Slow Food

I recently learned about one of the latest crazes in the “green” movement and I thought it was pretty interesting.  It is called “slow food”.  According to Wikipedia, the slow food movement actually began in Italy as a way to “combat fast food”.  The idea was to preserve cultural cuisine.  Since its origins in Italy the slow food movement has spread across the globe as not just a way to cook, but also a way of living – the fresh, true, organic way.

A few of the main things that the slow food way of life encourage are:

• More organic farming - doing away with things such as pesticides.
• Less genetic engineering in products we eat – the slow food movement lobby’s against this.
• Educating people on the risks associated with fast food and other not so wholesome ways of eating.
• Keeping culinary traditions alive, including using fresh and true to the original ingredients.
• Teaching gardening methods to people.

Slow Food USA is a great place to get information on the slow food movement as well as information on local chapters and events (such as a local slow food potluck where you just may get to try something you didn’t even know existed).  The slow food movement helps to create nutrition programs in schools, mobilize youth to help created programs and educate communities, and also form what is called an “Ark of Taste” which lists hundreds of foods that are in danger of disappearing from our grocery shelves – the idea being that if these foods are promoted people will once again buy them and use them, thus ensuring that they continue on in our diets.

This whole movement makes me think about and wonder just how much of what we eat is not in its original form.  I once had a friend tell me she wouldn’t eat corn anymore because it had all been so genetically modified that it wasn’t even what God created as corn to begin with.  If you look around your pantry and refrigerator you would be hard pressed to find something that wasn’t chemically altered in one way or another.  Food has been so altered that most people don’t think it tastes good if it hasn’t been processed a few hundred times.  It’s really sad – I mean, if we all were to be taken back to the Garden of Eden right now we probably wouldn’t want to eat anything God provided because it didn’t come with a list of ingredients a mile long or in a box.  I know that is a bit harsh, but that is how we live these days.  I think it is time for all of us to do an analysis on our kitchens and just what it is we are feeding our families.  Are you up for that challenge?

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