Slow Food

A few days ago, I was watching an interview on TV, and I heard the phrase “slow food” go by. I’d never heard it before. Immediately, this meme was lodged firmly in a fertile part of my mind and it grew rapidly on its own, with no explanations needed from the speakers. Slow food. Produced and prepared slow — many implications there. Eaten slowly — another set of excellent meaning there as well. This was a fine phrase indeed.

One of the speakers gave me an aha moment when she said that part of the meaning of “slow” in “slow food” is that the only way to use ingredients right from the earth, and eat at home, is to actually cook, which takes time, energy, and knowledge. She said that this is a high hurdle for many people who want to eat better in ways that are least harmful to the planet, but can’t quite pull it off because their current habits are/seem unbreakable.

I Googled “slow food” and learned about an organization called “Slow Food” that’s been around a long time. During my brief stay at their site I got the strong impression that if there is such a thing as good guys and bad guys, these are good guys.

I read about “slow food” as it pertains to food production, and food preparation, but I didn’t see anything about rate of intake. Too bad really, since this is yet another way that fast food loses to slow food.

I’m always looking for reminders to slow down when I’m in mid glut. And this phrase has already proved its worth by coming to my rescue last night. It was like my entire arm-to-jaw feeding system was a horse. I was riding the horse. The name of the horse was, “Food.” We were galloping along, and suddenly, I said the words, and the horse obeyed: “Sloooow Food. That’s it. Slow down. Good boy.”