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Slow Food began in
1986 when an Italian journalist visited Rome and saw a brand new
branch of McDonalds at the foot of the Spanish Steps.
Carlo Petrini was horrified. To him, it seemed that a global
takeover of industrialised, standardised fast food was well on the
way - and it could be the beginning of the end for the huge variety
of good, traditional, regional Italian food. He decided that it was
necessary to set up a 'slow food' movement to counteract the
potential for 'fast food' world domination.
What does Slow Food actually do?
The local convivium is the grassroots heart of Slow Food. It
organises a variety of events such as tastings, dinners with a
particular theme, and visits to places of food and drink interest.
It collects information about regional food and drink, whether it be
good shops or restaurants, or food and drink products under threat -
and passes on this information to Slow Food members worldwide.
Conviviality and enjoying yourself are essential features of Slow
Food membership!
Members receive several issues of 'Slow' magazine as part of their
membership each year. The magazine is
superbly produced, with 140 pages of top quality articles,
beautifully illustrated. They also receive local newsletters and
information about forthcoming Slow Food events and activities.
Collectively Slow Food has initiatives ('the Ark of Taste' and the
'Presidia') designed to identify, preserve and protect threatened
food and drink products, rare breeds or species. An example in
Britain is Cheddar cheese hand-made in Somerset from unpasteurised
milk.
Slow Food continues to develop taste education programmes for
children and adults. It also campaigns to sustain quality
agriculture and to maintain the biodiversity of our food supply. It
does not restrict itself to the developed nations and is active in
promoting projects to sustain food production in the world's poorer
countries.
Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity:
75% of European food product diversity has been lost since 1900.
93% of American food product diversity has been lost in the same
time.
33% of livestock varieties have disappeared or are near disappearing.
30,000 vegetable varieties have become extinct in the last century,
and one more is lost every six hours.
The mission of the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity is to
organise and fund projects that defend our world’s heritage of
agricultural biodiversity and gastronomic traditions.
The Foundation's vision is for a new agricultural system that
respects local cultural identities, the earth’s resources,
sustainable animal husbandry, and the health of individual
consumers.
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