TastingTable: A Most Delicious Demonstration

A few women arrived in Chicago's Daley Plaza dressed like ears of corn. Others wore tall paper toques scribbled with messages like "You can raise chickens in the city: Ask me how."

Odd? Not at a Slow Food event. This nonprofit has long promoted the pleasures of the table. And on Labor Day, Slow Food USA will lobby for them at nearly 300 "eat-ins" held across the country.

Like the Chicago event, the organization's Time For Lunch happenings–part potlucks, part sit-ins–aim specifically to rally awareness about the state of the school lunch.

Slow Food wants Washington to allocate $1 more per student per day for lunch–enough money, the organization says, to transform that greasy pizza into a seasonal tomato salad. The group also wants Congress to establish stricter nutritional standards and fund farm-to-school programs and school gardens.

There will be at least one eat-in held in each of the 50 states. (Can't find one near you? Find out how to organize your own here.) To prove its point, Slow Food will be serving plenty of great food at each event. Costumes, though, are optional.