Product Description

By now most of us are aware of the threats looming in the food world. The best-selling Fast Food Nation and other recent books have alerted us to such dangers as genetically modified organisms, food-borne diseases, and industrial farming. Now it is time for answers, and Slow Food Nation steps up to the challenge. Here the charismatic leader of the Slow Food movement, Carlo Petrini, outlines many different routes by which we may take back control of our food. The three central principles of the Slow Food plan are these: food must be sustainably produced in ways that are sensitive to the environment, those who produce the food must be fairly treated, and the food must be healthful and delicious. In his travels around the world as ambassador for Slow Food, Petrini has witnessed firsthand the many ways that native peoples are feeding themselves without making use of the harmful methods of the industrial complex. He relates the wisdom to be gleaned from local cultures in such varied places as Mongolia, Chiapas, Sri Lanka, and Puglia. Amidst our crisis, it is critical that Americans look for insight from other cultures around the world and begin to build a new and better way of eating in our communities here.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26503 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-08
• Released on: 2007-05-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

Review
"Carlo Petrini's manifesto makes switching from grabbing dinner from a drive-thru to seeking out environmentally friendly foods seem not just worth the effort, but necessary." -- Atlantan

"We'd love to do a book review of Carlo Petrini's new book - could you send a review copy? "We'd love to do a book review of Carlo Petrini's new book - could you send a review copy? -- TK: The Kitchen

...author Carlo Petrini addresses the complex and interconnected issues of global food production and consumption. Is it really best to eat organic or to eat local? Does the way we grow wheat or meat adversely affect our environment and, eventually, our health?... Petrini lays out a plan for a change in global food systems based on three principles: Producing food that is good, clean and fair. -- The Daily Review, Hayward, Ca. Tri Valley Herald, Pleasanton, CA. Alameda Times - STAR, Oakland, Ca. San Mateo County Times, San Mateo, CA. Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, CA. West County Times, Richmond, Ca. by Jenny Slafkosky

About the Author
Carlo Petrini is the founder and driving force of Slow Food and was recently acclaimed as a great innovator in Time magazine's list of "European Heroes."

Customer Reviews

Slow Food Nation: A Socialist Eater's Manifesto
Let me start off by stating that I agree with the essential concept of this book. I think we should all try to slow down, buy locally grown, fresh, seasonal food and cook a few meals from scratch. However, while reading the book something kept striking me as odd. The wording seemed charged, like a propaganda piece meant to demonize modern agriculture and our fast paced society, though Mr. Petrini repeatedly admits that a return to subsistence agriculture could not possibly support the current world population. I thought that maybe it was just the translation then on page 187 I came across the statement, "We do not need the accumulation of wealth, but its redistribution..." Then I realized, it is meant to be bit of a propaganda piece which explains the rhetoric. And, I have to wonder about the first example in the book, the traditional peppers of Asti that are no longer grown in Asti. Peppers are a new world crop and could not have been in Italy much before 1500. Here in America that might seem historic, but in the land of the Roman Empire that is barely out of adolesence. I guess it is okay to pick and choose which local, traditional foods one chooses to wax rhapsodically about.

Slow Food's Petrini continues to evolve
Carlo Petrini has been attempting to preserve a more traditional view of food for a long time, this book lays out his current thinking in a clear and concise layering of understanding food in culture (gastronomy), understanding quality (good, clean, fair food), and the tools to put these ideas to work in the world going forward.
As we reconstitute a food culture based on transparency and quality in the USA and hopefully across the globe, this book provides key ideas related to respect for diversity of food products, respect for food in culture, and respect for the work associated with food that can serve to guide us. This book made me think and laugh, and I recommend it highly.

Marvellous introduction to the Slow Food movement
More than a reaction to Fast Food's arrival in Italy, Slow Food
has evolved into a global movement encompassing many different actions to improve what we all taste and eat.
It's not about eating well in the privileged, Michelin-starred table sense. It's about recognizing everyone's barriers to eating well and judging the quality of our food on three levels, asking whether it is good, clean and fair. (The book's original title is just that: Buono, pulito e Giusto).
The movement's founder wrote this book to set out a new definition of gastronomy, enumerating some of the issues facing our food supply and helping to turn a thinking eater to positive action.
Beautifully translated, Slow Food Nation is a cogent & readable introduction to what Slow Food is about. Highly recommended!