Conscious Choice: Awakening our Senses

November 2001

Awakening our Senses

The Slow Food movement brings us back to the table

by Betsy Noxon

A juicy, organically grown peach, freshly baked bread, homegrown vegetables, and specialty aged cheese from the local farmer’s market begin to sound more and more like delicacies. Today’s fast paced, high-pressured society leaves people little time to enjoy, savor, and think about traditional food. The old pastime of cooking and eating together with families and friends has gone by the wayside, leaving fast food and microwaved meals in its place.

A natural desire to return to a more simplified life is evolving in response to our fast and frenzied lifestyle. It’s called the Slow Food movement. With the snail as its symbol, the Slow Food movement embodies the fundamental idea of simplifying our lives by slowing down to enjoy food. That means, of course, embracing mealtime traditions and encouraging support of local producers, farmers and artisans — things we all can appreciate during the holiday season.

Slow Food vs. Fast Life

Though the concept of slow food seems up to the moment, the Slow Food movement emerged fifteen years ago in Bra, Italy. Carlo Petrini came up with the idea in reaction to the opening of a McDonald’s in Rome’s notorious Piazza di Spagna. Petrini, a self-proclaimed leftist, started the movement to focus on preserving regional foods and wines as well as gastronomical traditions. It quickly became international and now has sixty-five thousand members on all five continents.

The Slow Food movement is organized by "convivia" (from the Latin word meaning festive), which galvanize local members and promote Slow Food philosophy. For example, in an effort to save certain foods from extinction and bring awareness of selected products to consumers, Slow Food’s Ark of Taste project focuses on vegetables, fruits, and meats as well as products such as cheeses. The Ark has defined criteria to identify worthwhile products, including white oak cider, chimayo chile, California’s Sun Crest peach, microbrewed Monster Ale from Brooklyn, and the Delaware Bay Oyster.

The Slow Food organization also operates a publishing company to heighten public awareness through catalogues, recipe books, and manuals. Its journal, Slow, is available to members.

Slow Food is also dedicated to the education of both adults and children. Their Taste Education and Academy of Taste include activities to educate people on food in our society and culture as well as promote the importance of quality "agroindustrial" resources. Some of their activities are workshops and conferences that get people involved at the grass roots level.

Embracing Slow Food

It is understandable Europeans would resist fast food restaurants because of their historic customs, deep cultural traditions, and values. But Americans seem to have fully embraced fast food. What cultural issues around food do we face before the country as a whole will focus on quality?

Eric Schlosser, in his book Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, points out the damaging effects of a fast food culture on the environment, exploited workers, and consumers subject to the government’s lack of oversight. Schlosser writes, "Fast food has proven to be a revolutionary force in American life.... What people eat (or don’t eat) has always been determined by a complex interplay of social, economic, and technological forces."

Despite these forces, however, there is evidence people are embracing a change of pace. Mary Weismantle, Ph.D., associate professor of anthropology at Northwestern University, team-teaches a graduate seminar on the social and cultural aspects of food. She comments that as the Slow Food movement reaches the United States, "we see wider issues people are looking for, such as community and social life as evident with the neighborhood farmer markets." Weismantle adds that fast food allows people anonymity and freedom from social pressure, which people originally sought as a route to simplicity! It was only later that we began to realize that we, as a culture, were losing one of the simplest forms of society and entertainment: enjoying dinner parties with close friends.

The Slow Food movement offers more than conviviality, however. It has also flourished as a result of increasing interest in health. Organic, heirloom, and sustainably produced foods are a prominent focus of Slow Food. Portia Belloc Lowndes, co-founder of the Chicago Slow Food convivium in December of 1999 and the Midwestern governor of Slow Food USA, points out that sustainably produced foods are about respecting the soil in particular and the environment in general. Weismantle remarks that Europeans value food highly and are willing to spend proportionally more money on food than most Americans. Still, she notes that people dismayed by the expense of organic produce can participate in the Slow Food movement by growing food in their yards or on porches.

