Chris Capron, chef at Weaver Street Market and Panzanella in Carrboro, raved about the green garlic and tender collard greens that Cathy Jones of Perry-Winkle Farm in Chatham County grew to fill the ravioli-like pasta. Jones thought Capron's creation was gorgeous.

About 40 chefs and farmers spread across the pasture at Chapel Hill Creamery last week to celebrate the things that happen when great local products meet food fans. Organizers of the Farm to Fork Picnic matched farmers and chefs to show off the local bounty. More than 300 people showed up to eat the results.

The picnic also honored Carlo Petrini, the founder and head of Slow Food, who made the Triangle one of six stops on his current U.S. trip.

Chef Andrea Reusing of Chapel Hill's Lantern restaurant matched the farmers and chefs. Reusing is the head of Slow Food Triangle, which sponsored the picnic along with the Center for Environmental Farming Systems, a group that supports and develops sustainable farms, and South Eastern Efforts Developing Sustainable Spaces.

Petrini's lecture in Raleigh last week drew more than 800 people, according to organizers.

The picnic also was a kickoff for Eat Local Triangle, a month of events to make consumers aware of connections between locally grown foods and better flavor, economic opportunities and preservation of farmland.

Petrini arrived looking forward to North Carolina food. There was plenty of Tar Heel pork: from Eastern-style barbecue by Ben Barker of Magnolia Grill in Durham to cooks from Lantern, who took the old adage "use every part of a pig but the squeal" seriously. They turned Fickle Creek Farm pork into dishes including pickled pig's ear salad. They also prepared cabrito -- spicy roast goat with a tomatillo sauce atop homemade tortillas.

Petrini's new book, "Slow Food Nation: Why Our Food Should Be Good, Clean and Fair" (Rizzoli, $22.50), says that consumers should consider themselves "co-producers" and be mindful of the effects their food choices have on the world. He urges that food be produced in ways sustainable to the environment, that it be healthful and delicious, and that it be produced with fairness to those who create and harvest it.

Through an interpreter, Petrini said at the picnic that he wanted to visit North Carolina because the Triangle has one of the oldest Slow Food convivia, or chapters, in the United States. Many farmers from the state also have participated in Terra Madre, a Slow Food-sponsored meeting of farmers, chefs and educators from around the world in Turin, Italy.

Petrini was pleased to see the growth in the Triangle's small farms since his last visit nine years ago. He thinks the recent attention on global warming has drawn more popular interest in sustainable agriculture and small local farms. For example, eating locally reduces the need to transport food long distances and burn fuel.

People are also realizing that individual choices can make a global difference.

"It's a historic moment," he said. "Also with the problems around climate change, people feel more responsible."

Who benefits, and how?

To bring sustainably grown, good-tasting local food to more people in North Carolina and the U.S., farmers need to be paid well enough to grow it, Petrini said, and consumers need to understand more about their food.

"The problem in the United States is not the expense," he said. "The problem is that food in general is too cheap. It's the expectation level."

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