Slow Food: The Antidote to Fast Food Culture

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If you’re like me, you might’ve seen the words “Slow Food” adorning a restaurant window recently and had your curiosity piqued. Does that mean the food is slow cooked? Or that the chefs expect extra patience while patrons wait for their meals? It clearly doesn’t mean fast food. But then, what kind of food is slow food?

The answer to this question lies back in 1989, on the intended site of a McDonald’s on Rome’s famous Piazza di Spagna. There, local farmers met to protest the fast food boom and promote a different lifestyle, one that was quickly disappearing amidst the masses of hungry, impatient tourists that swarmed the city each year. The farmers believed that the cultural and traditional roots of food must not be swept aside in the place of what they saw as carelessly-made cheeseburgers that had no connection to the local economy or traditional culinary practices. In short, they wanted to make food personal again.

Since then, the slow food concept has grown into an international movement with restaurants and vendors around the world embracing the mindset. In Barcelona, there are about thirty restaurants that have embraced the idea. However, many people still aren’t sure exactly what “slow food” is. So, with Barcelona as the World Sustainable Food Capital of 2021, it’s time to learn all about what is—and isn’t—slow food.

What is “Slow Food”? What Does It Mean for Restaurants?

Chiara Bombardi, president of Slow Food Barcelona, the city’s local chapter, says that slow food should be good, clean and fair. The Slow Food Quality Manifesto loosely defines the terms.

Good: refers to a food’s flavor, which must be natural and, of course, tasty.

Clean: means that the environment has to be respected during all parts of the process. Farming practices, animal husbandry, processing, marketing and consumption should protect ecosystems and promote biodiversity.

Fair: refers to social issues such as good labor conditions, balanced economies and respect for cultures and traditions.

If a restaurant can prove its food meets these standards, it is eligible for the Slow Food designation.

How Do I Know a Restaurant Maintains “Slow Food” Practices?

The snail symbol and the name “Slow Food” are registered trademarks, and are subject to and protected by copyright laws. In order to use the Slow Food trademark, potential restaurants have to petition the executive board. It also helps if restaurant owners and chefs have a personal relationship with food producers and can show food quality and environmental certifications.

In addition, Slow Food Barcelona publishes a running guide of restaurants that meet some or all of the slow food principles. At the moment, the guide features 101 restaurants, but not all are chosen strictly for sustainable practices. Slow Food Barcelona has chosen to also include restaurants of significant cultural importance. This is in an attempt to protect family-owned businesses that have been consistently making good food using traditional recipes or methods in the face of incoming businesses that don’t have any connection to the local culture.

“We want to promote restaurants that embody the spirit of the city so that both tourists and locals can learn about them and support them,” says Bombardi.

Around thirty of the restaurants in the guide manage to check off all the boxes and receive the official Slow Food designation. Slow Food Barcelona makes regular visits to all 101 establishments. “We like to be very active in the gastronomy field in Barcelona,” says Bombardi. This helps ensure sustainable practices are maintained, and also encourages restaurants to keep growing in an environmentally-friendly direction.

Does Slow Food Only Promote Vegan & Vegetarian Establishments?

The short answer is: no. While there are some Slow Food restaurants that are completely plant-based, it's important to keep in mind that it's not a vegan movement. The focus is on the way food is produced, with emphasis on ethical business practices and sustainable farming methods. When it comes to the question of what is produced, then tradition and culture are the determining factors.

Here in Catalunya, for example, small, local fisherman and livestock farmers represent a significant segment of the agricultural community and their products feature prominently in the traditional cuisine. So, most Slow Food restaurants here serve meat and fish. However, because the farmers use environmentally-friendly practices, the meat you’re eating comes with a smaller carbon footprint than meat sourced from a producer that does not adhere to sustainable methods.

It is also worth noting that many Slow Food establishments are mindful of the positive environmental impact that comes with plant-based diets and thus offer vegan and vegetarian options. Often, the chefs are more mindful of dietary restrictions, too, and are willing to customize the menu to accommodate a plant-based diet.

What Other Ways Does Slow Food Help the Local Culture, Environment & Economy?

Besides supporting local farms and promoting sustainable food practices, Slow Food coordinates several projects that help promote biodiversity and protect local food culture.

The Ark of Taste project began in 1996 and acts as a catalogue of small-scale quality productions in areas around the world. The catalogue currently features over 5,500 fruits, vegetables, animal breeds, cheeses, breads, sweets and cured meats that have been deemed culturally significant and worthy of preservation.

The Presidia project takes a step further by learning about the production process, area of origin and producers. The goal of Presidia, according to the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity, is to “sustain quality production at risk of extinction, protect unique regions and ecosystems, recover traditional processing methods and safeguard native breeds and local plant varieties.” The focus is not just on the food, but how it’s made, and its place in local history and culture.

Catalunya has several foods in the Ark of Taste, from local bean and tomato varieties to a very special cabbage only grown in Garraf. The actions these projects promote vary depending on the item: some local foods need to be rediscovered and put back on shelves in order to preserve their importance. In other cases, like those of endangered species, it is better to eat less of them in order to protect them and promote reproduction.

Is Food Really Better for the Environment Just Because It’s Grown Locally?

