The Slow Food movement is spreading around the globe from its roots in Europe, where the movement started in 1986 in opposition to "fast" food. It has even reached the USA, the birthplace of "fast food." (Slow Food USA)
One of the Slow Food Movement's stated aims is to 'protect the pleasures of the table'. Reading that, I can see in my mind's eye the nicely set table at Janusz and Anna's house. Sometimes there is a candle, but always there is a small flower arrangement in the centre, and napkins and table mats for everyone. Nobody is rushed. Nobody is in a hurry. There are many laughs, lots of intellectual stimulation, and always good, simple food. The pleasures of the table.
Most, if not all, of the food served at Janusz and Anna's table is local, seasonal and fresh. The meals are often as a single dish, complemented by simple platters of local cheeses, plates of sliced, locally made breads, little bowls of locally grown cherry tomatoes, button mushrooms, a variety of cheeses, olives, grapes, and cold meats from local farms. Rarely has anything travelled far to reach their table. And rarely is anything more than a few days old.
The Slow Food Movement promotes gastronomic education, and the philosophy that food is not something to be gobbled down in whatever spare moment you have, but is one of the real pleasures of life, to be savoured and enjoyed at every meal.
I think food even in its simplest forms, should always be enjoyed for its own sake, but increasingly buying and consuming food is becoming a political and environmental exercise. Should we buy organic cauliflower from the farmer up the road, or buy cauliflower at half the price from some farmer in China? Considering the rising transportation fuel costs and the slave labour wages at the point of origin, the answer ought to be obvious, but too many are making the uninformed choice, and just looking for the cheapest (short term) option.
If I buy a locally grown cauliflower, I'm helping a neighbour, and there are few transportation costs and little pollution. If I buy from a farmer's market, I'll probably be able to meet the farmer and talk to him or her. If I buy cauliflower from China, I'm helping some poor farmer there, but I'm also paying the airlines, the producers of aviation fuel, the distribution and trucking companies. And I'm helping to put my local farmers out of business. Not only that but there is an enormous amount of pollution associated with all that travel and lengthy storage times.
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