Laurence Mate, leader of the Prairieland convivium in Urbana, Illinois, actually thinks the movement has been boosted by the need of people to work more with their hands. He observes, "Today people are working in specialized jobs, such as with computers, and are not getting the satisfaction of making things with their hands. Cooking and gardening is a basic craft that satisfies this need."

Slow Food in our community

The Slow Food movement in Chicago reaches across a broad cross section of people. Membership, which comes with a yearly fee of $65, appeals to students, chefs, and artisans, among other enthusiasts of the slow food philosophy. Belloc Lowndes, who first heard about Slow Food in an Aspen magazine, says the convivium is educational as well as fun. Some of the local activities offer morale walks and talks as well as chocolate, food, cheese, wine, and beer tastings. Another popular project is Chicago’s Green City Market, which supports small area producers and is run by the Chef’s Collaborative, some of whom are Slow Food members.

In addition to events, substantial relationships develop among members of the convivia. Giles Schnierle, a two-year member of the Chicago convivium, artisan, and owner of Heartland Trading Company and The Great American Cheese Collection, says he’s been involved in the Slow Food philosophy every day for the past fifteen years. Schnierle has naturally encouraged small producers to stay small and continue to market their products. Schnierle says, "Being a part of the Slow Food movement has allowed me to connect with other people who are moving toward the same goal. Slow Food encourages small producers that they can make a living by growing locally. Furthermore, I have recognized an increase in the market and interest for local products in the past year." Schnierle distributes local and nationally originated produce such as cheeses, flour, and grains, primarily to area chefs.

Slow Food also involves entire families by emphasizing children’s education and awareness of the origins of food. Its Green City Sprouts program teaches kids about food. Kids are taught how to pot a plant and how to make a salad, they’re sent on scavenger hunts, and they go on field trips. These experiences build sense of community as well as an appreciation for food. Of course, cooking with the family is also a great opportunity to put the Slow Food philosophy into practice.

Slow Food’s success has sparked an adjunct movement in Italy appropriately labeled Slow Cities. The concept is similar to Slow Food yet the group’s motivations are to encourage and promote quieter, more peaceful, less "Americanized" towns and cities by rejecting such things as car alarms and neon signs and by installing walking paths and bike lanes. To a lesser extent, Americans have pursued the same philosophy in some areas by promoting Earth Day and designating days that people ride their bikes to work as well as banning cellular phones in some areas.

Restoring Traditions

To begin at the beginning, however, you might want to use the Thanksgiving holiday to start incorporating the Slow Food philosophy into your life. Weismantle recommends we slow down and think about what our Thanksgiving rituals should mean. One way, she says, is to think back to the pilgrims who initiated the tradition. Another is simple reflection on the concept of thanksgiving.

Belloc Lowndes recommends that people keep their own family traditions alive during the Thanksgiving holiday, "Foods tend to become extinct as well as recipes, so recreate your grandmother’s dishes. Smells and tastes are strong memory enhancers." Those who spend the holiday alone have a unique opportunity to initiate a personal tradition. Schnierle, for example, gifts the day to himself, preparing and eating dishes between taking walks. "I prepare a dish then take a walk. When I return, I smell the turkey cooking and the dish I’ve prepared. This way I’m not overwhelmed by one large meal and I never have a pile of dishes. Traditionally, I spend the weekend after Thanksgiving with my family."

Whatever the tradition you embrace or create, Slow Food encourages you, this holiday season, to experience thankfulness for the abundant food on your table by cooking, savoring, and tasting both the food and the traditions by which it was grown.

Learn more about the Slow Food movement.

Slow Down for Thanksgiving

One way people can celebrate the holiday this month is with Chicago Slow Food’s Thanksgiving harvest festival. It’s scheduled for 5:00 pm on Sunday, November 18, for a nominal fee of $10. The potluck dinner will feature three different wholesome turkeys: fried, smoked, and traditionally cooked. Members and nonmembers are welcome to join the table and are encouraged to bring a dish. The event will be held at the Belloc Lowndes Gallery, 300 W. Superior. Please e-mail Portia at portiabl@yahoo.com or call 312-573-1157 for reservations. You can also join the Chicago Slow Food group on November 9 for a tasting of champagne, caviar, and farmstead cheeses (contact Portia for details).

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