Slow Down

The Slow Movement aims for us to reduce our pace of life, and in the time created, enjoy what it is all humans fundamentally need: food, shelter and companionship. Paraphrasing part of their manifesto, re-focusing our lives on what is important, rather than greedy consumption, could ultimately improve our relations. Of course, this clashes with capitalist economics, and leads me to think that slow is socialist. In fact, I am reminded of Thomas More's imaginary socialist Utopia, in which people work only to produce what they need, and spend their remaining time developing their minds.



The Slow Food Movement is eco-gastronomic organisation founded in Italy about twenty years ago, as an ardent reaction to the growing popularity, and ubiquity, of fast food. Slow food believe we should preserve local food tradition, in turn combating people's dwindling interest in what they eat and how it is sourced. Now there is an officially recognised UK association, with 50 'convivia' across the nation.

See also Cittaslow.

England is not well-known for it's food, but I am convinced I can create some tasty Anglocentic meals with a little research.

Online, Eat the Seasons seems to be the best place to start.

The Foody is an ill-designed, but resourceful site containing information on seasonal produce and traditional recipes.

An article at Times Online asks what has happened of our relationship with seasonal food.

As always, the BBC comes up trumps with an online seasonal catalogue.

Apparently, the following foods are currently in British season: tomatoes; watercress; trout, pilchards, pike and clams; blueberries, gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries and loganberries; sage; aubergine; cauliflower and fennel. I don't think this list is exhaustive either. Now I just need to scour the shops for relatively locally derived produce.

In rather well-linked style, I like so much that the Oxford word of 2007 was 'locavore'. I also always like miniature people, especially when they are mowing their kiwi-fruit lawns.





A wonderful film about food is Like Water for Chocolate (Como Agua para Chocolate), a sensual Mexican film directed by Alfonso Arau.