Bourdain Endorses Slow Food Movement

[Devotay]

In an insightful interview with the San Jose Mercury-News, erstwhile chef and world galvanteer Anthony Bourdain laid out a pretty good argument for this humble little movement I'm always evangelizing about:

Q: Do you like the direction food is going in this country?

A: In apocalyptic terms, it's a constant struggle between good and evil, with the hope that there are a few more of us good guys than there are of them. I like a lot of the direction. The Slow Food movement is a very positive one. Organics, artisanal cheeses, making things the old way -- that can only be good.

I'd like to see Mexicans break the glass ceiling and get their name on the menu of French, Italian or American restaurants. It's about time. And I think we shouldn't legislate fast-food. Children should just be shamed, bullied by their schoolmates into not eating it. If McDonald's targets kids, why shouldn't the good guys do some viral campaign to convince kids it's not cool to eat this stuff?

Read the whole interview here

[iharrison]

And in response to a question about the slow food movement in 2002:

I think the slow food movement is a very positive thing. It's a positive force, even if people dont become adherents, and I'm wary of such people. Slow food is often expensive, like organic food. More often than not it's some rich bastard in an SUV driving off to the Green Market to get environmentally friendly vegetables at three times the going rate. But anything that makes us more aware of where food comes from, and what it takes to get it to the table, is a force for the good. So I can make an informed decision as to whether to eat swordfish for dinner. I know there aren't many left. I know there are certain foods that we're running out of, but tough shit.

[srhcb]

And in response to a question about the slow food movement in 2002:

I think the slow food movement is a very positive thing. It's a positive force, even if people dont become adherents, and I'm wary of such people. Slow food is often expensive, like organic food. More often than not it's some rich bastard in an SUV driving off to the Green Market to get environmentally friendly vegetables at three times the going rate. But anything that makes us more aware of where food comes from, and what it takes to get it to the table, is a force for the good. So I can make an informed decision as to whether to eat swordfish for dinner. I know there aren't many left. I know there are certain foods that we're running out of, but tough shit.

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Now THAT is MY Tony!

[maggiethecat]

Q Your thoughts on the recent bans against foie gras?

A I see the future, and it doesn't include foie gras. They shrewdly picked the right issue with a small constituency in America. I'm unhappy about it, I'm angry about it. The thought that someone could be worried about that or about lobsters in tanks when you see what's going on in Darfur . . . I'd like to see the courage of their convictions. I'd like to see them go into the inner city of Oakland or Mexico or Brazil and stop a dog fight.

I cheered when I read this.

A great interview, with Bourdain dropping the usual soundbites.

[Devotay]

And in response to a question about the slow food movement in 2002:

I think the slow food movement is a very positive thing. It's a positive force, even if people dont become adherents, and I'm wary of such people. Slow food is often expensive, like organic food. More often than not it's some rich bastard in an SUV driving off to the Green Market to get environmentally friendly vegetables at three times the going rate. But anything that makes us more aware of where food comes from, and what it takes to get it to the table, is a force for the good. So I can make an informed decision as to whether to eat swordfish for dinner. I know there aren't many left. I know there are certain foods that we're running out of, but tough shit.

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Now THAT is MY Tony!

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Well, that was three years ago, and he's obviously come around. In 2002 he was under the impression, as were many people (including some on this forum as I recall), that Slow Food was just a bunch of yuppies stuffieng their craws with foie gras and fancy food, and that idea is demonstrably false.

I'm a big Bourdain fan, and when he visited here in 2003 he was already talking about what a positeve force Slow Food was becoming.

[srhcb]

I'm a big Bourdain fan, and when he visited here in 2003 he was already talking about what a positeve force Slow Food was becoming.

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I'll grant that Slow Food doesn't hurt anything.

SB (thinks a new name would help)

[Devotay]

I'll grant that Slow Food doesn't hurt anything.

SB (thinks a new name would help)

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Very magnanimous of you. Iwould argue that not only does Slow Food do no harm, it does a tremendous amount of good. Witness:

>World's Largest Food Show

>The World's First University of Gastronomic Sciences

>The Foundation for Biodiversity

>Terra Madre World Gathering of Food Communities

>RAFT, Ark & Presidia

>Slow Food in Schools

Not to mention a user-friendly redesign of our own humble little forum.

And that's just a start. 100,000+ dues paying members in over 100 countries. Not bad for a little 501c3 with an educational mission.

And as for the name, perhaps a change would be helpful, but perhaps not. Calling fast food "quick service" didn't change or improve anything.

Edited June 22, 2006 by Devotay (log)

[srhcb]

Very magnanimous of you.  Iwould argue that not only does Slow Food do no harm, it does a tremendous amount of good.

Make no mistake. I'm sympathetic to your cause; just not overly encouraged.

Not to mention a user-friendly redesign of our own humble little forum.

I hope it attracts more interest. I've been a registered member since Jan 05, and I have to say I wouldn't exactly use the word "lively" to describe it.

And that's just a start.  100,000+ dues paying members in over 100 countries.  Not bad for a little 501c3 with an educational mission.

A highly motivated few can influence a majority. (I forget the formal name of this priciple) Getting organiztion members from interested, to enlisted, to motivated, to activated is three big steps though.

And as for the name, perhaps a change would be helpful, but perhaps not.  Calling fast food "quick service" didn't change or improve anything.

←

A organizational name that plays off a perceived negative aspect of an opposing group isn't necessarily effective, even if it does contain a neat double entendre. Positive names work better. (There's a good reason groups both favoring and opposing abortion bill themselves as pro-choice and pro-life rather then anti-)

SB (wishing you the best, but you know what they say about wishing ....

