How to practice "Slow Food"

A while ago I wrote a post about “Slow Food”, an international non-profit organization "founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world".

Slow Food continues to gain momentum, and is helping to bring back the simple notion of being connected with our food that we seem to have lost over the past few decades. In our search for faster, more convenient meals throughout the second half of the last century to accommodate our fast-paced lives, we have compromised nutritional quality of our diets and our basic food knowledge, cooking skills and healthy social practices, like family dinners.

The philosophy of Slow Food endeavors to bring that back.  Slow Food is exactly what it sounds like: it is the opposite of fast food in every sense. Slower, more nutritious food with meaning. Incorporating this philosophy into your own life offers many benefits including a healthier diet, supporting environmentally friendly and local agriculture, and improving social connectedness by homemade meals enjoyed with family and friends - all of which lead to a healthier lifestyle and planet.

You can incorporate the Slow Food philosophy in your own life by following this simple tips:

• Know where your food comes from and who grew or raised it. Get ting to know your local farmers and suppliers will add more meaning to your food.
• Grow a vegetable - learn about the process by being hands on.  There’s nothing more rewarding that enjoying a fresh veggie out of your own garden! Small space? Start with a window herb garden or a simple container garden with one vegetable outdoors.  (Grow with me!)
• Try a new recipe - New flavours and dishes will increase your cooking repertoire!  
• Try a new ingredient - increase your “food IQ” by trying something different. 
• Purchase local items, responsibly grown or raised with no chemical pesticides that are harmful to the earth.
• Focus on a plant-based diet, making meat the compliment or side dish rather than the focus of meals.
• Bike, walk or take public transit to purchase food, whenever possible.
• Compost - contribute to putting nutrients back into the earth by starting a compost to grow food for the future and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
• Share! Have gatherings with friends and family to bring the joy back to cooking and eating.

Follow these tips and you should be eating and feeling healthier in no time! I have joined our local Slow Food “convivium” here in Calgary, and look forward to many great events this summer.

www.slowfood.ca (Canadian site)
www.slowfood.com (International site)

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