Can We Become a SLOW Food Nation?

Slow food vs. Fast Food

As food has become more and more industrialized we find ourselves at a point in history where we are eating over processed food which has traveled in the average American meal that has 1,500 miles away; creating pollution, causing us to wonder how and who has handled out food. We question what kind of effect genetically modified farming will have on us in the future. Many families eat a fast food supper in front of the television, barely uttering a word to each other. Carlo Petrini founded the Slow Food movement in the mid-80’s The Slow Food movement wants us to return to a time where food was an important a part of our lives. Food should not be something we eat out of a McDonalds bag, while driving 80 miles per hour down the freeway.

In 1986, the parent organization, Agricola set up a resistance to the opening of a McDonald’s near the Spanish Steps in Rome, Italy. Today there are well over 100,000 members world wide, striving to provide an alternative to fast food. The Slow Food movement encourages local farming, regional cuisine, and the use of livestock in its local ecosystem, education. They hold the political view of lobbying for the inclusion of organic farming, with concerns for the use of factory farm. They fear the risk of monoculture through homogeneous fast food, stripping away cultural threads that tie community and family together. One of the main causes this organization champions in education of gardening skills to student and prisoners around the world. 

Slow Food means keeping your regional cuisines traditions through food. It means connecting with your friends and family through the growing and enjoyment of local clean food. It means educating those who have lost the tradition and importance of food. Slow Food also creating an environment that clean and sustainable.  There are many regional chapters to get involved with: The Slow Food Movement USA