Slow Food is an organization that supports local food and traditional cooking methods. It was started by Carlo Petrini in Italy in 1986 and has grown to operate in countries around the world. It is presented as a different choice from fast food, aiming to protect traditional and regional dishes. The organization encourages farming practices that use plants, seeds, and animals native to local areas. It supports small local businesses and foods that are grown in ways that help the environment. Slow Food emphasizes the importance of food quality instead of how much food is produced. It was the first group to form part of the larger slow movement. The organization works to stop the creation of too much food and the waste of food. It believes that globalization should both protect and include small, local farmers and food producers in the global food system.

Organization

Slow Food began in Italy when a group called Arcigola was formed in 1986 to oppose the opening of a McDonald's near the Spanish Steps in Rome. In 1989, leaders from 15 countries signed the founding statement of the international Slow Food movement in Paris, France.

The main goal of Slow Food is to support local foods and traditional cooking methods and farming practices. This also means it works against fast food and large-scale food production.

Today, Slow Food has over 100,000 members in more than 150 countries. There are over 1,300 local groups called convivia. In Italy, about 360 of these groups, known as condotte, have 35,000 members. These groups, along with others worldwide, operate independently. Each group has a leader who helps promote local farmers, artisans, and food traditions through events like taste workshops, wine tastings, and farmers' markets.

Slow Food has offices in Switzerland (1995), Germany (1998), New York City (2000), France (2003), Japan (2005), the United Kingdom, and Chile. The global headquarters is in Bra, near Turin, Italy. The organization publishes materials in many languages worldwide. It also hosts major events, such as the Salone del Gusto food and wine fair in Turin, the Cheese fair in Bra, the SlowFish fish festival in Genoa, and the Terra Madre food community meeting in Turin.

In 2004, Slow Food opened the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Piedmont, and Colorno, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The Colorno branch later moved to Pollenzo. Carlo Petrini and Massimo Montanari helped create the university, which aims to teach people about good food and nutrition.

Slow Food works toward several goals, including:
– Creating an "Ark of Taste" for each region to celebrate local foods and traditions
– Starting local groups called "Praesidia" to share information about slow food
– Supporting seed banks to protect old plant varieties
– Preserving traditional foods, their stories, and how they are made
– Setting up small food processing facilities, such as those for slaughtering and limited production
– Hosting local food celebrations, like the Feast of Fields in some Canadian cities
– Teaching people to enjoy food through "taste education"
– Educating people about the dangers of fast food
– Teaching about the problems with large-scale farming and factory farms
– Explaining the risks of growing only one type of crop or using few plant varieties
– Supporting policies that protect family farms
– Advocating for organic farming in agricultural laws
– Opposing government support for genetic engineering
– Opposing the use of pesticides
– Teaching gardening skills to students and prisoners
– Encouraging people to buy ethical products at local markets

Carlo Petrini, the founder and president of Slow Food, believes that "everyone has the right to good, clean, and fair food." Good means high-quality, flavorful food. Clean means food that is naturally produced and transported. Fair means fair prices and treatment for both buyers and sellers.

Events

Slow Food Nation was an event hosted by Slow Food USA to celebrate slow and sustainable foods. The event had an audience of about 50,000 people. It took place during the Labor Day weekend from August 29 to September 1, 2008, with most activities held at San Francisco's Civic Center and Fort Mason Center. Alice Waters, an influential chef and author, founded Slow Food Nation. The event included a special "victory garden" near San Francisco City Hall, a marketplace, food tastings, and other activities. It also featured panels led by food experts such as Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser, and Carlo Petrini, the founder of Slow Food.

National movements

In 2008, Slow Food USA held its largest event, called Slow Food Nation, in San Francisco. The event was held again in 2017 as Slow Food Nations, which is similar to Terra Madre Salone del Gusto, and took place in Denver, Colorado. The event is planned to continue in 2018.

As of 2013, Slow Food USA had about 12,000 members, which was fewer than the over 30,000 members in 2008. In 2011, the organization had to reduce staff and faced a drop in income from wealthy supporters. This was partly due to the economic recession and also because of disagreements within the group and the loss of some important leaders.

As of 2024, Slow Food USA has 200 chapters, which is fewer than the 225 chapters in 2011. These chapters are local, non-profit groups that organize events and educational programs to help their communities and promote the slow food movement and local environmental efforts. The movement also supports the creation of urban gardens.

