Whoa, how about this heat? Come on, Delta breezes. And thinking of the Delta, it will be the setting May 31 for an ambitious day of culinary-related field trips and a concluding dinner to highlight seasonal ingredients of the greater Sacramento area, in this instance Sacramento, Placer, Solano and Yolo counties.

Called "Slow Down on the Delta," the event is being coordinated by the Slow Food convivia of the four counties. Slow Food is an international movement meant to encourage agricultural biodiversity and intimacy between farmers and consumers.

One tour will focus on California Vegetable Specialties in Rio Vista, the only producer of endive in the United States. Another will be a boat tour on the sloughs about Sutter Island to explore the area's early human history, reclamation projects and the like. A third will involve a trek about Tim Neuharth's 300-acre organic pear orchard on Sutter Island. Details on these and other tours, and the dinner, are at the event's Web site.

The chefs to conduct that night's dinner - Patrick Mulvaney of Mulvaney Building & Loan in Sacramento, Molly Hawks and Michael Fagnoni of Hawks in Granite Bay, Daniel Bell of Chef to Go Catering in Vacaville, and Pru Mendez of Tucos Wine Market and Cafe in Davis - are rounding up local seasonal provisions for the menu, which also is to include regional wines. The dinner will be at Vino Farms, 51375 S. Netherlands Road, Clarksburg. Tickets are $85 per person for the general public, $75 for Slow Food members.