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.

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