Slow Food, The antidote for homogenization

Homogenization began after the Civil War, when patent medicines came on the scene. Led by Coca-Cola, hundreds of similar, semirespectable concoctions were launched into the marketplace. These products featured consistent quality and a standardized price. By the 1870s and ’80s, the first great period of branding began with “names you could trust” like Heinz, Proctor & Gamble, Kellogg’s and others. By 1911, Coke’s advertising budget was $1 million per year (which at that time was staggering).

Thus began a headlong rush into industrial consumables, and with it came elements such as standardization of products and additives that would give foods and beverages a longer shelf life. The result of this movement is the supermarket with its huge inventory of processed, pesticide-laden and hormone-added foods and its offspring—the fast-food “restaurant”—a meal-a-minute sustenance manufacturing station. Standardization also resulted in focusing on only those varieties of fruits, vegetables, foul and cattle that could be grown or bred the fastest and cheapest. As a result, many highly nutritious and tasty varieties of cuisine have all but disappeared.

In addition to sacrificing nutrition and taste, homogenous food has endangered established regional food traditions. To make the point, when McDonald’s decided to open one of their restaurants right on the Spanish Steps in Rome in 1986, Carlo Petrini, a prominent Italian culinary author and personality, decided enough was enough. Rome has one of the richest heritages of culture, art and culinary achievement on the planet, and Petrini was not going to allow the event to pass unnoticed. Together with a number of his friends, Petrini set up tables across from the new McDonald’s, offering free pasta and other delicious local foods to anyone who refrained from entering and patronizing McDonald’s on that fateful day. And so was born a new movement, led by Petrini, called Slow Food.

In 1989, the Constitution for the International Slow Food Movement was signed by over 20 visiting delegations from around the world. Today, the movement exists in over 50 countries—including the U.S.—and numbers over 80,000 members and supporters.

“We’re a non-profit educational organization that is trying to catalyze a cultural shift away from industrialized and commercialized food and toward something more regenerative, sustainable and delicious,” says Jerusha Klemperer, assistant to the executive director of Slow Food USA. The organization’s member-supporters include many chefs, among them noted chef and author Alice Waters, who support small local growers and food producers. Through several different programs, the organization is promoting the pleasure and quality that can be achieved in everyday life by slowing down, respecting the convivial traditions of the table and celebrating the diversity of the earth’s bounty.

Slow Food’s Taste Education program seeks to reawaken and train the senses to rediscover the joys of eating. People learn to understand the importance of caring where their food comes from, who makes it and how it’s made. Local foods and producers are introduced to both members and non-members, while Taste Workshops offer guided tastings with food experts. Initiatives such as school gardens offer our youngest eaters hands-on learning experiences about the food they eat and grow themselves.

Slow Food’s Defense of Biodiversity program has the mission to save the countless traditional grains, vegetables, fruits, animal breeds and food products that are disappearing due to the prevalence of convenience food and industrial agriculture. Through the Presidia project (supported by the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity) and Terra Madre, a world meeting of food communities, Slow Food seeks to protect our invaluable food heritage.

The Ark of Taste

One of the key projects being undertaken by Slow Foods is called the Ark of Taste. The objective of this mission is to preserve local crops, cheeses, beverages and breeds of foul and livestock that have fallen prey to industrial homogenization.

An example is the Louisiana heritage varieties of strawberries. The Klondike, Daybreak, Headliner and Tangi are all strawberries that were traditionally cultivated in Louisiana. Developed throughout the twentieth century, these varieties have now “run out” (i.e., become susceptible to disease). Their flavor is superior to strawberries under cultivation today, such as the Driscoll and Chandler— developed for size and shipping resistance. The heritage varieties, by contrast, have a higher sugar content, a more balanced sugar-to-acid ratio and a more delicate flavor. Cultivation is still possible, though yields are much lower. Tangi strawberries are being cultivated once again by one farmer in Louisiana employing traditional methods of growing on mulch beds of locally gathered pine needles as opposed to black plastic.

Another endangered food is the Pennsylvania marrowfat bean, a white bean that is excellent when used dried for soups and baked dishes. This rare bush bean was popular in the 1850s as a baking bean, is exceptional pureed, and has a unique and meaty quality and an unmatched creaminess.

New Hampshire Chicken is a breed that has dwindled to a population of 5,000 breeding birds. A special selection of the Rhode Island Red, chosen for rapid growth, fast feathering, early maturity and vigor, this chicken is medium in weight and makes a plump roasting bird.

While the Ark of Taste project documents and promotes forgotten and neglected foods, another arm of the project directly supports the needs of these foods and the small-scale farmers who produce them, through marketing, production and technical assistance.

Getting Slow Food into Your Life

Of course, Klemperer—and the Slow Food organization—recommend slowing down and enjoying eating these kinds of foods. Yes, we all live fast lives; so what can be done? “I think that part of it is about adjusting your priorities,” Klemperer says. “I’ve seen diet gurus and fitness gurus say, ‘You don’t think you have time for a workout, but you do! You just have to rearrange your day!’ I think that’s absolutely true for food. And it can start small with something like, ‘I’m not going to eat a meal in my car this week,’ or ‘I’m not going to eat a meal standing up,’ or ‘I’m going to cook a meal together with my family at least once this week.’ And I think when you make that change in a small way, you realize, ‘Oh! The time is there if I make it.’”

For more information on Slow Food USA, their programs and their movement, visit www.slowfoodusa.org.