Well last week was quite an experience. I took three round trips to Chennai, India and at least
Courtesy of Slow Food, Italy one trip to somewhere in Canada to resolve what at first seemed like a computer tragedy, but turned out to be much ado about a little something.  I am am still recovering, but back online. So to counteract our fast lives I thought I would talk a little bit about Slow Food.

Slow food you say?  We all know what fast food is and how it has changed our lives, but Slow Food is a new term for old customs now forgotten.  Slow Food is actually an Italian term coined in 1986 by Carlo Petrini in Barolo, Italy it is said as a response to the opening of a McDonald's in Rome. The International Movement was started in 1989 in Paris, France. The International organization has grown on five continents in over 50 countries and now has a membership of nearly 100,000.  The Slow Food USA organization has 12,000 people and growing.  Its National office is in Brooklyn, NY.

Slow Food as Carlo Petrini envisioned it is an effort to rediscover and preserve our culinary traditions and high quality food such as fresh baked whole grain breads, heirloom vegetables and other non-processed foods. These foods take time and effort to grow and prepare and that effort infuses them with love.  The preparation of the food slows us down and provides a bounty of extraordinary tastes and aromas and a commitment and respect for the land. 

Think about that meal grabbed at a fast food drive-thru.  How does it smell, how does it taste? Where did the food come from? Did you remember it a week later, I mean besides having to fish around for the antacid afterwards?  Now think about the meal cooked by a grandparent.  How long did it take, how did the house smell and how much fun was it to sit around the table with family and friends eating it?  

My family always kids me because I remember meals I had 20 years ago and I frequently bring them up. In fact, I remember food I have eaten more than the places where I ate them and they were never grabbed from a fast food drive thru.  The meals were always made from scratch and shared with family or friends.  Think about your favorite meal. Where did you eat it, where did the food originate and with whom did you enjoy the meal? That's Slow Food.