Slow Food

Slow Foodis an organization that promoteslocal foodand traditional cooking. It was founded byCarlo Petriniin Italy in 1986 and has since spread worldwide. Promoted as an alternative tofast food, it strives to preserve traditional and regionalcuisineand encourages farming ofplants,seeds, and livestock characteristic of the localecosystem. It promotes localsmall businessesandsustainablefoods. It also focuses on food quality, rather than quantity.It was the first established part of the broaderslow movement. It speaks out againstoverproductionandfood waste.It seesglobalizationas a process in which small and local farmers and food producers should be simultaneously protected from and included in the globalfood system.
Slow Food began in Italy with the founding of its forerunner organization, Arcigola, in 1986to resist the opening of aMcDonald'snear theSpanish Stepsin Rome.In 1989, the founding manifesto of the international Slow Food movement was signed in Paris, France, by delegates from 15 countries.
At its heart is the aim to promote local foods and traditional gastronomy and food production. Conversely, this means an opposition tofast foodand industrial food production.
The Slow Food organisation has expanded to include over 100,000 members, with branches in over 150 countries.Over 1,300 localconviviachapters exist. About 360 convivia in Italy—to which the namecondotta(singular) /condotte(plural) applies—are composed of 35,000 members, along with 450 other regional chapters around the world. The organisational structure is decentralised: each convivium has a leader who is responsible for promoting local artisans, local farmers, and local flavors through regional events such asTaste Workshops,wine tastings, andfarmers' markets.
Offices have been opened inSwitzerland(1995),Germany(1998),New York City(2000),France(2003),Japan(2005), theUnited Kingdom, andChile. Global headquarters are located inBra, nearTurin, Italy. Numerous publications are put out by the organisation, in several languages around the world. Recent efforts at publicity include the world's largest food and wine fair, theSalone del Gustoin Turin, a biennial cheese fair in Bra called Cheese, theGenoanfish festival called SlowFish, and Turin'sTerra Madre("Mother Earth") world meeting of food communities.
In 2004, Slow Food opened aUniversity of Gastronomic SciencesatPollenzo, inPiedmont, andColorno, inEmilia-Romagna, Italy. The Colorno branch has since been closed and transferred to Pollenzo. Carlo Petrini andMassimo Montanariare the leading figures in the creation of the university, whose goal is to promote awareness of good food andnutrition.
Slow Food incorporates a series of objectives within its mission, including:
Founder and president Carlo Petrini believes that "everyone has the right to good, clean, and fair food":good, meaning a high quality product with a flavorful taste;clean, meaning thenaturalnessin the way the product was produced and transported;fair, meaning adequate pricing and treatment for both the consumers and producers.
Slow Food Nation was an event organized bySlow Food USA, which celebratesslowandsustainablefoods. Slow Food Nation attracted an estimated audience of more than 50,000 people.Held over theLabor Dayweekend from August 29 to September 1, 2008, the majority of the event took place in eitherSan Francisco'sCivic CenterandFort Mason Center. Slow Food Nation's founder is influentialchefand authorAlice Waters. In addition to a specially-created "victory garden" in front ofSan Francisco City Hall, a marketplace, tastings,and other events, Slow Food Nation featured panels led by food scholars such asMichael PollanandEric Schlosser, as well as the founder of Slow Food,Carlo Petrini.
In 2008, Slow Food USA hosted its largest gathering to date dubbedSlow Food NationinSan Francisco.The event reconvened in 2017 as Slow Food Nations, the stateside equivalent toTerra Madre Salone del Gusto, and was held inDenver, Colorado. The event is scheduled to continue in 2018.
As of 2013, Slow Food USA has a membership of roughly 12,000, down from over 30,000 in 2008.In 2011, the organization was forced to make a series of staff layoffs and reductions and had faced a significant reduction in their income from wealthy supporters. This was partly attributed to the economic recession, but also to disagreements within the movement and a loss of several key personalities.
As of 2024, Slow Food USA has 200 chapters,down from 225 chapters in 2011.These are locally based and governed 501(c)3 non-profit organizations that hold events and education outreach programs that benefit their communities while carrying out the message of the slow food movement and advancing the local environmental movement. The movement also encourages the creation of urban gardens.
Beyond the chapters established within the cities in the United States, a number of universities are becoming recognised by Slow Food USA, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Slow Food-University of Wisconsin has five projects that are dedicated to the movement's efforts, including a Family Dinner Night, weekly café, and a Farm to University scheme. From then, 46 Slow Food chapters have been established on campuses of higher education.
Notable members includeAlice Waters,Eric Schlosser,Pamela Sheldon Johns, Fabrizio Facchini andMichael Pollan. As of 2021, the executive director is Anna Mulé.
In October 2014, the organization formed an initial 15-month partnership with fast-food chainChipotle Mexican Grill, which had the company funding $500,000 toward Slow Food USA's National School Garden Program; 100school gardensin different cities across the US would be funded in an effort to teach children where food comes from and how food is grown.