[foodie52]

The Slow Food Movement started in Italy and I am sure that they didn't worry about how it sounds in English.

It's easy to join. Check out their website and find a convivium in your area.

[srhcb]

The Slow Food Movement started in Italy and I am sure that they didn't worry about how it sounds in English.

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alimento lento?

SB (at least it rymes)

[Pontormo]

The Slow Food Movement started in Italy and I am sure that they didn't worry about how it sounds in English.

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alimento lento?

SB (at least it rymes)

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Loro dicono <<Slow Food>> aussi en France.

That's the point.

The response to fast food from the United States is embedded in the language chosen, yet, ironically (?), English is most practical (at the moment) to use for a movement desiring to shape an international community. Carlo Petrini's reaction to plans for the presence of McDonald's at the foot of the Spanish Steps in Rome is usually cited as the moment the founder of Slow Food found his calling.

Edited June 22, 2006 by Pontormo (log)

[Devotay]

Loro dicono <<Slow Food>> aussi en France. 

That's the point. 

The response to fast food from the United States is embedded in the language chosen, yet, ironically (?), English is most practical (at the moment) to use for a movement desiring to shape an international community.  Carlo Petrini's reaction to plans for the presence of McDonald's at the foot of the Spanish Steps in Rome is usually cited as the moment the founder of Slow Food found his calling.

←

That was the germination of the idea, yes, a protest they organized (Carlo and some fellow writers) against the Golden arches opening in the Piazza D'Espana, which they saw as a sin in par with opening a pork butchery in central Jerusalem.

That was 1986, but it took two more years before the movement grew from what started as a gourmet club. They discovered that the only way to protect the artisanal food they loved was to protect its sources from the homogenation offered by the fast food lifestyle. This led to the Ark, Presidia, and eventually the Foundation for biodiversity (all linked above).

A highly motivated few can influence a majority. (I forget the formal name of this priciple) Getting organiztion members from interested, to enlisted, to motivated, to activated is three big steps though.

Three big steps indeed, but I would say that rthe list I provided demonstrates motivation and action. We built a bloody University! And 12,000 farmers, artisans, educators and chefs flown to Torino, fed and sheltered on our dime, all to create a network to help build a better food system?!?!? If there is a better way to make that happen, I'd like to know about it, and then hopefully we can do that too!

[Bobby 2 Shakes]

And in response to a question about the slow food movement in 2002:

I think the slow food movement is a very positive thing. It's a positive force, even if people dont become adherents, and I'm wary of such people. Slow food is often expensive, like organic food. More often than not it's some rich bastard in an SUV driving off to the Green Market to get environmentally friendly vegetables at three times the going rate. But anything that makes us more aware of where food comes from, and what it takes to get it to the table, is a force for the good. So I can make an informed decision as to whether to eat swordfish for dinner. I know there aren't many left. I know there are certain foods that we're running out of, but tough shit.

←

That was before he started hanging around hugging teddies in karaoke bars.

PS: And I don't remember even hearing one single Ramones song!

Edited June 23, 2006 by bob tenaglio (log)

[edsel]

And in response to a question about the slow food movement in 2002:

I think the slow food movement is a very positive thing. It's a positive force, even if people dont become adherents, and I'm wary of such people. Slow food is often expensive, like organic food. More often than not it's some rich bastard in an SUV driving off to the Green Market to get environmentally friendly vegetables at three times the going rate. But anything that makes us more aware of where food comes from, and what it takes to get it to the table, is a force for the good. So I can make an informed decision as to whether to eat swordfish for dinner. I know there aren't many left. I know there are certain foods that we're running out of, but tough shit.

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Now THAT is MY Tony!

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Yeah, leave it to Bourdain to offer up a back-handed compliment.

Well, that was three years ago, and he's obviously come around.  In 2002 he was under the impression, as were many people (including some on this forum as I recall), that Slow Food was just a bunch of yuppies stuffieng their craws with foie gras and fancy food, and that idea is demonstrably false.

I'm a big Bourdain fan, and when he visited here in 2003 he was already talking about what a positeve force Slow Food was becoming.

←

I can see how Bourdain might distinguish between the ideals espoused by SF and the rather pious tones of it's pronouncements. I only recently got around to joining the local convivium (gawd does that word sound pompous). At a recent fundraiser for our delegation to Terra Madre, I got to meet some of the farmers we're sponsoring. Let me tell you, these folks are not effete intellectual snobs. On the other hand, the local chefs we're sending to Turin are CIA-educated professionals (and in one case, a former Food TV regular). So it's not about snobbery, but neither is it about a perverse anti-snobbery. The head of our convivium has dined at el Bulli and other Michelin three-stars, but she also champions local farmers and ethnic restaurants. Seeking out excellence should not be confused with elitism.

Q Your thoughts on the recent bans against foie gras?

A I see the future, and it doesn't include foie gras. They shrewdly picked the right issue with a small constituency in America. I'm unhappy about it, I'm angry about it. The thought that someone could be worried about that or about lobsters in tanks when you see what's going on in Darfur . . . I'd like to see the courage of their convictions. I'd like to see them go into the inner city of Oakland or Mexico or Brazil and stop a dog fight.

I cheered when I read this.

A great interview, with Bourdain dropping the usual soundbites.

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Bourdain is fighting the good fight, but his vision of "the future", cynical tho it may sound, rings frighteningly true.

[Devotay]

Seeking out excellence should not be confused with elitism.

good fight, but his vision of "the future", cynical tho it may sound, rings frighteningly true.

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Bless you for that. Arguing this point has often proven difficult for me, so I appreciate this arrow in my quiver. I know some folks won't be able to shake the idea, and I'll just have to live with that, but the misperception among many that we're an elitist club does have a detrimental effect on our mission.