Monday, March 23, 2009

The Slow Food Movement

Marcia Ellison

Section 5

The president of slow food movement is Carlo Petrini, in 1980’s when he chose one of the restaurants in Italy; the restaurant was unclean from the floor to the dishes. He thought food and wine should be prepared in cleaned environments, it should focus on the taste, savory, tradition and simple pleasures that would satisfied the customers. The food shouldn’t be prepared in processing food or anything that can be harmful to our body’s system. The food should be cooked fresh, including the herbs, so the food should be grown without harsh chemicals. There are 31,000 people in Italy and 75,000 people throughout the world are following slow food movement.

To watch a video discussing more about the Slow Food Movement, take a look at the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwnFALSbBME


A Night at the Opera with Slow Food Founder, Carlo Petrini and interpreter Corby Kummer.

Slide 5




The Slow food USA Today, there is more than 10,000 people and still counting. Their goals are to educate the schoolchildren about food choices in fast food and school cafeteria and their parents’ aware preparing food is better choice than fast food (Petrini, 2001).” The website for the United States is www.slowfoodusa.org. The members of Slow food in the U.S., are raising public awareness, encourage the people enjoyment of their foods by supporting the locals farmers and seasonal grown; caring for the land and protecting biodiversity, educated the children and adults, and promoting celebration of food in culture and community. The good food should be enjoyment from healthy plants and animals; the clean food should be grown and harvested on our local ecosystems and promotes biodiversity, and fair food should be accessible to all, and people should be treated with dignity for their labor.

The definitions of slow food are “an alternative to “fast food;” “a descriptive phrase for food that can be traced to its source, esp. food that is produced without chemical and/or other industrial processes;” “a celebration of food traditions, emphasizing seasonal and regional qualities;” “a description of the fundamental human activity of preparing, eating, enjoying, and sharing healthy, flavorful food;” “a global food initiative seeking to counter the industrialized food system’s environmentally and culturally unsustainable methods and their consequences;” “a relationship with food that centers on the values of “good, clean, and fair”: healthy and delicious ingredients, produced with ecologically sound and humane methods, on a fair economic model;” “Any delicious snack or meal, simple or elaborate, from real ingredients” (Heron, 2008). These definitions are very good example how all people should be thinking of preparing and cooking foods. I think in time, the majority of people will understand the chemicals and processing food are harming our bodies.

Here is example when people ordered hamburger, French fries, and cola from fast food chain store, you get a paper cup: full of carbonated water, ice, sugar, corn syrup, food coloring, and “natural flavor;”French Fries: frozen, chemical additives, reheated in hydrogenated vegetable oil, salted, and placed underneath heat lamp; and hamburger: thin, frozen patty which it contain meat from hundreds of different cattle, could be raised different countries, ground together at a distance processing plant, then its reheated on a grill. Also, the pickles and ketchup contain flavor additives in manufactured at high-tech chemical plants in New Jersey Turnpike (Kummer, 2002). This is scary thought to see what these fast food chains contain, and we are putting it in our bodies.

There are five great tools how-to go green in your kitchen: Mortar (heavy bowl) and Pestle (thick baton), these are used to crushed freshly herbs; cast-iron pot, it lasts forever and it will cook everything from meats, eggs, and preparing sauce; food dehydrator, it will preserve fruits, vegetables, and herbs for months; and it will prevents us from uses other than local markets; herb pot, grow own herbs on counter with pot of soil, green because it won’t involved plastic containers; and Terra-Cotta Crock (pot made from clay), its great for cooking beans, soups in the oven, and its green because it goes from oven to fridge (don’t need containers).

The definitions of slow food are explanatory, and fit what slow food movement is all about. I believe if the people spent time in cooking, healthy without processes and added chemicals, we would not see problem in obesity and healthcare. After doing the research on slow food movement, it does make sense. There are problems that need to be iron out for all families to be equal and still have our daily food groups in. The fast food chains should be banned or change their products to something healthier. I don’t see that happen because it created jobs.
There are several good books on slow food and recipes are included in the book. My favorite book is Slow Food: Collected, thoughts on taste, Tradition, and the Honest Pleasures of Food.


Work Cited
Heron, Katrina. Slow Food Nation’s Come To the Table The Slow Food Way of Living. New York: 2008.

Kummer, Corby. The Pleasures of Slow Food Celebrating Authentic Traditions, Flavors, and Recipes. San Francisco: 2002.

Petrini, Carlo. Slow Food. United States: 2001.
Petrini, Carlo. Slow Food The Case for Taste. New York: 2001.
Slow Food USA. http://www.slowfoodusa.org/

Carlo Petrini: A Night at the
Opera
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwnFALSbBME

Interpreter by Corby Kummer

9 comments:

  1. I think that I will go out and get the clay pot to cook those beans. Maybe as people move from fat to slow food, the restaurants can be converted to places where people can learn to cook and watch their food being prepared. It sounds like the bottom line is to slow down the pace of things and enjoy. I guess that means no more homework (only joking), but it would be nice to have a class where each time you came, we would cook a different food and learn about it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I absolutely think it is important for Americans to not eat as much, if any fast food. It is so ingrained in our culture now that it is a tough hole that we are going to have to dig out of. People don't realize, convenience always comes at a price...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cooking is becoming a forgotten art in our society. There is something to be said for the person or family that finds the time and still has the skills to create a well thought and well planned meal. I think our busy schedules is not the only problem that hinders our eating habits, but our laziness as well. It takes effort and planning to hard the appropriate items to execute a truly good meal and all to often people are not willing to go this extra bit when they can just pick up a version of the same meal straight from a preserved box. I think help planning would greatly reduce the dependance of American's on Fast Food.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Pulling your chair up to a home cooked meal is good for the mind and body. Slow down and enjoy the food and actually taste it, don't just inhale it. Im all about a home cooked meal.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is what America needs to hear. Cooking is something that is scarce in American families in todays times and convience is all that we are worried about. I think we should all sit back and remember the times we had sitting around a crowded dinner table with all our family, eating a good home cooked meal. Those were the days!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Slow food is so much better than the fast food we eat these days, but the live style that most of us are living makes it very difficult to adapt to this. I love sushi and there is this sushi bar in Waynesville where this one lady makes sushi by herself and takes time for each and every roll but whether you wait and hour or 30 after you eat it you know it was worth it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I had never heard of the Slow Foods Movement before this class but the concepts behind it are something I have heard a lot of and completely agree with. I wish our society was one that encourgaed a slower paced life style where we could prepare, digest, and enjoy the foods we are eating.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This made me think of the commercials on ABC family talking about family time at the dinner table. Families who eat together are healthier, happier and kids do better in school. I wish that I always had time to eat a homecooked meal rather than fast food, I also wish I had a mother who knew how to cook:) I am actually trying to learn to cook healthy now when I have time so that when/if i eventually have a family of my own I can incorporate a homecooked meal into everyday of the week!

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is a great idea and I hope to see it grow and become stronger! I think the main problem of obesity is our addiction to fast food, so hopefully some slow food will help.

    ReplyDelete