Product Description

Take a breath.... Read slowly.

How often in the course and crush of our daily lives do we afford ourselves moments to truly relish-to truly be present in-the act of preparing and eating food? For most of us, our enjoyment of food has fallen victim to the frenetic pace of our lives and to our increasing estrangement, in a complex commercial economy, from the natural processes by which food is grown and produced. Packaged, artificial, and unhealthful, fast food is only the most dramatic example of the degradation of food in our lives, and of the deeper threats to our cultural, political, and environmental well-being.

In 1986, Carlo Petrini decided to resist the steady march of fast food and all that it represents when he organized a protest against the building of a McDonald's near the Spanish Steps in Rome. Armed with bowls of penne, Petrini and his supporters spawned a phenomenon. Three years later Petrini founded the International Slow Food Movement, renouncing not only fast food but also the overall pace of the "fast life." Issuing a manifesto, the Movement called for the safeguarding of local economies, the preservation of indigenous gastronomic traditions, and the creation of a new kind of ecologically aware consumerism committed to sustainability. On a practical level, it advocates a return to traditional recipes, locally grown foods and wines, and eating as a social event. Today, with a magazine, Web site, and over 75,000 followers organized into local "convivia," or chapters, Slow Food is poised to revolutionize the way Americans shop for groceries, prepare and consume their meals, and think about food.

Slow Food not only recalls the origins, first steps, and international expansion of the movement from the perspective of its founder, it is also a powerful expression of the organization's goal of engendering social reform through the transformation of our attitudes about food and eating. As Newsweek described it, the Slow Food movement has now become the basis for an alternative to the American rat race, the inspiration for "a kinder and gentler capitalism."

Linger a while then, with the story of what Alice Waters in her Foreword calls "this Delicious Revolution," and rediscover the pleasures of the good life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #393053 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07-21
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 176 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Slow Food, a group of 75,000 members that supports recognition of traditional foods and eating patterns (e.g., the family meal), is an important player in today's battle for the palates and stomachs of the world. As "The Official Slow Food Manifesto" states, "Slow Food is an idea that needs plenty of qualified supporters," but to find them, it's going to need more friendly material than this didactic screed. Italian journalist Petrini founded the group in 1989, changing the name of a previous organization from Arcigola to Arcigola Slow Food in response to the opening of a McDonald's in Rome's Piazza di Spagna, a development described in excruciating detail. Petrini's condescending tone ("When you see the word `flavorings' on the package, don't imagine that it always refers to natural substances") isn't helped by a clumsy translation that adheres to Italian syntax. It's a shame, because the elitist tone and convoluted language obscure Petrini's informed opinions on genetically modified organisms and nutritional education in the schools (he references mainly Italian public schools). Petrini's case against McDonald's is perhaps his strongest card, but it's geared mainly to an Italian, or at least European, audience (it's doubtful that many American parents comfort themselves with the thought that "when they're old enough the kids will develop a taste for Barolo") and more thorough and better written arguments have already been made, most notably in Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Neither a cookbook nor a foodie memoir, Slow Food is nevertheless an important work.... Petrini's work is both a philosophical treatise and a history of the movement all in one slim volume, yet it suffices." -- Library Journal (starred review)

"Everyone who enjoys quality time with fine wines and food should enjoy this book." -- Robert Mondavi

"If eating is such an intimate, internal process, shouldn't we take the utmost care in selecting everything we consume? Petrini makes persuasive arguments for doing just that." -- Maria C. Hunt, San Diego Tribune

"Petrini tells the story of the movement's origins and successes in Slow Food: The Case for Taste... The book also outlines the philosophy behind good eating." -- Bell'Italia Magazine

""Petrini--an Italian whose charming prose ripples with gustatory rapture and thrasonical outbursts--pleads with us to slow down"" -- Mark Winne, In These Times

Review

"An intelligent and impassioned plea to restore some sense, some balance, and some wisdom to our dealings not only with the issues of what we eat, but also how we choose to live our lives in these very fast times." -- Michael Romano, chef and owner, Union Square Cafe

