Slow Food in forefront of the burger backlash
Slow Food in forefront of the burger backlash
The Slow Food Movement
promotes all that is best
about food and drink.
Sue Clapham got a
taste of what its all
about at a meeting of
members in Buckie
THERE can be few more convivial ways of spending a winter afternoon than sharing good food with a group of like-minded people.
Perhaps thats one reason why the Slow Food Movement likes to call its local branches Convivia, which meet to promote "knowledge, taste and enjoyment" of good food and drink.
Slow Food was founded in Italy in 1989 by Carlo Petrini, who, so the story goes, was so outraged at the appearance of a branch of McDonalds at the foot of the Spanish Steps in Rome that he launched a manifesto to promote "the flavours and savours of regional cooking".
In the intervening years Slow Food, with its trademark little snail, has become a full scale, international movement, with currently around 65,000 members spread across 45 countries.
The gathering took place at Val and Calum Buchanans Old Monastery Restaurant, overlooking the Moray Firth at Buckie in north-east Scotland, where an impressive spread of breads and handcrafted UK cheeses had been laid out for discussion but also, more importantly, tasting.
On hand to help was local farmer and prize-winning cheesemaker Pam Rodway while Calum, who makes his own bread for the restaurant, and Trevor Clarke from the nearby Phoenic Bakery at Findhorn, outlined a variety of breadmaking processes.
"In some ways cheese is the slow food," Pam said as she explained about, among others, Mrs Applebys Cheshire, an Isle of Mull Cheddar, Waterloo (made from the milk of Jersey cows belonging to the Duke of Wellington) and of course her own Scottish Dunlop. "Its the best way of preserving milk and carries the character of the place in which it was made."
Celebrating the cultural and historical roots of the food we eat – "reclaiming our gastronomic heritage" – is a central tenet of Slow Food. The Ark of Taste – one of its major projects – documents and promotes foods and beverages in danger of becoming extinct but, typically of Slow Food, this is more than just a paper exercise. There are currently about 100 "concrete, tailormade local interventions" running worldwide, including fund sourcing for equipment, running pilot companies or creating new markets.
One Scottish Slow Food member, Howard Wilkinson, has cited farmers markets as the "absolutely practical manifestation" of the underlying principles of the movement, with their emphasis on artisan producers and the promotion of seasonal local food.
Certainly, farmers at the Moray gathering were enthusiastic. Fiona and Fraser Wilson, who farm 36ha (90 acres) near Huntly and run a thriving herb business, feel its important that farmers think about what happens to the food they produce.
Liz Jones, who delivers her own oven-ready, free-range chickens to an ever-expanding number of customers, adds: "If people understand whats involved its more likely that producers will receive a fair price."
Above all, Carlos Petrini stresses, Slow Food is not about gourmet foods for elite taste buds. "In the end," he says, "its about preserving what makes us human."
Contacts: www.slowfood.com For England and Wales: Wendy Fogarty 01844-339362, For Scotland: Howard Wilkinson 01560-484861.