SAN FRANCISCO -- Here's a message that might make the nation's foodies splurt their biodynamic cabernet sauvignon all over their microgreen salads with goat cheese croutons.

If Slow Food is to accomplish its ambitious goal -- to persuade Americans to foresake the drive-thru in favor of local, organic food -- it needs to focus less on people who nosh fine prosciutto and more on folks for whom a trip to McDonald's is a splurge.

For some, it will be a harsh realization. After all, the movement owes much of its growing clout to an upper middle class willing to fork over considerable sums for local, organic and other feel-good foods.

But as thousands of people gathered in San Francisco this past Labor Day weekend for Slow Food Nation, the group's first major U.S. event, it was clear that it's time for that old blueprint to land in the compost bin.

Make no mistake, the gathering was a wondrous celebration of all that can be good about food. It's the sort of celebration -- one that was no small feat to pull together -- that all Americans need to see.

Therein lies the rub. Slow Food USA, the American branch of this Italian-born movement, has long suffered under an (often deserved) uber-yuppie rap, creating the impression that quality food is only for the well-to-do.

And Slow Food Nation didn't do a good job dismissing such notions.

The opening 500-person under-the-stars dinner was invitation only for Slow Food organizers and other supporters. Panel discussions of how to help impoverished farm workers were accompanied by a melange of dinners, some well over $100 a plate, and samples of artisanal foods.

Most Slow Food leaders know the future depends on changing this. Authors Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser praised the event, but also reminded those in attendance that people who can't afford their rent aren't likely to care about gourmet glories.

"What concerns me is that lack of focus on human rights, the lack of attention to the people who literally bring you your food," Schlosser said during a forum with other leaders about the future of Slow Food.

"It's not coincidence that all these food workers are among the poorest workers," he said. "I don't really care if the tomato is heirloom and organic and local if it was harvested by slave labor. We need to bring the workers who bring us this food into this movement."

It's tough medicine that's almost a repudiation of Slow Food figurehead Alice Waters. She has worked long and hard to bring all to the table, and taste is her tool of choice. Feed people -- especially children -- good food and they will demand good food.

That philosophy, however, depends on trickle down theory. If enough wealthy people ask for fair trade coffee, organic breads and local produce, mainstream grocers will carry them. Thus we have organics at Wal-Mart.

But the trickle is drying up, a process sped by a global food crisis that has sparked riots and spiked costs. If the Slow Food movement is to progress, it must refocus not on gourmet shoppers -- not even on Wal-Mart shoppers -- but on Wal-Mart workers.

The single mom working multiple part-time jobs to feed her family may love the taste of a local organic Brie, but it's hard to imagine her demanding it when even the price of milk and bread are soaring out of reach.

Slow Food Nation was an opportunity to bring her to the same table as wine-and-cheesers and show that slow food can be done anywhere. It was an opportunity to demonstrate that great food that is good for the earth and to the people who produce it can be had on any budget.

It wasn't.

Without a hint of irony, the event's "budget" workshop explained how to do a dinner party for four for just $50.

There were some steps in the right direction: A splendid garden was planted outside City Hall, just blocks from squalor on the streets. Some events were free and complimentary tickets were passed out. And yes, there were many discussions with and efforts to involve workers' rights groups.

Organizers correctly point out that they needed to start someplace. Schlosser and Pollan not only know what needs to be done, they spent the weekend telling people simple ways to do it.

Plant a garden, Pollan said. "Because then you will need to cook. And if you need to cook, you will want people around you, and all sorts of wonderful things will flow from that."

Schlosser's homework was more intimidating, but almost more important: Go home and invite in people who haven't had a seat at the Slow Food table. "If we can bring them into this movement, this movement ... truly can be a revolutionary movement."

And so, this year Slow Food gets a passing grade. They are trying. But if the next Slow Food Nation resembles yet another wine and cheese party, they will have failed to live up to Gandhi's creed, which organizers so love to quote.

"Be the change you want to see in the world."

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