Richard, Slow Food USA

This is absolutely heart-breaking news. 

Yesterday, when I was getting tote bags and empty egg containers ready to visit my Sunday farmers market, I made the terrible mistake of checking messages on my phone. Why did this news have to be on it? Paolo, thank you for being the bearer of such horribly sad news. As Georges said, “I still cannot believe this is real.” Yes, I feel the same. I went to the market, and then suddenly remembered the news. 

I particularly like Amorelle’s description of Ursula’s “vision and determination to make Slow Food matter.” I, too, remember this about Ursula and am so grateful for her leadership both within Germany (which I had been lucky enough to see in action — even attending the Stuttgart Slow Food Fair) and of course, in the International Executive Committee where Ursula has always pushed Slow Food to be its best, Meetings would always begin with Carlo’s morning speech, followed by a long pregnant pause. He would ask, “Any remarks?” Again, another long pregnant pause. At this point, Ursula was always the first to respond. Never timid and always as if she had spent the entire evening before anticipating Carlo’s presentation, Ursula would respond with everything I would have to have said but so much more. She leaves a huge hole in the leadership of the organization’s international posture. 

She also leaves another huge hole for all of us: In friendship. I was looking forward to so many more years of friendship with Ursula. When I joined the Committee, she took me under her wing, as she did Edie and Joris (as we arrived more or less at similar moments in the Committee’s evolution. For me, I looked forward to each meeting, in part because I would get to spend time with Ursula. At the last Terra Madre Salone del Gusto, I was very concerned about Ursula’s health and spirits. She looked frail, yet insisted that she was putting up a fight in her battle with cancer. 

And while we had spoken since our last meeting in February 2020 in Bra, this was the last time I had spent time with Ursula. I was so greatly relieved to see her. She looked healthy and as though she had that bounce in her step. The attached photo is one that I took of Ursula when we walked from Pollenzo to Bra for a cappuccino (or as she referred to as kinder drinks). She indicated that she wasn’t out of the woods yet, health wise, but I certainly felt that she looked and acted as if her former self had returned. 

My heart goes out to Ursula’s family and to the Slow Food Germany family. We owe a debt of gratitude for Ursula and how she has shaped the head and heart of our international family.