Monday, November 3, 2008 -- 8:18 p.m.

I don't know how I hadn't heard about it before: the Slow Food movement. Their philosophy, according to their Web site:

We believe that everyone has a fundamental right to pleasure and consequently the responsibility to protect the heritage of food, tradition and culture that make this pleasure possible. Our movement is founded upon this concept of eco-gastronomy – a recognition of the strong connections between plate and planet.

Slow Food is good, clean and fair food. We believe that the food we eat should taste good; that it should be produced in a clean way that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health; and that food producers should receive fair compensation for their work.

Obviously, there is much, much more to the movement than what I can say here. In fact, since I heard the term recently, I've been reading up on the subject, and I still can't quite explain all their beliefs, goals and methods.

But what I do take away is that it's anti-fast food--in the drive-thru sense, as well as the lack of appreciation for what's on your plate. Slow Food, which was started in 1986 by left-wing journalist Carlo Petrini, is all about knowing where your food is coming from, how your choices in food affect the environment, and enjoying what you're eating.

I fully support all of those things.

Unfortunately for the Slow Food movement, they've gotten a reputation for being someone elitist. When it comes to eating local, sustainable, traditional food, cost can be an issue, which doesn't necessarily make it an all-inclusive group.

But this story from the New York Times does a great job of describing the criticism, as well as the steps the organization is taking to change that image of themselves.

And here's another story from Time magazine, "Can Slow Food feed the world," a great piece that talks about the practicality of the movement in the sense of people starving all over the world.

Are any of you Slow Foodies? I'd love to hear from you about your beliefs, expectations, opinions.

And as I learn more about Slow Food, I'll hopefully have more to say about specific areas of their philosophy and beliefs.

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