Slow Food is an organization that created a network promoting local food and traditional cooking. It was founded by Carlo Petrini in Italy in 1986 and has since spread worldwide.
Here are some goals of the slow food movement:
Food and Taste Education: ‘Slow Food teaches children to fully use their senses to recognize food qualities and become conscious of their choices. Taste education in the early years of life contributes to a child's sensory memory and defines tastes and habits. Slow Food has reached thousands of children through its sensory education programs.’
Defense of biodiversity: ‘In reality it refers to a simple concept, relevant to everyone on the planet, because it is nature, it is life itself and it is the diversity of life, on many levels, from the smallest (genes, the building blocks of life) to plant and animal species, up to the most complex levels (ecosystems). All these levels intersect, influence each other and evolve.” (Fondazione Slow Food)
Interaction between food producers: Communicating and working with local food producers allows the economy to grow and encourages sustainable farming.
Along with the slow food movement, you have several other themes such as bees, climate change, family farming, slow food travel, food waste, GMOs, land grabbing, slow fish caribe, slow cheese, slow Europe, slow meat, slow fish, and slow wine.
The Foundation has also introduced Slow Food Travel: “Behind every place lie stories, gastronomic traditions, artisanal flavors and time-honored practices, preserved by women and men whose identities and cultures have been constructed over centuries. Every gastronomic tradition can become a unique tourism experience. Slow Food Travel offers a new model for tourism, made up of meetings and exchanges with farmers, cheesemakers, herders, butchers, bakers and winegrowers who, along with the chefs who cook their products, will be the narrators of their local areas and unique guides to the local traditions.”
To learn more, visit Slowfood.com