Slow Food Nation - Week 1

Chapters 1 + 2

Petrini's book is part science and philosophy, part textbook on his journey to becoming a gastronome and starting the Slow Food movement. And when I say textbook I mean it. The man could not write in any more dry and boring a language and style to a topic that is so rife for colorful adjectives, onomatopoeic phrases, and passionate verbosity. Instead, he seems reserved, cultured, and a little too elite for anyone not already knowledgeable about sustainability and Michael Pollan and the likes.

Here are some phrases that stuck out to me in my first reading of these two chapters -

"Eating as an agricultural act..."

This simple phrase may seem enigmatic, but sums up the goal that Petrini and other Slow Fooders aim for - to reconnect people with their food and where it comes from. Petrini was eloquent and passionate in the Intro (why'd he stop there?) when he said it is a wonder that people do not realize we all live on this Earth and take our nourishment from it. Such an obvious thing, but really, how often do YOU think about where that peach you're eating comes from? Or that avocado? Or that chicken? Do you even remember that there is a step in food production before the super market?


"We consume more than it is possible for the planet to provide without upsetting its own equilibrium..."

When we walks into a grocery store and see piles and piles of fruits, vegetables and rows upon rows of dry goods, and coolers of meat, how could we know their is a food crisis going on? But there is. One example would be corn. The majority of US farmers are growing corn, feeding it to cows, to pass on to others to make it into High Fructose Corn Syrup that pervades almost ALL our foods. Corn is one of the most unsustainable plants to grow as it dehydrates the soil and sucks out all the nutrients. And this is just one example of how we are asking too much of the earth and giving nothing back. Oh wait, we are giving something back - toxic cow and pig waste, air pollution, and deforestation. Oh yeah, right. We're giving back.

"The same unsustainable methods - originally necessary to feed a large number of people - have since turned the sphere of food...into a neglected sector...as if procuring food has become a matter of course and requires no effort at all."

No more effort than going to the local corner market, picking out mangoes, tortillas, avocados, and new zealand raised, grass fed beef and paying for it with a plastic card that somehow automatically subtracts money from a bank account we don't have to even physically manage anymore. No longer do most Americans have a kitchen garden or back yard chickens. Instead the average American family has 2.5 freezers.

But, to end on a lighter note, here's the last quote -

"...through new sustainable agriculture that respects both old tradition and modern technologies"

This makes me think of the Shakers. There is a Shaker Village in Canterbury, NH (which I've visited and longed to live at ever since). Most people confuse this group with Quakers or the Amish, but this is where most people are wrong. Instead of denying and living as if technology does not exist, the Shakers EMBRACED technology in ways that helped them harvest more efficiently, bake more bread, and keep tidier homes. They realized that work is necessary to live, but not working too strenuously. Their major saying was 'Hands to work, Hearts to God' and by using technology wisely and intentionally, they freed their time to praise God more! And you know how these crazy Shakers praised God best....DANCING! But that is a post for another time...

So far, this book is challenging me to stay with it. For the love of good food, The Cause, and Christine, I WILL finish.

Join us next week when we discuss the remaining chapters of the book. This was brought to you by the power of Erikka and sponsored by Green Bean
Dreams.