This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Aethelfirth (talk | contribs) at 15:42, 6 September 2012 (→See also). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Revision as of 15:42, 6 September 2012 by Aethelfirth (talk | contribs) (→See also)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) | This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Slow Food" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
 | |
| Formation | 1986 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Bra, Italy |
| Membership | 100,000 |
| President | Carlo Petrini |
| Website | slowfood.com |
Slow Food is an international movement founded by Carlo Petrini in 1986. Promoted as an alternative to fast food, it strives to preserve traditional and regional cuisine and encourages farming of plants, seeds and livestock characteristic of the local ecosystem. It was the first established part of the broader Slow movement. The movement has since expanded globally to over 100,000 members in 150 countries. Its goals of sustainable foods and promotion of local small businesses are paralleled by a political agenda directed against globalization of agricultural products.
Slow Food organization
Slow Food began in Italy with the founding of its forerunner organization, Arcigola, in 1986 to resist the opening of a McDonald's near the Spanish Steps in Rome. In 1989, the founding Manifesto of the international Slow Food movement was signed in Paris, France by delegates from 15 countries. This was done not in part to protest against the restaurant chain, and primarily to protest against big international business interests.
The Slow Food organization spawned by the movement has expanded to include over 100,000 members with chapters in over 150 countries. All totaled, 800 local convivia chapters exist. 360 convivia in Italy — to which the name condotta (singular) / condotte (plural) applies — are composed of 35,000 members, along with 450 other regional chapters around the world. The organizational structure is decentralized: each convivium has a leader who is responsible for promoting local artisans, local farmers, and local flavors through regional events such as Taste Workshops, wine tastings, and farmers' markets.
Offices have been opened in Switzerland (1995), Germany (1998), New York City (2000), France (2003), Japan (2005), and most recently in the United Kingdom and Chile. The head offices are located in Bra, near the famous city of Turin, northern Italy. Numerous publications are put out by the organization, in several languages. In the US, the Snail is the quarterly of choice, while Slow Food puts out literature in several other European nations. Recent efforts at publicity include the world's largest food and wine fair, the Salone del Gusto in Turin, a biennial cheese fair in Bra called Cheese, the Genoan fish festival called SlowFish, and Turin's Terra Madre ("Mother Earth") world meeting of food communities.
In 2004, Slow Food opened a University of Gastronomic Sciences at Pollenzo, in Piedmont, and Colorno, in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Carlo Petrini and Massimo Montanari are the leading figures in the creation of the University, whose goal is to promote awareness of good food and nutrition.
Objectives
The Slow Food movement incorporates a series of objectives within its mission, including:
- forming and sustaining seed banks to preserve heirloom varieties in cooperation with local food systems
- developing an "Ark of Taste" for each ecoregion, where local culinary traditions and foods are celebrated
- preserving and promoting local and traditional food products, along with their lore and preparation
- organizing small-scale processing (including facilities for slaughtering and short run products)
- organizing celebrations of local cuisine within regions (for example, the Feast of Fields held in some cities in Canada)
- promoting "taste education"
- educating consumers about the risks of fast food
- educating citizens about the drawbacks of commercial agribusiness and factory farms
- educating citizens about the risks of monoculture and reliance on too few genomes or varieties
- developing various political programs to preserve family farms
- lobbying for the inclusion of organic farming concerns within agricultural policy
- lobbying against government funding of genetic engineering
- lobbying against the use of pesticides
- teaching gardening skills to students and prisoners
- encouraging ethical buying in local marketplaces
Founder and President Carlo Petrini, believes "everyone has the right to good, clean and fair food." Good, meaning a high quality product with a flavorful taste, clean meaning the naturalness in the way the product was produced and transported and fair, meaning adequate pricing and treatment for both the consumers and producers.
Slow Food USA
As of 2011, Slow Food USA has a membership of roughly 25,000 and more than 250,000 supporters. Notable members include Alice Waters, Eric Schlosser, and Michael Pollan. Slow Food USA is the second largest slow food association. The movement has spread throughout the United States with the aid of college organizations. Notably, Swarthmore College, and Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts Atlanta. The student run Good Food Project have been at the forefront of the Slow Food movement in Philadelphia, which is headed by Swarthmore German Professor Hansjakob Werlen.
Slow Food USA currently has 225 chapters. These are locally based organizations that hold events and education outreach programs that benefit their communities while carrying out the message of the slow food and advancing the local environmental movement.
In 2008, Slow Food USA planned to host its largest gathering to date at the inaugural Slow Food Nation in San Francisco, founded by Alice Waters.
Beyond the chapters established within the cities in the United States there are a number of Universities that are becoming recognized by Slow Food USA, including the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Slow Food-University of Wisconsin has five projects that are dedicated to the movement's efforts, including a Family Dinner Night, weekly cafe and a Farm to University scheme. From then there have been 46 Slow Food chapters established on campuses of higher education.
Slow Food UK
Slow Food UK's head office is based in Covent Garden London (previously based in the small town of Ludlow, Shropshire.) Slow Food has regional groups all over the UK, that are run by Slow Food members.
In 2009 it was estimated there were 3,300 paid-up members of Slow Food UK.
Slow Food Australia
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 mounted to have included in Slow Food International's Ark of Taste (nationally nominated threatened produce and food products) the following Australian foods: Kangaroo Island's Ligurian bee honey, the Queensland-native bunya nut, bull-boar sausage from Victoria and Tasmanian Leatherwood honey.
See also
- Slow Tea
- Slow Money
- Ark of Taste
- Cittaslow
- Good Food March
- Local food
- Low carbon diet
- Retail concentration
- Slow design
- Slow Movement
- Terra Madre
- Declaration for Healthy Food and Agriculture
References
- Slow Food International - Good, Clean and Fair Food. Web. 16 Nov. 2011. http://www.slowfood.com.
- Slow Food History "Bra, Serralunga d'Alba and Barolo, Italy". History. Slow Food. Retrieved 2007-03-04.
{{cite web}}: Check|url=value (help) - "Paris, France". History. Slow Food. Retrieved 2010-09-18.
- Slow Food International - Good, Clean and Fair Food. Web. 16 Nov. 2011. http://www.slowfood.com.
- "University of Gastronomic Science". Archived from the original on 2007-02-28. Retrieved 2007-03-04.
- Andrews, Geoff. "The Slow Food Story." Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2008.
- ^ "Slow Food USA". Retrieved December 5, 2011.
- Craig LaBan (June 3, 2010). "Taste-testing the Philly region's best beers". Philly.com. Retrieved 2011-12-15.
- Severson, Kim (July 23, 2008). "Slow Food Savors Its Big Moment". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-07-23.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - "Market Baskets". Slow Food UW Madison. Retrieved 2011-12-15.
- "Slow Food on Campus". Slow Food USA. Retrieved 2011-12-12.
- ^ "The slow death of Slow Food UK". The Guardian, Life & Style, Word of Mouth blog. February 19, 2009. Retrieved 2011-11-12.
- "Slow Food Australia". Retrieved 2011-01-15.
- "Letting a Golden Opportunity Slip By". Sydney Morning Herald. 3 August 2009.
Further reading
- "Oxford Companion to Food, Slow Food an Excerpt". Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2007-03-04.
- Geoff Andrews, "The Slow Food Story: Politics and Pleasure" (2008: London, Pluto Press)
- Carlo Petrini, "Slow Food Nation: Why Our Food Should Be Good, Clean, and Fair" (2007: Rizzoli International Publications)
- Carlo Petrini, "Slow Food Revolution: A New Culture for Dining and Living" (2006: Rizzoli International Publications)