"Make in only ten minutes!"
"Eat on the go!"
"Get out of the kitchen fast!"
These are the kinds of promises designed to sell food—fast food. What kind of a transformation would occur—in our lifestyles, our communities, and the earth—if we changed our relationship with food, if we focused on food as physical and spiritual nourishment? If we savored every bite, eating would no longer be simple refueling. If we considered cooking an art and a source of fulfillment, it would cease to be drudgery. When others cooked for us—or when we picked up quality food at our local co-op —we would be truly grateful. And as we paid attention to the processes that bring food to our tables, we would take care to respect both the land and its farmers. Our approach to what we eat would be the opposite of that promoted by commercial fast-food providers.
These concepts are at the core of the Slow Food Movement, which embraces a love of food and a respect for the environment. An educational and activist organization, the Slow Food Movement was born in 1986 out of concern about how the taste of food becomes standardized by its industrialization. It now has 80,000 members in over 100 countries.
The Slow Food Movement is a back-to-the-kitchen movement that extends to global issues. It includes the person taking the time to knead dough or simmer a homemade soup in her home as well as the one frequenting the local organic restaurant and the lobbyist fighting for the rights of the family farmer. It's built upon an awareness of food as enjoyment, sustenance and unparalleled importance. By approaching our food with awareness, we play a crucial role in its production. In fact, according to SlowFood USA, we are not consumers of food, but co-producers, "because by being informed about how our food is produced and actively supporting those who produce it, we become a part of it and a partner in the production process."
Important issues to the Movement include:
- Environmental sustainability. The Slow Food Movement underlines the risks of agribusiness, factory farms, genetic engineering, monoculture, and pesticides—risks like depletion of the soil, pollution of the air and water, and the loss of family farms and rural communities. Slow Food supports the small family farmer as well as small-scale gardening. (Many chapters have programs that teach children gardening.)
- Good food. Industrial food production does not yield the most nutritious, delicious, or life-enhancing foods. The Slow Food Movement celebrates artisan foods (like beautifully crafted breads and farmstead cheeses) the culinary arts (how to cook, not quickly, but skillfully), and seasonal celebrations of local foods and traditions (like an autumn harvest community potluck and the sharing of heirloom varieties of produce).
- Local foods. Foods that don't travel a long distance from farm to plate are more nutritious and delicious than those that are shipped across the country to the grocer's shelves and our tables. Eating locally produced food respects and supports our communities, the small family farm, traditional ways of growing food, and the concept of seasonal availability.
- Fair food. When we think about how the food that we eat has been produced, we learn to care about fair wages and good living conditions for the farmer and farm workers. Ensuring that no one was exploited in the production of our food is a crucial component to the responsible enjoyment of it.
Whether you're eager to commit to more time in the kitchen or are more likely to switch restaurants in order to enjoy slow food, there are plenty of opportunities to become part of the movement:
- Buy local food. Food cooperatives have long supported local food producers. Farmer's markets are another excellent source. Get to know your local farmers and support their endeavors.
- Support restaurants that purchase local food and that celebrate local traditions.
- Pay more for quality food, if necessary. Sometimes it costs more to produce food that isn't commercialized. Be willing to invest in the cause.
- Host a community potluck or dinner in celebration of good foods.
- Support your local food cooperative, where you'll find healthful choices as well as opportunities to explore food issues.
- Grow some of your own food -- whether in a container on your back steps or on your acreage. Teach your children—and/or neighborhood children—to garden.
- Look into the history of the food you eat; make sure all the people involved in producing it were treated fairly.
- Take classes. Learn to cook healthful fare and/or local cuisine, how to bake bread, grow spring greens, or can pickles or preserves.
- Learn more about the Slow Food Movement. Visit:
- Join a Slow Food Group, or start your own. Local chapters of Slow Food exist across the country, and they hold tastings, dinners, potlucks and other events. They support local gardeners and farmers and are also involved in national and international issues of importance to food producers. Your food cooperative is a good place to meet fellow Slow Food members.
- Commit to at least one leisurely, enjoyable meal each day—whether it's at the family dinner table or a community potluck. Eat thoughtfully and appreciatively.
Once we change our relationship with food, it's easy to incorporate the same kind of changes in other aspects of our day. We learn to appreciate the things that truly sustain us, and we experience that faster isn't better when it comes to most rhythms of life.
