Slow Food is an organization that supports local food and traditional cooking methods. It was created in Italy in 1986 by Carlo Petrini and has grown to be known worldwide. It is presented as a different choice from fast food, aiming to protect traditional and regional recipes. It encourages farming practices that use plants, seeds, and animals naturally found in local areas. The organization supports small local businesses and foods that are grown in an environmentally friendly way. It emphasizes the importance of food quality instead of how much food is produced. Slow Food was the first part of the larger slow movement. It works to stop the making of too much food and the waste of food. It believes that globalization should protect small and local farmers and food producers while also including them in the global food system.

Organization

Slow Food began in Italy when an early group called Arcigola was formed in 1986. This group wanted to stop a McDonald's restaurant from opening near the Spanish Steps in Rome. In 1989, leaders from 15 countries signed a statement of principles for the international Slow Food movement in Paris, France.

The main goal of Slow Food is to support local foods and traditional ways of growing and preparing food. This also means opposing fast food and large-scale food production methods.

Today, Slow Food has more than 100,000 members in over 150 countries. There are more than 1,300 local groups called convivia. In Italy, these groups are sometimes called condotte, and there are about 360 of them, with 35,000 members. Other groups exist in regions around the world. Each group has a leader who helps promote local farmers, food makers, and traditions through events like food tastings, 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. Its global headquarters is in Bra, near Turin, Italy. The organization publishes materials in many languages worldwide. It also hosts large 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 Terra Madre, a global meeting of food communities in Turin.

In 2004, Slow Food started a 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 teaches 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
– Building seed banks to protect old plant varieties with local farmers
– Preserving traditional foods, their stories, and how they are made
– Supporting small-scale food processing, such as meat cutting and small-batch production
– Hosting events that celebrate local foods, like the Feast of Fields in some Canadian cities
– Teaching people about the importance of good taste in food
– Educating people about the dangers of fast food
– Teaching about the problems with large farms and factory farming
– Explaining the risks of growing only a few types of crops
– Supporting laws that protect family farms
– Encouraging governments to include organic farming in food policies
– Opposing government funding for genetic engineering
– Opposing the use of pesticides
– Teaching gardening skills to students and prisoners
– Encouraging people to buy food from local markets in ethical ways

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 food with strong flavor. Clean means food that is grown and transported naturally. Fair means fair prices and treatment for both people who eat food and those who grow it.

Events

Slow Food Nation was an event created by Slow Food USA to celebrate food that is prepared slowly and grown in a way that helps the environment. The event had about 50,000 people attend. 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. The founder of Slow Food Nation is Alice Waters, a well-known chef and writer. The event included a special garden near San Francisco City Hall, a marketplace, food tastings, and other activities. It also featured panels with experts in food studies, such as Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser, and Carlo Petrini, the founder of Slow Food.

National movements

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

As of 2013, Slow Food USA had about 12,000 members, which is fewer than the over 30,000 members it had in 2008. In 2011, the organization had to reduce its staff and faced a drop in income from wealthy supporters. This was partly because of 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 it had in 2011. These chapters are local nonprofit organizations that run events and education programs to help their communities and spread the message of the slow food movement. The movement also supports the creation of urban gardens.

In addition to chapters in U.S. cities, some universities are now recognized by Slow Food USA, such as the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Slow Food-University of Wisconsin has five projects that support the movement, including a Family Dinner Night, a weekly café, and a Farm to University program. Since then, 46 Slow Food chapters have been started on college campuses.

Important 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 formed a 15-month partnership with the fast-food chain Chipotle Mexican Grill. Chipotle donated $500,000 to support Slow Food USA’s National School Garden Program, which aimed to fund 100 school gardens in cities across the United States. These gardens teach children about where food comes from and how it is grown.

Slow Food UK works to raise awareness about sustainability and social justice issues related to food and farming in Britain. In 2014, Slow Food UK split into separate groups for England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. These groups receive administrative help from Slow Food UK, which is now led by directors from each region. Local groups are led by Slow Food members who take action in their communities. Notable members and supporters include Raymond Blanc and Jamie Oliver.

Some local groups, like Slow Food London, are very large and run programs similar to those of a national office. Slow Food London is the main campaigning group in the UK and responds to local, national, and European discussions about food, fisheries, and agriculture. It has even joined legal actions against the UK government regarding food and farming.

In addition to education programs like Slow Food Kids and Slow Food on Campus, the Slow Food UK National Office helps protect British food traditions through the Chef Alliance and Forgotten Foods programs (UK Ark of Taste). The Chef Alliance is a group of chefs who protect Britain’s food diversity by cooking with Forgotten Foods, which are foods at risk of disappearing. The Forgotten Foods program is part of the Slow Food International Ark of Taste. In 2014, the Chef Alliance had over 100 members, and now more than 150 Forgotten Foods are recognized.

The Australian slow food movement aims to teach communities about the value of good, clean, and local food from farm to market. A campaign is working to include certain Australian foods in Slow Food International’s Ark of Taste, which lists foods at risk of disappearing. These foods include Kangaroo Island’s Ligurian bee honey, the Queensland-native bunya nut, bull-boar sausage from Victoria, and Tasmanian leatherwood honey.

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

In 2005, British-born Latvian chef Mārtiņš Rītiņš became the president of the newly formed Latvian Slow Food Association. The association has organized slow food festivals in cities across Latvia, with cooking demonstrations by Rītiņš and other chefs, tastings by local organic producers, and displays of 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 publisher Gambero Rosso to create a guide. The first edition of Slow Food's first independent guide 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. The guide aimed to review wines, wineries, and the people who make the wine. 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. Eco-gastronomy 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 to the different types of plants, animals, and traditions found in cultures around the world. Using this knowledge helps protect it for future generations.

In 2000, the Slow Food Presidia project began. Its goal was to protect and help revive local farming and food traditions that were in danger of disappearing. Today, the Slow Food Presidia includes groups of people who work to share traditional farming methods, crafts, and the special breeds of animals and plants that are native to their areas. Each Presidium is a group of farmers and makers who follow the Slow Food ideas, and it is linked to a special food item, a specific location, and the traditions and knowledge of that area. The Presidia Project shows a change from just listing information to using that knowledge by working directly with food makers.

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 the movement relate to society and the economy. For example, without changing the daily work time of most people, preparing food slowly can add extra work for those who cook. In contrast, wealthier people have more time and money to develop skills, understanding, and the ability to judge quality in food. Slow Food's goal of protecting itself from the influence of many people can seem unfair to those who eat fast food or are not part of the movement. In 1989, Petrini visited Venezuela and began to understand the challenges many people faced with the slow food movement. To help, he changed the movement's goals to include a different way of eating that focused on healthy, local, and community-based food. This made the movement more available to many people, but it did not completely solve all the economic and social challenges within the movement.