A resistance movement to combat fast food
By SUPAWADEE INTHAWONG
Recently I read an article on slow food, which made me question myself on many things:
When was the last time my family sat down to a meal together at the dinner table?
How often do we eat instant noodles or fast food in front of the TV?
How often do we go a fast food restaurant?
Are we too busy to have a pleasure meal?
The answers raised alarm bells about health issues in the family.
When the Slow Food Movement started in 1986 to counteract fast food and fast life, Carlo Petrini, Italian founder of the movement, which campaigned against McDonald's opening near the Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Steps) in Rome, emphasized the importance of eating as a social event.
The movement suggests that the eating process must be full of pleasure so people eat together with no rush. The movement also protects foods that support sustainable farming, biodiversity, and stress that people need to be more concerned about what food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes, and how their food choices affect the rest of the world.
Slow food believes that taste is related to slowness. Home-made food always tastes better than fast food.
The Slow Food Movement has gained momentum and has more than 85,000 members in 132 countries.
In Thailand, the concept of slow food is not very popular, with only a few restaurant owners and entrepreneurs being members of the International Slow Food Organisation.
However, in order to appreciate slow food you don't have to go to a slow food restaurant. Slow food can begin at home as the concept of the movement includes persevering traditional methods of growing and preparing food.
Start growing your own vegetables. Even if you live in a condominium or a townhouse, you can grow a few vegetables in containers such as holy basil, chilli, onion and parsley. You can support the slow food idea by buying more locally-produced foods, from responsible producers and small scale farmers and eat less fast food.
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