The Slow Food Movement

Seasoned chefs, online culinary school students and advanced foodies all have an undeniable passion for the food they prepare, serve and eat. Food wasted or thrown away is the stuff that keeps them tossing and turning at night alongside bad critic reviews and client complaints. The slow food movement takes into consideration the traditional and regional dishes available, promoting the use of seeds and livestock most common to the area. It’s actually a modernized version of  the way our grand parents and great grand parents used to live, buying from the local market and preparing it for their families that same day.

Executive chefs around the world are beginning to see the benefits of this approach to slow food approach to fine dining. They want to be a part of grassroots organizations that celebrate local foods and cultures while building a network of support throughout the world. They advocate policies that are against the industrialized food economy. Chefs and patrons are beginning to look around for produce and meats that can be cooked during their appropriate seasons, giving menus variety and freshness that is usually overlooked in the traditional fast food industry. Believers in the slow food movement try to educate the public on the risks of Big Agriculture and factory farms. In the end, the slow food movement aims at a creating a global community.

Considerate of sustainability
Besides providing novel ways that tease our taste buds, the movement also highlights a philosophical idea that has been gaining traction over the last decade – the necessity of adjusting our relationship with what nourishes us to something resembling sustainability. Cooks and sellers are challenging our preconceived notions of dining by showing us that becoming an active participant in the way we choose our food is not a waste of time and actually enriches our lives. In a society where the majority of consumers are getting their meats packaged in neat little squares, circles, slices and logs, humanity’s place in the food chain is obscured, even forgotten.  In a TLC article, scientist and chef Aaron French states, “…When people realize they can take a evening class in pig butchery, or spend a weekend with friends breaking down a whole pig to share, they are creating an active connection to their food chain, and that food chain is their most direct connection to the ecology of the earth.”