The Slow Food Movement
Slow Food began in 1986 when an Italian journalist called Carlo
Petrini was horrified to see a new branch of McDonalds at the foot
of the Spanish Steps in Rome. To him, this seemed to represent a
global takeover of industrialised, standardised food at the expense
of good, traditional, regional food. He decided that it was
necessary to set up a movement to counteract the potential for
"fast food" world domination, and so the Slow Food movement was
born.
The international Slow Food movement was first formally
constituted in Paris on 9 November 1989, when delegates from 15
countries agreed and signed a founding Manifesto.
To quote Carlo Petrini,
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"The mission of Slow Food is to make it a
pleasure to learn about taste and how food is produced. Consumers
need to become co-producers. People need to work with and
understand food producers and the value of good, traditional
food - and what sets it apart from cheap food grown, processed
and sold by industrialised methods."
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Membership of the Slow Food movement is open to any individual.
Businesses and organisations cannot join - only individual
people. There are now over 85,000 Slow Food members across the
world. You don't have to be an expert on food - just someone
who appreciates good food and good company.
Members come together in local Convivia or associations, which
meet to visit places of interest, enjoy tastings and themed dinners
and meet with local quality food producers.
Slow Food International is based in the Italian town of Bra and
organises a series of international events and workshops that bring
together food producers, chefs and consumers from all over the
world. The movement has set up a Foundation for Biodiversity that
organises and funds projects to defend our world's agricultural
biodiversity and gastronomic traditions. It also has Presidia that
assist projects by groups of artisan producers.
Slow Food UK was launched in 2005 and has its headquarters at
Neal's Yard in London. A small team, led by Chief Executive
Catherine Gazzoli, plus a board of directors, work to promote the
Slow Food message across the UK. The UK team also
lend support and guidance to more than 50 groups around the
country.
More information about the Slow Food movement can be found at www.slowfood.org.uk.
