You might have missed it, but this long holiday weekend in the states also marked the biggest and most ambitious event ever conceived by Slow Food USA, the American spinoff of Slow Food, the forerunner of which was founded in Italy in 1986.

Slow Food Nation, a four-day event in San Francisco, aimed to get people excited about locally produced, sustainable and artisan-produced food, as well as making people aware of the connections between their food choices, government food policy and global climate change.

Reaching out or preaching to the choir?

The event was spearheaded in part, it will come as no surprise, by Alice Waters, local foodie extraordinaire and founder of legendary Berkeley restaurant Chez Panisse.

The idea behind Slow Food is really the idea behind Chez Panisse, that people should know and appreciate where their food comes from, and, if possible, have a hand in growing, producing or cooking it. Food should be a community event, with meals shared among friends made from fresh, local ingredients.

To some this may sound like another fad of the upper middle class and other people wealthy enough to buy locally produced heirloom beef and with enough time to source local organic eggs, cheeses, wines and whatever else they’re eating. And to a large extent the 50,000 visitors who were expected at Slow Food events likely were people who already subscribe to this idea and have the means to implement it in their lives.

But organizers say the ideas go beyond fads and seek to create a fundamental change in the way Americans eat and live. The movement is about a push back against homogenization of culture, fast food living and technology that seems to offer benefits at great cost to the health of the planet and its people.

Just as there are movements toward sustainability in energy use and technology, Slow Food represents a move toward more sustainable food choices that proponents hope will trickle down to people of all socioeconomic groups.

Slow Food’s policy declaration

At the same time, the group isn’t just about talk and samples of fancy coffee and sauerkraut in San Francisco. Before this weekend’s event began, Slow Food USA issued a Declaration for Healthy Food and Agriculture that laid out policy steps the group would like to see in the near term.

The declaration says in part:

We believe that the food system must be reorganized on a foundation of health: for our communities, for people, for animals, and for the natural world. The quality of food, and not just its quantity, ought to guide our agriculture. The ways we grow, distribute, and prepare food should celebrate our various cultures and our shared humanity, providing not only sustenance, but justice, beauty and pleasure.

It goes on to lay out 12 principles of food policy such as providing healthy, nutritious food to everyone, upholding the safety, dignity and quality of life of people who produce the food, fostering diversity in food choices, ownership and use of wild and cultivated foodstuffs, and offering resources to teach children how to grow, harvest and prepare health food for themselves.

While the Slow Food people are sure to know that the world doesn’t change in four days, it is nice to think that the whole world could one day have access to all those beautiful, diverse and healthy choices. We can only hope it’s a revolution that isn’t slow.

(By Sarah E. White for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)

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This entry was posted on Monday, September 1st, 2008 and is filed under Food miscellaneous, Public policy. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. Permalink.