Slow food and indigenous knowledge

Anita Joshi shares her experience on the Slow food visits:
During the Tuscany learning event, I was introduced to the concept of Slow Food which until then for me was only a buzz-word and a fad for epicureans. But all this changed when I tasted the food for myself, and of course became informed on the idea behind the movement. It was promoted by an Italian journalist, Carlo Petrini, in 1986 as an alternative to fast food as it strives to preserve traditional and regional cuisine and encourages local whilst preserving the ecosystem. All this occurred at a time when the world’s largest McDonald's fast food outlet was launched in Rome, thus opening the flood-gates to many other American fast-food chains.

As a teenager living in Rome at the time, I remember vividly the excitement for some, and to the dismay of others who considered it the ‘death of Italian cuisine’. But today, my curiosity lies in knowing whether the “slow food" movement can really provide benefits to local farmers. As stated in the 2010 Retreat TORs, the slow-food movement organizes regular farmer's markets where farmers can sell directly to the consumers--thus maximizing their incomes.

We also know that the loss of indigenous knowledge is contributing to a great decline in agricultural and biodiversity resources. Today, the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity supports projects which protect local food traditions, local biodiversity and promote small-scale quality products, with an increasing focus on investments in developing countries. The Foundation’s Ark of Taste project is building on a catalogue of quality food products that are at risk of extinction. In our sub-regions, some of these products include the: