Slow Food

[mixmaster b]

Russ-

You have mentioned Evan Kleiman several times on these threads. (I will check out her books--thanks for the recs.) I think she is still the head of Slow Food LA.

Could you tell us a little about your views on Slow Food, and if you think it has particular relevance in California?

Thanks!

[russ parsons]

I am a member of Slow Food and have been since the start. But I am a little leary of some of their positions. I think over the last year, that has improved. I endorse Slow Food as long as it sticks to the support of traditional or artisanal foods and the philosophy that time at the table should be spent enjoyably. I do think that at times they veer off into political positions that are at best naive and at worst simply more chauvinist protectionism.

all of that said, I think that anyone who loves traditionally made foods should find a way to make it to their Salone del Gusto at least once in their lives. It is simply amazing, even for a fairly jaded veteran of food conferences. Picture a convention center the size of 3 or 4 football fields packed with people selling tastes of really terrific foods. It's like the Fancy Foods Show, only with real food. Instead of 5 chutneys (or was it salsas this year ... they seem to alternate), there'll be a half-dozen stands for Parmigiano-Reggiano, offering tastes of aged cheese at different stages, of cheese from hillsides vs. valleys, of cheese made from mucca rossa (the old breed of cows) ... I walked in the first night and found five producers of lardo. Right around the corner someone was carving a porchetta. Down a little further was one of the best gelaterias in Rome. Then there was the guy making fresh cannoli filled with sheeps milk ricotta.

This is just my taste, but I'd rather spend a weekend eating that kind of stuff than one spent on three-star restaurants.

[mixmaster b]

Thanks, Russ. I am a lapsed member and am thinking of joining up again.

The Salon sounds amazing! Do you ever do any of their local outings? Hard to imagine that they would rival the event you describe.

[russ parsons]

I haven't been, but I would go. I do think this varies widely from group to group. Still, nothing anywhere I've ever been has compared to the Salone del Gusto.

[Bill Klapp]

And the Slow Food cheese shindig in Bra in September is not a bad consolation prize, if you cannot make the Salone. I was by the new Slow Food gastronomic university in Pollenzo yesterday, and it appears that it will be a happening thing next year. (Tuition: 19,000 Euro per year, but that includes an apartment in Bra, transportation to the campus, and airfare and lodging for the several "stages" each student does at locations around the world.) The wine bank and the new Ristorante Guido are open, too.

[John Whiting]

I endorse Slow Food as long as it sticks to the support of traditional or artisanal foods and the philosophy that time at the table should be spent enjoyably. I do think that at times they veer off into political positions that are at best naive and at worst simply more chauvinist protectionism.

Slow Food is the sort of thing that can happen when large parts of a country have been poor enough for their traditional foods to continue to be made in a time-consuming labor-intensive way, while other parts of the country suddenly become prosperous enough to support such producers on a large scale. Knowing Carlo Petrini, the "political positions" which you question were, rightly or wrongly, the underlying motivation of the entire movement. Without them, it would have become merely a fancy food warehouse dedicated to making lots of money.

P.S. Thanks, Russ for being, as usual, so generous with your time.

Edit: spelling correction.

Edited October 15, 2003 by John Whiting (log)