Educator, Mentor And Friend Of The Slow Food Movement

I first met Simone Delaty, a native of France, in 1986, when she had recently purchased a small farm in Wellman, Iowa. She owned a small apartment house across the street from where I lived in Iowa City.  She was in the process of restoring the building, and I saw her frequently while visiting my friends that lived there. I later found out (being a French major at the University of Iowa), that she was also head of the French Department, and held a PhD in French Renaissance Art. Always approachable and friendly, Simone often invited us to visit her at the farm, where the tables groaned under the weight of all the marvelous food. Simone was always teaching in her gentle way: the finer points of bread making, good wines and liquers, and her own simple elegance. Simone was (and still is) hospitality personified.

My husband and I were married at the little apartment house later that year, on Halloween. Always the consumate hostess, Simone served canapes in costume, though they were long gone when my husband and I could finally find time to eat.

Time went on, and as our family grew, we moved back to our home state of California. Simone took my beloved orange tiger kitty, Gabi, as her own, and they became good friends. He went from a pampered house cat to an accomplished mouser, and Simone often commented on what good company he was to her.

As our family got even bigger, and there just never seemed to be time to visit the little farm in Iowa, though I often dreamed about it. I went back on my own in 1998 and 1999, and finally with the entire clan in 2001, when Simone shared with us about the Slow Food Movement. I baked bread, made aioli, and sliced tomatoes. My kids gathered eggs, worked in the garden, and fed the animals. It was heaven!

By then, Simone had come into her own as an organic farmer and artisan bread maker, and was doing brisk business hosting pizza dinners in the dining room of her charming farm house. The pizzas, baked in an outdoor brick oven, were all the talk of the local gourmets (and gourmands!).

My kids and I happily served the guests in our barefeet, while my husband watched over the pizzas as they baked in the brick bread oven outside. The conversation was lively, and I think we had as much fun as everyone else.

Simone has gone on to even greater popularity, and we couldn't be happier. We always see ourselves there with her, on the little farm on the hill. Happy Days, indeed!

Click here to find out more about Simone's Plain and Simple, and the Slow Food Movement.

Click here to hear an NPR interview with Simone.