Customer Reviews

Negotiating the Global and the Local
This book offers concise information about the history and various activities of the Slow Food Movement. The book is divided into four chapters. After an outline of the origins of the movement, the second chapter on cultivating diversity argues for the need to preserve food localities, such as the Italian Osteria. The third chapter describes Slow Food's educational goals with regards to nutrition, agriculture, and taste, followed by a final section on genetically modified organisms (GMO) and ways to promote biodiversity.
Carlo Petrini, the founder of Slow Food and author of this book, convincingly shows how the standardization of food and tastes leads to the loss of (bio)diversity and describes measures that Slow Food has initiated to counterbalance this tendency, such as taste education in schools and events such as the Salone del Gusto, an international exhibition where producers and distributors present their local foods. The overall tone of this book is balanced. Also, difficulties that Slow Food has encountered are addressed, such as the struggles of the movement to position itself between the political left and more conservative forces in Italy.
However, in my opinion the volume could provide more information on how consumers can incorporate the philosophy of Slow Food into their daily lives. Despite the need to safeguard regional foods, the movement focuses mainly on its global structure and aims in order to achieve this goal. More information on how a more effective communication network between producers and consumers of endangered foods can be installed on a local basis would be desirable in this book.

To elitist for my taste

Its a decent book but is way to elitist for my taste. Read the back cover and whose quoted? High priced foodies like Mario Batali, who has a show on the FoodNetwork and overpriced cookware and other goods he hawks for big bucks. What's slow about that? Or Robert Mondavi and Michael Romano of the Union Square Cafe, both upscale people. And that's the rub with me. Slow Food seems to be yet another snob idea.


Talk to those of us who have been authentic slow food folk for decades who have been teased by the upscale crowd because we have vegetable gardens rather than 7k sq foot homes. Mocked because we cook in crock pots or make home cooked meals where the whole family sits down to eat every night. Folks who don't drive Mercedes, but beat up old trucks that carry feed to out chickens, goats and Guernsey cows.

So who may benefit from the book? Beats me. Slow Food in my opinion is just the newest fad that most who read the book may try but wont stick with. Which is sad.

Slow down, you're movin' too fast

Though the Slow Food is making appropriately Slow headway into U.S. consciousness, it has been an important and well-known influence on Italian culinary values for years. Slow Food: The Case for Taste is a good way to figure out what all the attention is about.

For anyone who doesn't know, Slow Food is the antithesis of "fast food," as it is represented by drive through burger restaurants, coffee in a to-go cup, and ready-to-eat microwave dinners. The 17-year-old organization was born from opposition to the opening of a McDonald's restaurant in Rome's iconic Piazza di Spagna (the effort was unsuccessful: that particular location is still open and it serves more than 8,000 hamburgers a day). From that beginning, it evolved to promote eateries that use fresh ingredients and preserve historical cuisines, to fund educational programs, and to encourage the movement's members to stop and smell the roses (and then to have a nice plate of pasta and glass of wine afterwards).

I'm a fan of many aspects of the Slow Food movement: I don't think there's a better guide to Italian restaurants than the Osterie d'Italia guide (available only in Italian). And the organization's educational programs have certainly heightened the awareness of good food and wine in Italy, something I have clearly benefited from. Overall, the emphasis on good, well-made, and unpretentious food and wine is something almost everyone can enjoy.

My main criticism of the Slow Food movement is that it seems to look at things too simply, divorcing the desire to eat and drink in a certain way and experience life under a certain set of rules from reality, often advocating actions -- such as the lengths someone should go to get the right garlic, or to eat in a proper restaurant, or decide how to vote on political issues -- that make less sense when taken in context. This all-or-nothing approach ends up sounding naive, and probably only undermines the validity of the organization's values. The weakness (apparent in this slim volume) means the book gets docked one star.

The other star is removed for sloppy translation and editing. Phrases are in some cases so badly translated that they can sound stilted and are sometimes difficult to understand. More importantly, editors appear to have simply translated a book written for an Italian audience without understanding that the values and context -- that word again: can anyone at Slow Food understand that different contexts require different reactions? -- are very different in the U.S., where this book has been marketed. There are several examples of this weakness, but the best comes from a passage talking about an appreciation for wine, where the book reads: "when they are old enough, the kids will develop a taste for Barolo" -- not in most families, given underage drinking laws and the fact that in the U.S. Barolo starts at $50-60 a bottle!

I have not read the Italian edition of this book, but I'm going to seek it out. My best guess is that this edition was rushed to press in order to capitalize on the notoriety of the Slow Food movement in the U.S. a few years ago, and so certain corners were cut and certain liberties were taken. If a second edition is in the works, I'll make a suggestion I wouldn't have guessed I'd have to make in connection with this movement: slow down! There's no hurry. It's better to get it right later than it is to do a sloppy job sooner.