The Simple Pleasures of Slow Food

In an age of fast food restaurants and XXL-sized portions, the connection between food and its slow enjoyment may seem a bit off the mark.  After all, food can often only be a minor matter—a necessary evil in our everyday lives.  We grab a burger while on the go as an emergency measure to still our hunger so that we can return to our busy workday.

What exactly is slow food?  And who are the people behind it?  A quick search by Google yields the official site of the “Slow Food” movement.  Founded in Italy, this international organization boasts over 80,000 active members in their local communities.  Its philosophy is simple: “We believe that everyone has a fundamental right to pleasure.”  At first, this might sound a bit simplistic.  But the slow food movement also focuses on the rediscovery of culinary culture.  Its emphasis on traditional dishes and varied flavours forms a distinctive counter-movement to fast food tendencies.

Healthy Eating Is “In”
Our awareness of “good eating” has recently been raised due to the recent food scandals, debates over gene-manipulated foods and a growing interest in living a healthy lifestyle.  The media have enlisted an army of celebrity chefs who bombard television viewers with cooking shows.  Their gourmet cookbooks and live cooking events have also found huge appeal.  The Jamies, Marios, and Nigellas may get on our nerves from time to time, but they have succeeded in bringing us varied recipe ideas and introducing unfamiliar or "forgotten" traditional dishes.  What is more, they deliver ready made menu suggestions directly to our living rooms, thus heightening our interest in home cooked food and new tastes.

Tasty Traditions

Slow food stands for traditional foods that are grown in their original producing region and are prepared and eaten in their original way.  This constitutes a return to the roots of local food heritage and therefore favours a diet without gene manipulation or mass produced foods.  At the heart of the matter is not only the enjoyment of a meal but a respect and appreciation of how and where food is produced.  According to “slow food” proponents, every person should have a right to this experience.

Here at womensnet, we agree: An awareness of what we eat and the pleasure associated with it can be quickly forgotten in the midst of a hectic day.  The communal experience of enjoying great food and the culinary discovery of distinctive regional traditions and cultures are not only becoming a trend in the food industry.  They are also fundamentally changing our relationship to food.