The answer is not so simple. While it seems like an admirable goal to eat more locally sourced food, the truth is that locally grown doesn’t necessarily mean sustainably grown. Often smaller, local farms aren’t able to make the infrastructure changes required to practice more sustainable farming and distribution methods. There is also research that shows that even imported vegetables are more sustainable than locally grown meat.

However, the goal of the Slow Food movement is to promote a balanced, well-rounded consumption ecosystem that involves everyone in the supply chain—from the chefs and restaurateurs to the farmers and distributors. The Slow Food statute encourages eco-friendly producing, distribution and consumption methods to promote the idea that food sustainability starts at the root and should be maintained throughout.

That Sounds Expensive…

If you go to the supermarket today and compare the cost of goods produced using sustainable methods versus equivalent goods produced through intensive farming, the difference in the retail price can be significantly higher. But that’s not the whole picture. According to Patrick Holden, executive director for Sustainable Food Trust, UK, the price we pay for our food doesn’t actually reflect the true cost of production. Though intensive farming appears to be cheaper, there are hidden costs that consumers are largely unaware of.

“We pay for the cleanup costs from intensive agriculture through water treatment, healthcare and wrongly directed agricultural subsidies. You could even say that we are deferring the payment by passing costs on to future generations, as is currently the case with climate change and soil degradation,” says Holden. “So, although our food appears to have never been cheaper, when we look beneath the surface, we have been paying more for it than we might possibly imagine.”

So, where does that leave us? Currently, many small farmers that have switched to sustainable practices are struggling to stay afloat. Slow Food champions those farmers as much as possible. The best way to do this is by getting to know them in person at a market—but not just any market.

“Some markets have intermediary people who are good sellers, but they don’t grow the food,” Bombardi explains. At most of Barcelona’s markets, in fact, the people selling the food have little to do with its production.

At Slow Food’s Mercat de la Terra, however, those selling the food are often the same people who helped cultivate it. “You have producers who sell directly. You can talk to them, learn from them, see their hands. People who come to the market every day, they know the farmers personally. It’s incredible the relationship you can develop.”

In addition to working to rebuild the link between chefs and farmers, Slow Food Barcelona also promotes educational events for consumers, such as farm visits and the creation of school gardens so that we can learn about food from the source. Our money arguably has the biggest impact: the more we spend in restaurants that use local and sustainable ingredients, the more farmers will be able to create and maintain sustainable practices.

Can Everyone Afford to Eat Slow Food?

A primary criticism the slow food movement faces is that it’s elitist. Slow food restaurants support small, local farms and restaurants, but could the farm workers or the servers at the restaurants afford to eat there?

It’s a point that’s hard to ignore. In Spain, the average unemployment rate is a whopping 16 percent, while the average household income is about 10,000 USD less than the world average. With over a quarter of its population at risk of poverty or social exclusion, many Spaniards struggle with food insecurity. Slow Food movements around the world have been heavily criticized for failing to take this into account. Some of the food festivals have high price tags, and of course, most Slow Food restaurants aren’t exactly cheap eats.

However, Bombardi believes the movement, at least here in Barcelona, has evolved past these concerns.

“Slow Food's beginnings were a little bit ‘high society.’ But I think that the movement has changed a lot. It is a movement that starts at the ground. We are very close to the farmers. We are very close to these kinds of struggles.”

But the goal of Slow Food isn’t to tackle food scarcity directly or assist people who’ve come across hard times. The supporters of the movement see these issues as the direct result of a much broader problem. “Our goal is to transform the very system that created these inequalities,” says Bombardi. “I don’t know if we do it the right way. We are absolutely concerned for poor people and their need for food, but what we try to do is teach them and help their projects.”

The fact remains that there is a group of people who can’t afford to eat in Slow Food restaurants, or purchase the bulk of their food from Slow Food markets. This is a common issue when it comes to purchasing sustainable or organic products; many are simply too expensive for much of the population to afford. This effectively prevents an entire group of people from participating in this type of sustainability.

Slow Food is a Step Towards Sustainability… but with Limits

Perhaps we could all be more mindful about the effect our eating habits have on our health, our communities and the environment. After all, change takes work, from education to forming new habits to analyzing how we could better spend our money. The truth is, many of us could likely be doing more to lower our carbon footprint. But for those struggling to make sure their basic needs are met, the ability to make decisions based on ideals like sustainability is a luxury they simply can’t afford.

Still, the Slow Food movement is a step in the right direction. The goal to see food holistically is an admirable one. As Bombardi says, “food is not only food. It is nutrition for your soul.” Hopefully, if Slow Food movements around the world continue evolving to include and empower struggling populations, everyone can eventually come to appreciate the romance of food.

Pandora Domeyko is a freelance photojournalist who left her home country of the United States in 2018 to create a new home in beautiful Barcelona. She loves to explore the city with her camera in tow and to experience its many diverse cultural scenes. She’s always on the lookout for interesting events and initiatives related to art, female empowerment and the environment. When she's not writing or taking photos, she's out getting lost in nature or traveling to a new corner of the world. You can see her work online at pandoradomeyko.com and you can follow her on Instagram at @pandoraexplores.