Good, Clean and Fair: the Manifesto of Quality According to Slow Food
The food production and consumption systems most common today are harmful to the earth, to its ecosystems and to the peoples that inhabit it.Taste, biodiversity, the health of humans and animals, well-being and nature are coming under continuous attack. This jeopardizes the very urge to eat and produce food as gastronomes and exercise the right to pleasure without harming the existence of others or the environmental equilibria of the planet we live on.
If, as the farmer poet Wendell Berry says, "eating is an agricultural act," it follows that producing food must be considered a "gastronomic act."
The consumer orients the market and production with his or her choices and, growing aware of these processes, he or she assumes a new role. Consumption becomes part of the productive act and the consumer thus becomes a co-producer.
The producer plays a key role in this process, working to achieve quality, making his or her experience available and welcoming the knowledge and knowhow of others.
The effort must be a common one and must be made in the same aware, shared and interdisciplinary spirit as the science of gastronomy.
Each of us is called upon to practice and disseminate a new, more precise and, at the same time, broader concept of food quality based on three basic, interconnected prerequisites. Quality food must be:
1. Good. A food’s flavor and aroma, recognizable to educated, well-trained senses, is the fruit of the competence of the producer and of choice of raw materials and production methods, which should in no way alter its naturalness;
2. Clean. The environment has to be respected and sustainable practices of farming, animal husbandry, processing, marketing and consumption should be taken into serious consideration. Every stage in the agro-industrial production chain, consumption included, should protect ecosystems and biodiversity, safeguarding the health of the consumer and the producer;
3. Fair. Social justice should be pursued through the creation of conditions of labor respectful of man and his rights and capable of generating adequate rewards; through the pursuit of balanced global economies; through the practice of sympathy and solidarity; through respect for cultural diversities and traditions;
Good, Clean and Fair quality is a pledge for a better future.
Good, Clean and Fair quality is an act of civilization and a tool to improve the food system as it is today: everyone can contribute to Good, Clean and Fair quality through their choices and individual behavior.
What are Slow Food's goals?
How is my membership fee used?
What is the difference between convivia and presidia?
These and other questions are answered in The Slow Food Companion, which is now available as a .pdf on the Slow Food USA web site. Although information on these and other Slow Food subjects is frequently published on both the US and international sites, the Companion is a tidy summary. The link to the .pdf version is also a good one to share with others who may be interested in the basics of Slow Food and in an overview of its history, its organization, and its mission.
For further reading (and listening):
++ Michael Pollan's article in the May/June 2004 issue of Mother Jones, "Cruising on the Ark of Taste";
++ A Fast Company profile of Slow Food, including comments by Carlo Petrini;
++ Patricia Unterman on "Savoring Slow Food," and her experience at the 2000 Salone del Gusto;
++ and Sylvia Poggioli's report on the 2004 Salone for NPR;
++ Alexander Stille's profile of Slow Food in The Nation; and
++ Corby Kummer "In Praise of Slow Food" from NPR's "All Things Considered".
Slow Food U.S.A. is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to supporting and celebrating the food traditions of North America. From the spice of Cajun cooking to the purity of the organic movement; from animal breeds and heirloom varieties of fruits and vegetables to handcrafted wine and beer, farmhouse cheeses and other artisanal products; these foods are a part of our cultural identity. They reflect generations of commitment to the land and devotion to the processes that yield the greatest achievements in taste. These foods, and the communities that produce and depend on them, are constantly at risk of succumbing to the effects of the fast life, which manifests itself through the industrialization and standardization of our food supply and degradation of our farmland. By reviving the pleasures of the table, and using our taste buds as our guides, Slow Food U.S.A. believes that our food heritage can be saved.
Slow Food U.S.A. believes that pleasure and quality in everyday life can be achieved by slowing down, respecting the convivial traditions of the table, and celebrating the diversity of the earth's bounty. Our goal is to put the carriers of this heritage on center stage and educate our membership on the importance of these principles. We hope you will join us!
Slow Food U.S.A. oversees Slow Food activities in North America, including the support and promotion of the activities of more than 75 local chapters, each called a convivium, that carry out the Slow Food mission on a local level. Each convivium advocates sustainability and bio-diversity through educational events and public outreach that promote the consumption of seasonal and local foods and the support of those who produce them.
Inspired by Noah's Ark and its protection of animal species, Slow Food's Ark USA seeks to identify, promote and protect foods in danger of extinction, such as the Delaware Bay Oyster, the Bourbon Red turkey first bred in Tennessee, Aged Dry Jack Cheese, and naturally grown, hand-parched wild rice from the lake regions of Minnesota and Wisconsin. Products such as these are economically and ecologically fragile, yet an important part of their local economies and culture. By increasing awareness of and demand for these high quality foods, we can help make them viable products that will bring pleasure for generations to come.
The relationship between ecology and gastronomy, neither of which can exist without the other, is a central theme of all Slow Food publications. Slow, our award-winning quarterly journal devoted to food culture around the world, and The Snail, a newsletter for U.S. members, are perhaps the greatest benefits of membership. It is these publications that unite Slow Food's 70,000+ members and 560 convivia in over 45 countries.
Welcome to the SlowFoodLA web site, a local effort put together by members of the Los Angeles convivium of Slow Food to highlight events sponsored by the local convivium, restaurants and resources convivium members enjoy, etc.
This is intended to be our place on the web to exchange ideas and tips, and to share our interests surrounding food, drink, and the simple pleasures of life. It is whatever we members make of it.
When you become a member of Slow Food, you will receive a personal membership card, seven issues of our journal Slow in the language of your choice (including three special editions focusing on wine, the Ark of Taste, and the Slow Food Award) and four issues of our U.S. newsletter The Snail, plus the right to attend all Slow Food events in your area and around the world. When you sign up you will also be placed in the Los Angeles convivium, led by Evan Kleiman, and you will have the opportunity to participate in in convivium events and activities, which range from theme dinners and focused educational tastings to trips to local producers and farmers to learn about sustainably raised foods and regional agricultural traditions.
The International Movement for the Defense of and the Right to Pleasure officially came into being on November 9, 1989 at the Opera Comique in Paris.
The Slow Food Manifesto was endorsed by delegates from Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States, and Venezuela.
Our century, which began and has developed under the insignia of industrial civilization, first invented the machine and then took it as its life model.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.
To be worthy of the name, Homo Sapiens should rid himself of speed before it reduces him to a species in danger of extinction.
A firm defense of quiet material pleasure is the only way to oppose the universal folly of Fast Life.
May suitable doses of guaranteed sensual pleasure and slow, long-lasting enjoyment preserve us from the contagion of the multitude who mistake frenzy for efficiency.
Our defense should begin at the table with Slow Food. Let us rediscover the flavors and savors of regional cooking and banish the degrading effects of Fast Food.
In the name of productivity, Fast Life has changed our way of being and threatens our environment and our landscapes. So Slow Food is now the only truly progressive answer.
That is what real culture is all about: developing taste rather than demeaning it. And what better way to set about this than an international exchange of experiences, knowledge, projects?
Slow Food guarantees a better future.
Slow Food is an idea that needs plenty of qualified supporters who can help turn this (slow) motion into an international movement, with the little snail as its symbol.