Slow Food Growing Fast
By STEPHANIE INNES
International movement even has Tucson branch
When it comes to eating, being green is not about buying organic.
At least not to the “slow foodie.”
As an emerging Earth-conscious in-group, the Slow Food Movement focuses on taste, cleanliness and the impact that the food we eat has on animal welfare and the environment.
The movement began in 1986, when Italian author and chef Carlo Petrini denounced the opening of a McDonald’s in Piazza di Spagna in Rome, organizing a protest of marchers brandishing bowls of fresh penne.
Three years later, Slow Food International was founded in Paris. The premise was that the industrialization of food was standardizing taste and eradicating thousands of food varieties and flavors.
The Slow Food philosophy began with the old-school ideals of gastronomy – long lunches and good wine – and had a bit of an effete air to it, attracting gourmet chefs and highbrow foodies to chapters called conviviums.
But the movement has since evolved into a broader purpose of being kinder to the planet through our food choices, as well as of rediscovering the pleasures of the table.
“Going to any fast-food restaurant or having a fast-food dinner, that would be the opposite of Slow Food,” said Tucsonan Bob Berzok, a committed “slow foodie” and treasurer for the local Slow Food Tucson group.
“It’s not just a matter of eating quickly, but the type of food that you eat. Slow Food is about eating fresh vegetables and organic foods but is not restricted to organic or vegetarian.”
The 8-year-old group was founded by chef Barry Infuso of the Culinary Arts Program at Pima Community College and his wife, Jashio Pei, who is a local artist.
Among the group’s events are lectures, cooking demonstrations and meals at restaurants that support the slow-food movement.
Berzok said eating in a healthy fashion is an important part of the Slow Food movement, as is enjoying the food.
“It’s true that a lot of people enjoy fast food, but you can’t eat healthier than in a Slow Food tradition,” he said.
Slow Foodies consider themselves co-producers, not consumers. By being informed about how food is produced and by actively supporting producers, they see themselves as a partner in the production process.
They believe what they eat should not only taste good, but should be produced in a clean way that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health.
They also say food producers should receive fair compensation for their work.
Slow Food Tucson promotes prickly pear and saguaro fruit, local citrus and peach orchards, local wineries and ranches with grass- fed beef. The group also urges consumers to eat at local restaurants that support the Slow Food Movement, such as Elle Wine Country Restaurant in Midtown.
Elle’s owner and chef Jeff Fuld buys locally whenever possible.
Occasionally he imports food because of what he believes is superior quality, such as New Zealand lamb versus domestic lamb.
But in general, Fuld opts for food produced in Arizona. The restaurant’s menu features locally grown herbs, fruits and vegetables from Forever Yong Farm in Amado.
“I like the concept of spending your money locally and working locally from a business perspective,” Fuld said.
The Slow Food movement also has what it calls an “arc of taste” – encouraging the consumption of food plants and animals that are in danger of disappearing because they are not eaten enough, such as chapalote corn, the Delaware Bay oyster, the American persimmon and the hinkelhatz hot pepper.
Slow Food International now has more than 80,000 members on five continents. The international office is in Bra, Italy, and employs more than 100 people.
A Food Revolution?
Erika Lesser, executive director of Slow Food USA, categorizes the Slow Food Movement as revolutionizing food. She says it is unique for its appeal to the nutritionist, the environmentalist and the food lover.
She says that concerns about obesity and diabetes have raised awareness of food choices and that government, health and business leaders are finally realizing that the present food system is making people unhealthy.
“There is the collective realization that our planet is also in crisis. Our leaders are finally admitting that the way we have been conducting business is depleting our resources, and the industrialized food supply is the largest contributor to pollution,” Lesser said.
If you go
The third annual Tucson Slow Food Film Festival
* Begins at 4:30 p.m. Thursday with an opening night reception at the Catalina Steakhouse at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa, 3645 W. Starr Pass Blvd. Festival events are planned through Jan. 13. Film screenings, lectures and meals will be held at various locations throughout the city.
* Among films set to be shown are “Chinese Restaurants: Latin Passions,”"Like Water for Chocolate,”"Wedding Banquet,”"Fried Green Tomatoes,” and various other films that focus on food.
* Some of the planned meals include tequila tasting and Mexican mole at Miguel’s Seafood-Mexican restaurant, 5900 N. Oracle Road, and brunch at Vila Thai Restaurant, 972 E. University Blvd. Prices range from $15 for some individual events to $300 for a four-day, all-inclusive package.
* Information and tickets: www.slowfoodtucson.org or call 743- 8160.
“Expert answers questions about movement
Gary Paul Nabhan is the outgoing director of the Center for Sustainable Environments at Northern Arizona University, co-founder of Native Seeds/SEARCH in Tucson, and founder of the Renewing America’s Food Traditions Project of Slow Food USA, which is a nonprofit educational organization. Nabhan is moving back to Southern Arizona this year and in August he’ll begin a post at the University of Arizona’s Southwest Center.
