Green Food Manifesto
When it comes to eating, being green is not only about buying organic. At least not to the “slow foodie.”
As an emerging Earth-conscious in-group, the Slow Food Movement focuses on taste, cleanliness and the impact that the food we eat has on animal welfare and the environment.
The movement began in 1986, when Italian author and chef Carlo Petrini denounced the opening of a McDonald’s in Piazza Spagna in Rome, organizing a protest of marchers brandishing bowls of fresh penne.
Three years later, Slow Food International was founded in Paris. The premise: The industrialization of food is standardizing taste and eradicating thousands of food varieties and flavors.
The Slow Food philosophy began with the old-school ideals of gastronomy — long lunches and good wine — and had a bit of an effete air to it, attracting gourmet chefs and highbrow foodies to chapters called conviviums.
But the movement has since evolved into a broader purpose of being kinder to the planet through our food choices, as well as of rediscovering the pleasures of the table.
Eat slow, do no harm
Slow foodies consider themselves co-producers, not consumers. By being informed about how food is produced and by actively supporting producers, they see themselves as a partner in the production process.
They believe what they eat should not only taste good, but should be produced in a clean way that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health.
They also say food producers should receive fair compensation for their work.
Slow Food International now has more than 80,000 members on five continents. The international office in Bra, Italy employs more than 100 people.
A food revolution?
Erika Lesser, executive director of Slow Food USA, says the Slow Food Movement appeals to the nutritionist, the environmentalist and the food lover. Rising rates of obesity and diabetes link food choices to health, and officials finally realize that the current food system makes people unhealthy.
“There is the collective realization that our planet is also in crisis. Our leaders are finally admitting that the way we have been conducting business is depleting our resources, and the industrialized food supply is the largest contributor to pollution,” Lesser said.
Stephanie Innes is a reporter for the Arizona Daily Star, ?sinnes@azstarnet.com
