Slow Food Roma by Tempe Korb

Today we had lunch at the “Spirito di Rome Vino” where our food was prepared by Chef Eliana Vigneti, a prominent member of the Chef’s Alliance Slow Food Project. After this we formally learned about the Slow Food Roma movement and I’ll give a brief overview of this: the founder of the movement “Slow Food Roma” is Carlo Petrini and according to its website, Slow Food Roma had two major events that occurred to establish it as the organization and movement it continues to be today. The first event occurred at the recently visited Spanish Steps in Rome in 1986 after a demonstration on the site where a McDonald’s was going to be built. After this, the Slow Food Manifesto was officially signed in Paris in 1989, beginning the endeavor of the movement. But why were they performing a demonstration to prevent a McDonald’s being built? Slow Food’s mission is to ensure that everyone has access to good, clean, and fair food and to prevent the diminishment of local food cultures and traditions and in people’s interest in the food they eat. Less to say: they’re not particularly fond of fast food chains. There are three words however that are a very important part of Slow Food’s philosophy which I have already mentioned once and those are “good”, “clean”, and “fair”. More specifically, “good” refers to healthy, flavorful, quality food, “clean” indicates the assurance of food production that is not harmful to the environment, and “fair” is describing the reasonable purchasing prices to consumers and good working conditions and pay for the producers of said food. Since its establishment, the Slow Food movement has spread to over 160 countries including the United States. The movement believes that through the consumption of certain foods, we all can influence how food is cultivated, produced, and distributed. They believe that in this way and others, food is directly linked to multiple other aspects of our lives including but not limited to the environment, our culture, local and global agriculture, and even politics. Through its millions of members, Slow Food organizes many different events to promote their philosophies and further their mission. Most of their financing is provided through membership fees, sponsors, and formal institutions. Their logo is a snail not only because they are a culinary specialty of the founder’s hometown of Bra, Italy, but also because it represents the slow lifestyle they are promoting. “Slow Food” is meant to be the promotion of a lifestyle wherein one enjoys the simple pleasures and minimizes fast food and fast lifestyles.

http://www.slowfoodroma.it