we, you know, teach how to take these giant Slow Food principles and incorporate them in our work as beverage professionals? This year at Terra Madre Americas, it's the first time ever that we have just an entire beverage section. So, in addition to myself and my team from Slow Drinks having this Slow Drink cocktail bar and Negroni Week having their Negroni Week cocktail bar. It'll actually be falling during Negroni Week. We also have three days worth of beverage programming so, we have people from coffee and wine and cacao and agave spirits and mixology and sort of everything in between there talking about how they take slow principles and use them in what they do and, and kind of to educate people who might not be quite as familiar. So this conference in particular, it's going to be really much easier to have our, our cohort connect with what this slow beverage or slow drinks movement looks like on a global scale.
Paul Clarke
Okay--After your experience from last year and from putting together this year's cohorts, what did you learn from all of this? What’s useful for continuing the program and where would you like to see it continue to grow for next year and beyond?
Danny Childs
I think that it's, it's never a one-size-fits-all approach. Every group is entirely different. Every individual has their own set of things that they want to learn and take away from these conferences. So I think putting structure but also maintaining a lot of room for individuals to get as much out of it on a personal level as they can and professional level. And so, and I think just like knowing that, you know, every day we have a few moments of punctuation that we come together and we sort of use like our group hive mind to say, we, we obviously all can't be everywhere at once. So at the, at the beginning of each day and the end of each day coming together and saying, what did you, where did you go today? What did you learn? And everybody sort of sharing their experience. It sort of creates this like collective knowledge that we all take and leave with. That's stronger. The sum of all its parts, I guess you could say.
Paul Clarke
Now I could ask you about what's the experience of being one of the scholarship recipients and what kind of benefit that may have. But I'm saving that question for Hansel because Hansel, that's where I met you in 2024 at the Tales of the Cocktail. You were part of that cohort. You're a bartender, bar manager in Austin, Texas. Why did you first reach out to get involved with this program? What kind of interest did you have in it?
Hansel Morales
Yeah, thank you. And thank you for having me once again. I first heard about the Slow Food and Negroni Week Fund through an Instagram ad, actually. And I had been loosely aware of Slow Food before. I was kind of in the train of like farm to glass ideas and like really working directly with farmers to try to curate my drinks. At the time, I was running a tasting menu bar program. So I got to work very closely with chefs, with farmers, and be able to really get to know the people producing the products that eventually became my drinks. So this felt like an opportunity to dive deeper, kind of see where other ideas are and kind of how I can be challenged myself to think of my own approach in a larger scale.
Paul Clarke
What was your experience like during that week in New Orleans with the other recipients in the cohort? What was it like to get together with other folks from around the country and kind of, you know, share experiences and go through that process together?
Hansel Morales
It was insanely impactful. You know, I got to meet a lot of people from different parts of the country, people who had very different ideas. And to Danny's point, the group was curated in a very interesting way where we kind of all immediately fell together and aligned in really meaningful ways, but all came from very different backgrounds and had different ideas and specialties. And also being at Tales of the Cocktail, it was my first time there. And I really saw that idea of, like, now trying to inject Slow Food and slow drinks values into this massive event where you have large brands and you have all of these ideas and parties.
And also seeing people bring these ideas of sustainability, equitable treatment, and taking care of ourselves and our environment at the same time. It was a very interesting juxtaposition of ideas.
Paul Clarke
Now, it's been a year since that experience. You came back to Tales of the Cocktail this year. You came out to the farmer's market with this year's cohort. How has your experience as a scholarship recipient contributed to your work this past year? Where do you see it playing a role in your life and in your career today?
Hansel Morales
I think it opened a lot of doors for me. I had never been to any larger or, like, national-scale conference or event. So, yeah, it allowed me the opportunity to meet a lot of really cool people. Danny, Bilal, and yourself definitely included in that. It gave me the opportunity to explore my ideas further and really see what it is that we can do with this. Personally, it brought me a lot of career advancement. I was able to understand my place in the larger bartending scene and be able to use that to move forward in my career, but also gave me kind of a more solid base to stand on. I had some ideas of kind of where I could push my own ideas of sustainability and working with farmers, but being able to hear more about slow drinks, talk to Danny, push me further into what does the future look like? For this industry, and how can I contribute to that? I think the relationships that are forged through this experience have been people who keep me inspired and accountable and moving forward in ways that I didn't even expect when I first joined.
Paul Clarke
Now, I gotta ask, are you participating in Negroni Week this year? And if so, what do you have planned?
Hansel Morales
I am participating, yeah. I'm in a Southeast Asian restaurant now, so I'm doing a little bit more of a almost curry-esque leaning into the baking spice elements that a Negroni can have and just having fun with it. I really like how simple of a build a Negroni is, but how big of a story you can tell when you curate every single one of those ingredients. And how, in a single class, you're able to also pull people, like, "Here's our Negroni," but "Here's also a larger history of farming," and we can talk about that, but we don't have to engage. Allowing people to walk through the door at their own pace.
Paul Clarke
We're getting near the finish line here. As we look at this year's Negroni Week and at the work this project benefits, what should we keep in mind, and how can folks, can listeners, continue to support this kind of work?
Bilal Sarwari
This year, the way you can support is by visiting the Negroni Week website and seeing which restaurants in your area are participating, and that means that they've already donated to the cause. But a lot of times, these restaurants are taking proceeds from every Negroni sold and putting it into the movement and putting it into the fund. So, if you're curious, check out the map and find the restaurants in your area that are participating. Negroni Week not only happens in the United States, but all over the world.
Paul Clarke
Absolutely. We have thousands of bars that participate every year. I believe in 2024, we had something around 12,000.
Bilal Sarwari
That's right. It just keeps getting bigger every year. So, absolutely, go to NegroniWeek.com to find out more information.
Paul Clarke
Bilal, Danny, Hansel, thanks so much for being on the podcast and for the generosity of your time. And I'm looking forward to crossing paths with each of you, again, hopefully soon.
Bilal Sarwari
Absolutely.
Danny Childs
Thank you, Paul.
Hansel Morales
Yeah. Thanks so much.
Bilal Sarwari
Thank you.
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Paul Clarke
Head online to NegroniWeek.com to find participating venues near you and to learn more about the Slow Food Negroni Week Fund. We've got that link for you in this episode's notes. Thanks, as always, for all of your support during Negroni Week.
And that's it for this episode. Subscribe to Radio Imbibe on your favorite podcast app to keep up with all our future episodes. We've got plenty of articles and recipes for you online at imbibemagazine.com. Keep up with us day-to-day on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and Threads. And if you're not already a subscriber to the print and/or digital issues of Imbibe, then let's get you on board. Just follow the link in this episode's notes and we'll be happy to help you out. I'm Paul Clarke. This is Radio Imbibe. Catch you next time.