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The Slow Food movement
In a world where time is money, where speed is everything, where being the best often means being the quickest, it takes a certain amount of courage to choose a snail as your corporate logo.
The snail is a symbol of slowness, rest and hospitality” explains Carlo Petrini, head of the Slow Food movement. Yes, that’s right - not fast food, but slow food. A snail might be an unusual symbol, and this is because Slow Food is an unusual organisation.
Founded in Italy in 1986, the Slow Food movement aims to stop what they see as the global standardisation of foods, tastes and methods of food production, and also to raise consumer awareness of food products around the world.
Now a large-scale international movement, with 77,000 members in five continents and offices in Europe and the United States, Slow Food is divided into 700 local groups known as convivia” (A Latin word meaning hospitality”). Each convivium organises meetings, debates, shows and other events.
All Slow Food events and activities are based on two fundamental principles: the importance of conviviality and the right to pleasure. They have a manifesto” which reads: Let us rediscover the flavours and savours of regional cooking and banish the degrading effects of Fast Food. In the name of productivity, the Fast Life has changed our way of being and threatens our environment and our landscapes”.
Slow Food believe that any traditional product represents the flavours of its region of origin, as well as local customs and ancient production techniques. This is why they are working to protect historic cafés, inns and restaurants around the world, as well as agricultural heritage - crop biodiversity, traditional farming techniques and sustainable development.
It is certainly ironic that Slow Food has become a fast growing movement. If it wants to keep up with the success of the movement, the snail will have to speed up.
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