The Slow Food Movement is a non-profit organization that attempts “to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s decreasing interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world”. The movement has grown into a major force in food production with offices all over the world and believers of producing “good, clean and fair” food everywhere. Delicious and important, the movement is hitting the NEN region where the most active is Slow Food Beirut, reports Jessica Lattughi.
The result of hyperactive agricultural systems is the disappearance of animal breeds, vegetable varieties and fisheries, planet pollution, elimination of cultural identities of entire populations and reduced diversity.
The mission of Slow Food is to defend food biodiversity, safeguard the environment and the land, endorse sustainable and quality agriculture, protect small producers and their community, promote the gastronomic traditions of the world.
Ideal, but is this applicable to poor countries? Plenty in this world do not have the luxury of choice and are lucky to get anything to eat!
A huge effort would be needed in order to expand the movement to the less fortunate parts of the world; permaculture could be one of the solutions. This is based on ecological and biological principles, often using patterns that occur in nature to maximize effect and minimize work.
Permaculture aims to create stable, productive systems that provide for human needs, harmoniously integrating the land with its inhabitants. The ecological processes of plants, animals, their nutrient cycles, climatic factors and weather cycles are all part of the picture. Permaculture principles can be applied to any environment, at any scale from dense urban settlements to individual homes, from farms to entire regions.
