Healthy Food, Slow Food: The Origins of the Slow Food Movement

I'm a confessed foodie. However, I'm also a harried parent. While I embrace the notion of slow food and reject the idea of eating fast food laden with copious quantities of transfats, we've also go to eat sooner rather than later. So it is with some trepidation that I explored the slow food movement. It was not long before I discovered that I was actually a slow foodie in disguise, an unwitting convert to a movement that parallels the local, organic, and fair trade movements and in some ways precedes them.

Slow Food was founded by Carlo Petrini in 1986. It now has offices in several countries and over 80,000 members in over 100 countries. The principles behind slow food are simple. Eating food is part of being in community. Enjoy cooking and eating with others. Love the family recipes and those that you get from friends. Visit farms. Eat locally, and eat in season, because food is yummier that way. Protect the diverse traditional cultivated and wild foods. Slow food is about attitude, a healthy attitude towards food as something that sustains our culture and our bodies. I'm sold.

While it's possible to find healthy food at the fast food outlet, the attitude of slow food is about cultivating a life that prioritizes enjoyment of food. I've never been fond of the meals eaten while whizzing along the highway after going through the drive through. That's fuel, not food, and perhaps less-than-healthy fuel at that. I am atrociously, dedicatedly fond of blueberries from our local biodynamic farm, and I'm stupidly fond of our day-long trek out to get a thousand pounds of the little blue jewels and disperse them to friends and neighbors. There's nothing more community-building than good food, purchased from great farmers and given to wonderful friends. And this food builds stories, like the story of the year a black bear walked up our suburban driveway, dying for a taste of those berries.

Now, I'm not swearing off fast food entirely. Most of our fast food is of the moderately-healthy but not inspiring variety. I'm talking sandwiches and salads. And when it's eaten on a hike or on a family sick day, it is a good family experience. We're building our pantry, though, and building a store of fast-slow food, homemade and healthy food for those days when we need it.

However, I am sold on the principles of slow food. I love creating food with my daughter, going on biking and walking tours of farms, tasting wine, and holding cookie exchanges. I love the idea that food is not just stuff you put into your mouth to fuel the rest of your body. It's an experience that's connected to culture, history, and community. It's a sensual experience and one that brings health and enjoyment to life.