You can't find a more intimate relationship between humans, food and nature than fishing, says Michele Mesmain, international coordinator of Slow Fish, a seafood spinoff of the Italy-based Slow Food movement. Think of all the thousands of boats at sea, catching wild creatures to haul back to shore and eat. "It's our last source of widely eaten, truly wild food," she says.

Held every odd-numbered year in Genoa, Slow Fish attracts about 50,000 chefs, fishers, scholars, activists and eaters to promote small-scale fishing, marine biodiversity, cooking and eating neglected seafood species. This year, organizers added a U.S. event — in New Orleans — to highlight fisheries in the Americas and threats to Louisiana's vanishing independent fishermen.

The New Orleans event was born last year when New Orleans Slow Food chair Gary Granata and Carmo restaurateurs Dana and Christina Honn presented in Genoa. Granata says he spoke about Louisiana's coast washing away due to erosion, "and Dana and Christina cooked Louisiana seafood in sauce piquant, and we said: 'Come to New Orleans!'"

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