What is Slow Food?

The Staff Senate at UNCG has an informal meeting, Brown Bag Lunch, once a month. They asked me to talk about something and I choose Slow Food. Steve Tate of the Goat Lady Dairy and I began Slow Food Piedmont five years ago and got it off to a good start. I've been involved in it both here and in Italy. The farm, Spannocchia, at which Debby and I volunteer and conduct a graduate course, is linked to Slow Food Siena and sponsors a number of dinners and workshops.

The contact person of the Staff Senate asked for a definition of Slow Food and here's what I offered.

SLOW FOOD: An Idea, A Movement, A Way of Life?

Slow food is the food our ancestors enjoyed: seasonal and local food, thoughtfully prepared to express local traditions and flavors, and leisurely enjoyed in the company of family and friends.

Likewise it is eating as if your health and happiness depended on it, keeping the cost low and nutrition high by avoiding processed and “empty” food.

Slow food tastes good, is free of toxic chemicals, and supports family farms.

It connects us to the earth, our region and one another, rather than to a TV or a fast food joint.

It is a simple pleasure, a celebration of life, a stress reliever, a mindful choice, a freedom we forget we have.

We are what we eat and how we eat; that is why we eat.