In addition to city-based chapters, several universities are now recognized by Slow Food USA, including the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The university’s Slow Food group has five projects focused on the movement’s goals, such as a Family Dinner Night, a weekly café, and a Farm to University program. Since then, 46 Slow Food chapters have been created on college campuses.

Notable members of Slow Food USA include Alice Waters, Eric Schlosser, Pamela Sheldon Johns, Fabrizio Facchini, and Michael Pollan. As of 2021, Anna Mulé is the executive director.

In October 2014, Slow Food USA partnered with Chipotle Mexican Grill for 15 months. Chipotle provided $500,000 to support Slow Food USA’s National School Garden Program, which aimed to fund 100 school gardens across the United States to teach children about food sources and farming.

Slow Food UK works to raise awareness about sustainability and fairness in food and farming in Britain. In 2014, Slow Food UK split into separate groups for England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Slow Food UK continues to provide administrative help to these groups, and its board now includes directors from each region. Local groups are led by members who take action in their communities. Notable supporters include Raymond Blanc and Jamie Oliver.

Some local groups, like Slow Food London, are large and run programs similar to a national office. Slow Food London leads campaigns on food, fisheries, and agriculture, and has participated in legal actions against the UK government related to food and farming.

Slow Food UK also runs national education programs, such as Slow Food Kids and Slow Food on Campus. It works to protect British culinary traditions through the Chef Alliance and Forgotten Foods programs (part of the Ark of Taste). The Chef Alliance is a group of chefs who help preserve Britain’s unique foods by using ingredients that are at risk of disappearing. As of 2014, the Chef Alliance had over 100 members, and more than 150 foods are now recognized as part of the Ark of Taste.

In Australia, the slow food movement focuses on teaching communities about the value of good, clean, local food from farm to market. A campaign is underway to add Australian foods to the Ark of Taste, including Kangaroo Island’s Ligurian bee honey, Queensland’s bunya nut, Victoria’s bull-boar sausage, and Tasmania’s leatherwood honey.

In the Netherlands, the Slow Food Youth Network (SFYN) is active. SFYN is a global group of young people who believe they must help shape the future of food. They connect young consumers, producers, farmers, chefs, and students through events like eat-ins, tastings, and World Disco Soup Day. They also run campaigns and projects, such as food education and the SFYN Academy.

In 2005, Mārtiņš Rītiņš, a British-born Latvian chef, became the president of the newly formed Latvian Slow Food Association. The association has organized slow food festivals in cities across Latvia, featuring cooking demonstrations by Rītiņš and other chefs, tastings by local organic producers, and cultural crafts like silver jewelry, beeswax candles, leather books, pottery, and hemp clothing made by local artisans.

Wine

In 2010, Slow Food International started its own Slow Wine project by publishing a wine guide. Before 2010, Slow Food partnered with a publisher named Gambero Rosso to create a guide. The first guide made by Slow Food on its own was released in 1993. It was called "Slow Food guide to the wines of the world" and was translated into five languages. Over 50,000 copies were sold worldwide. This guide aimed to review not only the wines but also the wineries and the people who produced them. Two editions of the guide have been published, and both are available in English.

Eco-gastronomy

Eco-gastronomy includes the Slow Food movement as part of a larger idea. It focuses on caring for the environment, protecting the variety of plants and animals, and growing food in ways that do not harm the Earth. The Slow Food movement connects food knowledge with the unique types of plants and animals found in different cultures around the world. Using this knowledge helps protect it for future generations.

In 2000, the Slow Food Presidia project began. Its purpose was to save and bring back local and traditional farming methods that were in danger of disappearing. Today, the Presidia project supports groups that work to share traditional farming skills, keep native food and animal breeds alive, and protect cultural traditions. Each Presidium represents a group of farmers who follow the Slow Food philosophy, create a traditional food product, and preserve the place and knowledge where it comes from. The Presidia project changed how information is handled, moving from just collecting data to using it directly through the work of food producers.

Criticisms

Slow Food's goals have been compared to the Arts and Crafts movement's reaction to changes caused by 19th-century industrialization. Some criticisms of Slow Food focus on economic and social issues. For example, preparing food slowly can add extra work for people who already have long working days. In contrast, wealthier people have more time and money to develop skills like tasting, learning about food, and making good choices. Slow Food's goal of protecting itself from the influence of large groups of people can seem unfair to those who eat fast food or are not part of the movement. In 1989, Petrini visited Venezuela and noticed the economic and social challenges many people faced with the slow food movement. To help, he changed the movement's focus to include eating and growing healthy, local, and community-based food. This made the movement more available to many people, but it did not solve all the economic and social challenges still present.