Slow Food

Many of us have heard the term "slow food movement" by now... and this past weekend we ate at a restaurant in Minneapolis that dubs itself as "an organic restaurant focusing on great food grown locally using sustainable methods" (Cafe Agri, 4300 Bryant Ave South, Minneapolis), and also a partner with the Slow Food Movement. We had a lovely meal -- a wonderful beet ribbon salad with dates and walnuts, seared maple tofu with heirloom rice, and fennel-ginger tempeh with sauteed leek tops and red quinoa. The meals were fresh, inspired, and satiating. Especially to the two of us, having eaten plenty of midwestern delicacies like cream and eggs throughout the weekend, Cafe Agri was a welcome oasis. The restaurant has a few things to iron out (they won't be serving wine until later this month, and the service was a bit intrusive for our tastes), but overall the atmosphere was clean, simple, inviting, and the food was top notch - at least to the macrobiotic pallates that Jacob and I have been cultivating.

All of this slow food led me to ponder what, exactly, "the slow food movement" is all about... Obviously, the name of the movement gives away one of it's motivations -- to combat the notion of "fast food" which really began to take off in the late 1980s. So I set off on an internet research adventure, beginning with Slow Food International's website. Here's what it says, "Slow Food is a non-profit, eco-gastronomic member-supported organization that was founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world."

Hmmm.... ok.... but it's still a little vague to me. What does it mean to subscribe to "slow food"?? Moving to the "philosophy" page, I start to get the picture... It falls into the lines of Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle premise that we all need to be more connected to the food that we consume. "Slow Food is good, clean and fair food. We believe that the food we eat should taste good; that it should be produced in a clean way that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health; and that food producers should receive fair compensation for their work. We consider ourselves co-producers, not consumers, because by being informed about how our food is produced and actively supporting those who produce it, we become a part of and a partner in the production process."

Things are becoming clearer now.

One of the greatest things about the Slow Food Organizations (SFO) is that they work to preserve heirloom varieties of foods... perhaps fodder for a future AGAD post... the heirloom rice that I had at Cafe Agri, coincidentally, was top notch - The SFO also work to celebrate local cuisine, helping to define local cooking where there aren't any identified "specialties" -- thus increasing awareness for locally-grown and locally-created dishes. Very much in line with macrobiotic values. And here is a blog from Slow Food USA which provides daily updates on major issues in food as they relate to the slow food philosophy.

I'm still not sold on becoming a member, or anything - but I do agree with the major principles that food should be something that we, as humans, connect with one another around. Growing up, my family made a serious effort to eat dinner together every night, no matter what was going on - and it has left an impact on me to this day. The daily conversations around the dinner table were not always the most joyful or loving, but they provided structure and a time to share life with one another. Today's culture of TV dinners, McDonald's on the way to the next destination, and general lack of "dinnertime" just doesn't seem healthy to me.