What is Slow Food?
“The difference between Slow Food and fast food is the difference between making love to your spouse and having quick sex in a phone booth. The latter may excite you for about 15 seconds, but it makes you feel terrible for months – that’s how fast food is.
The nonprofit educational organization Slow Food USA defines the movement as about coming together as a food community – connecting producers and co-producers, coming together on the farm, in the market and at the table – to create and enjoy food that is good, clean and fair.”
The Slow Food Movement began in 1986. Has it gained momentum in recent years?
“There are now 160 local chapters of Slow Food in the U.S. Ten years ago, there were about five chapters. It is one of the fastest- growing membership organizations in the United States. If you want to talk about numbers in the movement itself, it’s estimated about 40,000 people from the U.S. will come to the May 2008 event ‘Slow Food Nation’ in San Francisco.”
Why is Slow Food becoming more popular?
“The genius of Slow Food is to make the participation in food issues pleasurable and celebratory rather than being a condemnation of bad habits. They are giving people positive incentives to eat fresh, flavorful food grown in a sustainable way. Rather than exacting guilt on everyone, it is about trying to encourage safe, clean and just food production by giving positive incentives to farmers and fishermen. It’s about putting a human face back on the food system.
“At Slow Food events you meet the farmers and the foragers and the fishermen. Rather than being impersonal and sort of all abstract, it’s very visceral and participatory. It’s a major paradigm shift in environmentalism in the U.S., which as a whole has focused on what has happened in the last 30 years that’s damaging to the Earth. Slow Food emphasizes positive human responses to the environment.”
How does the Slow Food Movement relate to the “green” movement?
“One way of looking at it is: Every part of the green movement is trying to reduce energy consumption and waste, and that one out of every five calories spent in the food system is on transporting either frozen or refrigerated food – literally one in every 25 calories spent in America is on food transportation.
“By emphasizing local, fresh seasonal foods, we can deal with one of the major parts of the green movement – our excessive energy consumption – by really focusing on getting many of the same foods we get from distant places from closer places, where they are fresh and richer in vitamins. We’re solving economic, nutritional and ecological problems all at once.”
How is Slow Food different from simply purchasing organic food items?
“It is not exclusively focused on any formula that ‘organic is good’ and ‘nonorganic is bad.’ It emphasizes safe, clean and fair- trade products. It takes a more holistic approach and is less dogmatic about the best available food choices for us wherever we live. A lot more is place-based. If you are in Alaska, you may want to emphasize fish and game because it’s hard to grow vegetables there. In Tucson, you may want to emphasize vegetables that are low- water-consuming.”
What are some concrete ways people can become Slow Foodies and help save the planet while eating well?
“In the desert Southwest, for example, it would be buying from local farmers and ranchers that have plant and animal foods unique to the area – by finding prickly pear syrup rather than maple syrup, local grass-fed beef rather than feedlot beef, and helping local food producers so that more of the consumer dollar returns to your community rather than going off to Wal-Mart headquarters.”
What do you see as the future of the Slow Food Movement?
“I believe that it’s transforming environmental issues by emphasizing celebratory, restorative actions rather than being confrontational or holier than thou. It embraces people from all walks of life and it’s bipartisan and it’s fun. And people who care about the environment and quality of our food should have as much fun or more than anyone else.
“The growth rate of natural, organic and local foods is now faster and higher than the growth rate of Wal-Mart. I’d rather see food dollars shared with 40 farmers in a neighborhood than with one corporation. The food is so good, and it really almost viscerally seduces people.”
See Page E2 for a list of farmers markets in the area.
Slow Food Tucson holds periodic events throughout the year. For more information, go to www.slowfood tucson.org.
How to be a ‘Slow Foodie’
* Avoid foods with long lists of ingredients you can’t identify and can’t pronounce.
* Shop at local farmers markets.
* Cook even just one regular meal at home with your family, and eat it all sitting together without a television on.
* Look at the produce you buy in the supermarket – if you have a choice between asparagus that was grown in your home state versus asparagus flown in from halfway across the world, choose local.
* Be knowledgeable about where food comes from and how it was produced.
* Visit a local farm and see how cheese is made or find out where your eggs come from or how artichokes grow.
“We are enslaved by speed and have all succumbed to the same insidious virus: Fast Life, which disrupts our habits, pervades the privacy of our homes and forces us to eat Fast Foods.”
– From the Slow Food International manifesto
* Reporter Stephanie Innes can be contacted at sinnes@azstarnet.com.
Originally published by STEPHANIE INNES, ARIZONA DAILY STAR.
(c) 2008 Arizona Daily Star. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.