page_title: Eco-gastronomy
section_title: Connections with the Slow Food movement
hierarchical_section_title: Eco-gastronomy / Connections with the Slow Food movement
caption_attribution_description: A sign outside the well known restaurant "1800" at Oia of Santorini, Greece...
context_page_description: Eco-gastronomy is an approach to alternative consumption that stresses the importance of the interaction between humans and food and the effect produced by that. It aims to get a healthier and more sustainable food and, at the same time, to reduce the impact on the environment, from the productive and the consumptive side.
context_section_description: The concept indeed is strictly related to that one of Slow Food. In fact, the term eco-gastronomy was coined by the non-profit organization's founder, Carlo Petrini. While the latter can be defined as a movement, eco-gastronomy has broader and wider connotations: rather than a simple movement, it is an approach that can be adopted in order to fulfill some form of alternative consumption.
  The Slow food movement is a perfect example of a form of critical consumption that has adopted, throughout the years, an eco-gastronomic approach.
  Indeed, while in the early stages, the concept of sustainability, that is crucial to eco-gastronomy, was not greatly contemplated by the Slow Food movement, in the last years SF seems to have shifted focus from the safeguard of typical foods to the safeguard of their cultural and environmental premises. The emphasis has been especially put on biodiversity, sustainable agriculture and responsible consumption.
  In 2005, Carlo Petrini provided a theoretical perspective of eco-gastronomy stating that "agriculture and ecology are part of gastronomy because they help us understand where our food comes from and produce it in the best possible way – by simultaneously observing the principles of taste, respect for the environment and biodiversity" 
  Nowadays, Slow Food  is no more only about paying attention to the quality of food and the pleasure of eating. 
  Food thus must be produced according to  ecological methods, free from pesticides and artificial fertilizer. Clean is an essential quality in the food people eat, but the concept is also concerned in the landscape where the food is produced.
  As Petrini continues:
  "If you love food but aren't environmentally aware you're at best naïve, and at worst, stupid. But an ecologist who is not a gourmet is ... well, he's just boring" 
  (Petrini 2007 : 68)
caption: Slow Food
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