Slow Food is an international movement founded by Carlo Petrini in 1986. This organization strives to preserve traditional and regional cuisine and promotes farming of plants, seeds and livestock characteristic of the local ecosystem. It was the first established part of the broader Slow movement. The movement has since expanded globally to over 100,000 members in 132 countries.
Slow Food began in Italy with the founding of its forerunner organization, Arcigola, in 1986 to resist the opening of a McDonald's near the Spanish Steps in Rome. In 1989, the founding Manifesto of the international Slow Food movement was signed in Paris, France by delegates from 15 countries and has expanded to include over 100,000 members with chapters in over 132 countries. The organizational structure is decentralized: each convivium has a leader who is responsible for promoting local artisans, local farmers, and local flavors through regional events such as Taste Workshops, wine tastings, and farmers' markets.
Their efforts at publicity include the world's largest food and wine fair, the Salone del Gusto in Turin , a biennial cheese fair in Bra called Cheese, the Genoan fish festival called SlowFish, and Turin's Terra Madre ("Mother Earth") world meeting of food communities. In 2004, Slow Food opened a University of Gastronomic Sciences at Pollenzo, in Piedmont, and Colorno, in Emilia-Romagna, Italy with Carlo Petrini and Massimo Montanari leading the University, whose goal is to promote awareness of good food and nutrition.
Following are the objectives within its mission:-
- forming and sustaining seed banks to preserve heirloom varieties in cooperation with local food systems
- developing an "Ark of Taste" for each ecoregion, where local culinary traditions and foods are celebrated
- preserving and promoting local and traditional food products, along with their lore and preparation
- organizing small-scale processing (including facilities for slaughtering and short run products)
- organizing celebrations of local cuisine within regions (for example, the Feast of Fields held in some cities in Canada)
- promoting "taste education"
- educating consumers about the risks of fast food
- educating citizens about the drawbacks of commercial agribusiness and factory farms
- educating citizens about the risks of monoculture and reliance on too few genomes or varieties
- developing various political programs to preserve family farms
- lobbying for the inclusion of organic farming concerns within agricultural policy
- lobbying against government funding of genetic engineering
- lobbying against the use of pesticides
- teaching gardening skills to students and prisoners
- encouraging ethical buying in local marketplaces
In Malaysia, we have CETDEM founded in 1985, an independent, non-profit, training, research, consultancy, referral, and development organization. Committed to improving environmental quality through the appropriate use of technology and sustainable development.
In 1997, CETDEM was appointed to the National Steering Committee of the World Solar Programme and the National Climate Committee, in 1998, it became a founder member of the National Committee on Organic Farming.
One of their major projects is ORGANIC FARMING.
In September 1986 till September 1996 an organic farm was run in Sg. Buloh; June 1987 onwards, exposure and training events have been run at the farm and many different parts of the country. Since October 1996, the focus has been on nation-wide promotion & training that support the ecosystem embarked by Slow Food Movement.
For more detail, kind visit CETDEM website at http://cetdem.org.my/wordpress.
Resources and pictures for this article obtained from CETDEM website, Wikipedia and websites.
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