Slow Food UK works to raise strategic awareness aboutsustainabilityand social justice issues surrounding food and farming in Britain. In 2014, Slow Food UK devolved into Slow Food England, Slow Food Scotland, Slow Food Cymru, and Slow Food Northern Ireland. Slow Food UK as an entity provides administrative support to those nations and local groups, and the Slow Food UK Board is now made up of directors from the nations (Shane Holland, Chair & Director for England; John Cooke, Director for Scotland; Illtud Dunsford, Director for Wales; and Paula McIntyre, Director for Slow Food Northern Ireland).  The numerous local groups are led by Slow Food members, who take significant grassroots action in their local communities. The many notable Slow Food UK members and supporters includeRaymond BlancandJamie Oliver.
Some of the local groups are very large, such as Slow Food London, and run programmes such as the Slow Food Global Schools Twinning Programme, which are more akin to the work of a national office. Slow Food London is also the major campaigning Slow Food body within the UK, responding to every local, national, and European consultation on food,fisheries, and agriculture, and has even been a co-signatory in judicial review against the UK government in regards to food and farming, retaining a leading firm of solicitorspro bonoon an ongoing basis.
Besides running national education programmes, such as Slow Food Kids, and Slow Food on Campus, Slow Food UK National Office co-ordinates fights to preserve British culinary heritage through the Chef Alliance and Forgotten Foods programmes (UK Ark of Taste).The Chef Alliance is a network of chefs committed to protecting Britain's edible biodiversity by cooking with Forgotten Foods, or foods that are produced on a very small scale and are being lost due to commercial varieties overtaking the market.The Forgotten Foods programme is part of the Slow Food InternationalArk of Taste. In 2014, the Chef Alliance had over 100 members, and now over 150 Forgotten Foods are recognized.
The Australian slow food movement aims to increase community awareness of the value from farm to market of good, clean, local food.A campaign is being mountedto have included in Slow Food International'sArk of Taste(nationally nominated threatened produce and food products) the following Australian foods:Kangaroo Island's Ligurian bee honey, the Queensland-nativebunya nut, bull-boar sausage from Victoria, and Tasmanian leatherwood honey.
In the Netherlands especially theSlow Food Youth Network (SFYN)is very active. SFYN is a worldwide network of young people creating a better future through food. SFYN believes that they, as young people, must play an important role in the future of food production and consumption. That is why they bring young consumers, producers, farmers, chefs and students closer together. In the Netherlands they do this through eat-ins, tastings, events such as World Disco Soup Day, the talkshow Als Warme Broodjes, campaigns such as food education and projects such as the SFYN Academy.
In 2005, British-born Latvian chefMārtiņš Rītiņšbecame the president of the newly-founded Latvian Slow Food Association, which has been organizing slow food festivals in cities across Latvia with cooking demonstrations by Rītiņš and other chefs, tastings by local organic producers and cultural handicrafts (such as fine silverjewellery,beeswaxcandles, leather books,potteryandhempclothing) by localartisans.
In 2010, Slow Food International began its independent Slow Wine project with the release of a wine guide.Prior to 2010, Slow Food Worked with publisherGambero Rossoto release a guide.The first edition of Slow Food's first solo effort was released in 1993, with the title "Slow Food guide to the wines of the world", translated into five languages and sold in more than 50,000 copies.The guide was an attempt to review not only the wines, but also the wineries and the people behind the bottle.Two editions of the guide have been published, also available in English.
Eco-gastronomy encompasses the Slow Food movement within a broader context. Eco-gastronomy is concerned with environmental sensitivity, biodiversity, and sustainable agriculture. In relation to the Slow Food movement, gastronomic knowledge is closely related to distinct biodiversity within different cultures around the world. Utilizing this knowledge allows for it to be used and defended.
In 2000, the Slow Food Presidia project was launched. The goal of the project was to protect and relaunch local and traditional agriculture at risk of extinction. Today, Slow Food Presidia includes communities that are committed to passing on traditional production techniques and crafts as well as preserving native food and livestock breeds.Each Presidium represents a community of producers inspired by the slow food philosophy, a traditional food product, a place, and cultural heritage and a legacy of knowledge. The Presidia Project represents a shift from cataloging information to implementing the knowledge through the direct involvement of food producers.
Slow Food's aims have been compared to theArts and Crafts movement's response to 19th-century industrialisation.Some of the criticisms aimed at the movement aresocioeconomic. For example, without significantly altering the working day of the masses, slow food preparation can be an additional burden to whoever prepares food.In contrast, the more affluent society can afford the time and expense of developing "taste", "knowledge", and "discernment". Slow Food's stated aim of preserving itself from the "contagion of the multitude" can be seen aselitistby those that consume fast food or are not part of the movement.In 1989, Petrini visitedVenezuelaand began to recognize the socioeconomic barriers that many faced with regard to the slow food movement. To address this, he adjusted the slow food agenda to include an alternative food approach that favored healthy, local, community-based food consumption and production.While this made the slow food movement more accessible for many, it did not eliminate all of the socioeconomic barriers faced within the movement.