Meet the people behind Slow Food Lake Tahoe ...
POLLY TRIPLAT - CHAPTER LEAD
BOARD MEMBER SINCE MAY 2011
Polly has been a Massage Therapist and Healer in the Tahoe area for over 20 years. She moved to Truckee from Tahoe City in 2009, where she has been creating a High Sierra Homestead, Truckee River Sanctuary with her husband Don Triplat. Together they offer community education and awareness about high altitude gardening, raising poultry, native landscape design, and personal growth exploring nature based consciousness and spirituality. As a Leader in the Slow Food Lake Tahoe chapter, Polly strives to collaborate with schools, local organizations and farmers to inspire food advocacy and increase the availability of local healthy food for everyone. She is passionate about creating a more sustainable resilient community where we respectfully connect to the natural world. Polly has a private healing practice Bodywise Massage, located at Truckee River Sanctuary and offers Earthspirit Wilderness Quests throughout the Sierra's.
JESSIE PHILLIPS - PR/COMMUNICATIONS LEAD
BOARD MEMBER SINCE MAY 2011
Jessie Phillips has been enjoying summers in Lake Tahoe with her family for over 25 years. Before deciding to become a full time resident of Glenshire in Spring 2010, she was working as an artisan baker and small events caterer in Santa Cruz, where she was very active in the Slow Food and Organic farming communities. Through her passion for organic, local, sustainable food, Jessie has helped bring Truckee/Tahoe community members together through the Truckee Tahoe Food Swap, providing a simple way to get back to basics: making, sharing, and enjoying food that is wholesome, homemade and REAL. As PR/Communications Lead for the Board, Jessie is reponsible for local resource gathering and information distribution. As a FOOD SOVEREIGNTY advocate, Jessie hopes to play a key role in creating a healthy, thriving local food system in our area, through events, education, and food policy advocacy.
KEVIN DRAKE - MEMBERSHIP LEAD
BOARD MEMBER SINCE MAY 2011
Kevin Drake has lived in N. Lake Tahoe since 2004 with his wife Sue. Kevin is committed to building resilient local food systems and creating opportunities to celebrate local food culture in north Tahoe/Truckee. Some of the experiences that have shaped his interest in food systems include interning on an organic farm, helping launch a student-run café focused on local/seasonal food, and managing a food waste recovery/composting project at a large airport. Kevin is a veteran homebrewer, craft beer “evangelist” and co-founder of Alibi Ale Works, a start-up brewery in Kings Beach. As Membership Lead for the Board, Kevin is responsible for keeping existing members engaged and expanding participation in our organization. Kevin is also part-owner of Tahoe City-based Integrated Environmental Restoration Services where he focuses on improving the effectiveness of watershed management restoration practices in our region.
SUSIE SUTPHIN - CHAPTER CO-LEAD
BOARD MEMBER SINCE FEBRUARY 2012
Susie is a 13-year, Truckee resident who has been researching sustainable food systems through her blog Food Lust. She hopes to make Tahoe and the greater Sierra Nevada more food-focused. Prior to her food quest she was the tour manager for the Wild & Scenic Film Festival which used the power of environmental film to inspire activism. The films inspired her to explore building a smarter, more equitable food system. As part of her food system research, she is exploring 4-season growing techniques in our mountain community using Growing Domes and developing a regional food system for North Lake Tahoe through her non-profit organization, the Tahoe Food Hub. A regional food system will help the Tahoe area take advantage of its close proximity to year-round food within 150 miles, creating an economic opportunity for small-scale, ecological growers and bringing healthy, seasonal food to the Tahoe community.
ELSA CORRIGAN - CHEF LIAISON LEAD
BOARD MEMBER SINCE JULY 2012
Elsa Corrigan started coming to Tahoe on ski trips with her family when she was 6 years old. She fell in love with the mountain experience and cooking and has lived in the North Lake Tahoe area most of the time since 1987. A graduate of the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, Elsa’s exposure to the concepts of seasonality, organic and sustainable were deaply rooted in her early professional cooking experiences in San Francisco and Napa Valley. Elsa returned to the Tahoe area to open Mamasake in the Village at Squaw in 2003. Mamasake has always sourced its
fish from an ecofriendly provider, purchaced organic and regionally grown vegetables and grains
and uses antibiotic and hormone free meats. Due to these efforts Mamasake received an award as a
buisness leader in sustainable practices from Keep the Sierra Green. Elsa’s goal is to work with the
community, restaurants and other businesses to lessen waste, recyle more efficiently and make
composting easier.
fish from an ecofriendly provider, purchaced organic and regionally grown vegetables and grains
and uses antibiotic and hormone free meats. Due to these efforts Mamasake received an award as a
buisness leader in sustainable practices from Keep the Sierra Green. Elsa’s goal is to work with the
community, restaurants and other businesses to lessen waste, recyle more efficiently and make
composting easier.
TAYLOR WOOD - FOOD POLICY COUNCIL LEAD
BOARD MEMBER SINCE JANUARY 2013
Taylor Wood grew up down the road in Elko, Nevada and came to Tahoe via Chicago, Eugene, Flagstaff, and then Maine. Luckily, in those travels she was exposed to many diverse and vibrant food communities. It was a work filled summer on a small organic farm in Maine that finally convinced her that this was not a fleeting interest. Since settling in Tahoe, she has been working with Susie to help out with the Tahoe Food Hub and now participating as a board member to chair our new Tahoe-area Food Policy Council. During the day, Taylor is on the Ski Patrol at Squaw Valley and a Backcountry Ranger in the Sierras. In her free time, Taylor enjoys baking, knitting and running, sharing delicious food with friends, and spending time with her dog, Oxbow, and niece, Ruby.
