|
'Slow Foodies' don't pay attention to time |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Written by Jenny Lim, MCT
|
|
Tuesday, 29 May 2007 |
|
|
|
|
To those who are time-starved, the Slow Food philosophy may sound rather unappetizing.
The creed of the international organization — which boasts 13,000 members in America alone — suggests that to savor life, one must mosey, versus drive-thru, each moment of the day.
Beginning, if not especially, at the dining table.
"We are enslaved by speed," the Slow Food manifesto proclaims, "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."
In other words, Slow Food folk believe that everything about our daily grub — the way it's grown, raised, prepared and noshed — ought to be unhurried. Slow Foodies have a rebel attitude toward modern-day eating: Graze, don't gobble; relish, don't rush.
Which explains, perhaps, why a bakers' dozen of them in Charleston, S.C., took a good hour and 43 minutes of their sweet time before fully digging in to an array of fresh dishes at their spring meal and meeting last Saturday.
Hunks of cantaloupe wearing ribbons of prosciutto as shawls sat timidly on a table. Pillows of fresh mozzarella were drizzled in extra virgin olive oil, all dressed up with evidently no place to go. A vat of strawberries from the Marion Square farmer's market were lonely wallflowers, waiting for someone — anyone — to pick them up.
No one can accuse these Slow Food eaters of not pacing themselves at a buffet. And that's fine to them, since the movement's goal is to preserve that halcyon tradition of actually enjoying home-cooked or natural fare, reveling in each morsel, particularly in the company of others.
"We've lost our taste buds and are so used to having processed foods," said Mev McIntosh, one of the Charleston chapter's founders and a ninth grade English teacher in Goose Creek. "People have forgotten what a strawberry should taste like."
Slow Food eaters swear unprocessed foods cultivated by local farmers and artisans simply taste better. Members make it a point to cook with food grown locally, or grow it themselves. They like to know the names and faces of the people who nurtured the ingredients that made it to their kitchens. They're concerned with flavor and fellowship, not calorie counts.
The 145 U.S. chapters, each called a "convivium," host regular events to educate the public on appreciating local foods and supporting local growers. The movement was founded in Italy in 1986 by Carlo Petrini, and the word-of-mouth campaign against fast food culture has since spread to 50 countries.
The more people find out what large corporations are injecting into their food, the more diners will opt for slow eating, said Doug Beard, the food and beverage director at Middleton Place Restaurant in Charleston.
"Do I really want to eat something with 1,200 ingredients that I can't pronounce?" asked Beard, a former Magnolias restaurant chef who whipped up a vegetable casserole made with kale, mustard greens, spring onions, immature peppers and eggs — all items handpicked himself.
Beard's sustainable concoction languidly loitered on a dining table at Earth Fare grocery store in West Ashley, where Slow Food members gabbed about summer vegetables and USDA organic food labels, in no obvious haste to wolf down their gourmet spread. A farmer chattered about raising cattle, as his grandfather did in 1907, then offered samples of homespun summer sausage. One couple talked of the microbrewery they'll open in Charleston this year. For 10 minutes, a man who co-owns an olive vineyard in California zealously explained the pitted fruit's nine-month sojourn from tree to table.
Eating, apparently, isn't all you do with food. In some cultures, it's a given that a meal is shared over stories, said horticulturist and Slow Food member Karen Clarke.
"I think we're getting back to that in the United States, but it is so difficult," Clarke said. "We're gulping fast food to get to the next activity — but eating IS the activity."
That could be an unusual and, quite frankly, perplexing dining experience for those who, say, operate under the tyranny of deadlines. Or those who are most familiar with a recipe that begins, "Remove frozen tray from box." Or who can't fully appreciate the 50 mph speed limit that hampered the Mapquest gods' underestimated prediction of a 115-minute dash from Bluffton to the Slow Food dinner in Charleston.
Then again, maybe this is precisely who Slow Food targets: those so accustomed to moving and munching fast, they've forgotten taste even matters.
While Slow Foodies don't vow to limit their number of bites per minute, they claim to naturally put the brakes on inhaling meals by staying mindful of where their food came from, who made it and how it peps up their mouth.
"You slow down because you really enjoy the taste," said Megan Westmeyer, who works with the Sustainable Seafood Initiative at the South Carolina Aquarium. "Mostly, the extra effort is to not let the pace of my life govern (how) I'm eating."
For the 13 of 40 Slow Food Charleston members at last weekend's gathering, that meant nibbling little bites off little plates. At an adagio clip, they tapped their forks into puddles of mango kulfi (a South Asian variation of ice cream) capped with roasted pistachios. Small hills of ceviche — a cocktail of seafood, onions and citrus juice — dotted their dishes.
Some two hours and 19 minutes after they'd arrived at Earth Fare, the Slow Foodies were done chowing down.
Maybe that's to be expected from a movement that, according to its Web site, chose the snail as its mascot because "it moves slowly and calmly eats its way through life."
It's a symbol that may just give high-speed eaters pause, appropriately enough, for thought.
Web site: www.slowfoodusa.org. The non-profit organization is based in Brooklyn, N.Y. and is part of the Slow Food International Movement, which was started by Carlo Petrini in Italy in 1986 to oppose fast food culture. | Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register. |
|
|  | "Humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is Alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one, and only truth." | |
|  | We're not that bright, even though in our own little world, we're geniuses. We like 80s hair bands and one-hit wonders, but among us we have respectable tastes, too. Metallica, Iron Maiden, U2. Pursuit of all things trivial is a lifestyle, not just a game. We like some sports, love other sports, and can find something to say about anything. We watch TV and movies and we've read a book or two, even a few classics (Yes, Classic Comics count!)
We call it insight, you call it what you will. | |
|  | Felix Wong is an outdoor enthusiast living in Fort Collins. A mechanical engineer by day, he is especially passionate about bicycling, running, and backpacking. | |
|  | Hola Amigos! I'm Sandra. I like to believe that people are 70 percent good and 30 percent dumb. I'm stickin to that story. Reading this blog might make you want to be good, but probably just dumb. | |
|  | Donovan Henderson is editor of NEXTnc. | |
|  | Here at Nextnc we have some characters. Get a sneak peak behind the curtain and find out what amusing antics our staffers get themselves into on a weekly basis. | |
|  | What is up FoCo?
I am a recent college graduate of Minnesota State University Moorhead. After recieving my B.A. in English and Mass Communications this past August I moved down to Colorado.
I enjoy long walks on the beach, candlelight dinners, and heavy metal. My hobbies include reading and writing, music, movies, and getting drunk. Some of my favorite contemporary authors include Bret Easton Ellis, Chuck Palahniuk, and Kurt Vonnegut. My top movies are anything directed by Kubrick. I enjoy listening to anything that rocks.
Right now I am just trying to get to know Colorado and FoCo better. Mostly in order to find the best drink specials on each day that ends in Y. So if you know where I can get a cheap drunk on, let me know!
--Drew | |
|  | Life's little morsels of inspiration, observation and encouragement seen through the eyes of the Nextnc reporter.
| |
|  | Ms. Giles currently lives in Colorado where she stars in her own private reality show. She writes aphoristic accounts of her life, taken completely out of context, and embellished with characters and situations disguised to resemble something close to interesting. | |
|  | over and out | |
| | My name is Michelle Turley and I'm 28 years old. I live in Severance with my hubbie, Brandon. We have 2 dogs and a cat. We enjoy camping, four-wheeling, and just being in the mountains. I like to cook, clean (go figure), flea market, and play poker. I have so much to say about poker... | |
|
|
