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Eats In a departure from our review of area eats this month, we're going to take a look instead at some recent news on the food front -- a papal edict on fast food, and an interesting development in Europe that's been dubbed the 'slow food' movement. The Pope & Fast Food: Ok. Maybe we dreamed about it, since we couldn't find thing one on the subject in any on-line news sources. We even went to the Vatican web site and Catholic news services, but still nothing. Nonetheless, we could have sworn we heard a radio broadcast some time in the past ten days or so about a Papal pronouncement, or, more accuratelt, denouncement, concerning "fast food." The gist of it, of course, was that fast food detracts from the bonding and sense of family life that comes from sitting at the table together. This seems pretty straightforward and sensible. I recall another news item, though it must have been some 20 years ago by now, which projected that in the subsequent several years, the statistical 'average American' would be eating 1 of every 2 meals outside the home. Not too many years later, I could've sworn I heard a similar story, except that the numbers had changed to 2 of every 3 meals. In any case, along with the story about the Pope's pronouncement {not sure whether it was an edict, a Bull, or some other of the variously classified pronouncements}, there was also a piece of the Slow Food movement. That was much easier to track down. ... Slow Food ... The Slow Food movement, it seems, emerged in Turin, Italy in 1986. According to the 15 Novemebr issue of the on-line journal Quotidiano, the movement was started "by journalist Carlo Petrini, with a philosophy of enjoying the simple pleasures of life (such as eating) and respecting local production over global ..." The initial membership began primarily with handful of Italian food enthusiasts, who joined Petrini in his campaign. But today, according to Quotidiano, "Slow food has grown to over 60,000 members, including 1,500 in the U.S." The Slow Food folks refer to their cause as an "ecogastronomic movement." Its members are dedicated "to the preservation and enjoyment of traditional methods of food preparation." This may seem reasonable and benign. However, adherents cite a number of encroachments upon this seemingly simple devotion by the still-new European Union. The EU, it seems, as passed a number of ordinances which, in fact, have forbidden some traditional slow methods of food preparation. Among the more notable intrusions, the EU, it seems, forbids the production of Pecorino cheese in damp, underground vats ... has outlawed wood burning pizza ovens, and will not accept the curing of Tuscan pig lard in marble vats instead of stainless steel. Each of these methods of preparation has been in use for centuries in Italy, and, many claim, it is precisely these method which creates the flavor that is peculiar to these Italian specialties. But lest you think the Slow Food movement is nothing more than an indulgence, consider this: In Bologna last month, the Slow Food folks held an international award gathering. But the winners were not there for their great recipes or contributions to gastronomy. Each of the winners was acknowledged for "meritorious projects in defense of biodiversity and the world agroindustrial heritage." As a result, the winners were ...
Slow Food actually has its own web site, slowfood.com, available in English, Italian, and French. There, you'll find a link to, among other things, the Salone del Gusto di Torino, a "Taste Gazette" that offers news and commentary. In addition, you'll find links to Slow: The International Herald of Tastes, The Ark of Taste and Slow Food Praesidia, which exists, it notes, "to discover, catalogue, review and promulgate forgotten flavours and threatened treasures: a whole universe of cured meats, cheeses, cereals, vegetables, local breeds." You may not want to join the Slow Food movement. And you probably don't want to feel the weight of guilt from The Holy See if you happen to stop at a Burger King during your holiday shopping. ... But both the Pope and the Slow Food movement may be on to something here. Breaking bread together has forever been both a means to an end, and an end in itself. As a means to an end, when we eat together, we strengthen the community, whether of our own families or, as at church suppers and similar events, of the wider community. As an end in itself, the pleasure of genuinely good food, prepared with care, which almost always means time, is hard to beat. And either way, in a world where the emphasis has increasingly shifted to speed and efficiency, it is good to be reminded that many of the good things life has to offer take time. Happy Thanksgiving
... and lmc
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