Berkeley Student Food Collective

Slow food momentum!

Here at the Berkeley Student Food Collective, one of the foodie philosophies we embrace is the Slow Food Campaign.

Slow Food International is a grassroots, non-profit member-supported organization which aims to counter fast food and fast lifestyles, disappearing availability of local food, and a dwindling appreciation for the food we eat. 

Philosophy

From the Slow Food International website:

We believe that everyone has a fundamental right to the pleasure of good food and consequently the responsibility to protect the heritage of food, tradition and culture that make this pleasure possible.

Good, Clean and Fair

Slow Food’s approach to agriculture, food production and gastronomy is based on a concept of food quality defined by three interconnected principles:

GOOD a fresh and flavorsome seasonal diet that satisfies the senses and is part of our local culture;

CLEAN food production and consumption that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health;

FAIR accessible prices for consumers and fair conditions and pay for small-scale producers.

Local Identity 
We are committed to protecting traditional and sustainable quality foods, defending the biodiversity of cultivated and wild varieties as well cultivation and processing methods. 

Making Connections

Slow Food believes that food is tied to many aspects of life, including culture, politics, agriculture and the environment. This is why we are an active player in a wide variety of areas, from education to agricultural policy. To work across this wide sphere, Slow Food defends biodiversity in our food supply, promotes food and taste education and connects sustainable producers to co-producers through events and building networks. 

Why is there a need for slow food?

A question much too complicated to answer in one blog post, the need for slow food comes simply from the fact that fast food is bad. The current globalized food system has deteriorated into one which focuses on quantity rather than quality, cheap prices rather than sustainable practices, instant gratification rather than appreciation, artificial rather than natural, and convenience rather than awareness.

Nothing about the current American food system is particularly sustainable. The environmental impacts range from feeding bovine, poultry, and fish foods they are not evolutionarily supposed to eat, wasting acres and acres of farmland on sickly monocultures, to pesticides, herbicides, and antibiotics which leak into water systems and soil. Political impacts cover everything from corporate corruption (read more on Monsanto), to never-ending cycles of corn subsidies and bankrupting farmers, to politicians turning a blind eye to messy practices at farms and slaughterhouses. Health impacts are triggered by eating heavily processed and artificial foods, consuming animals pumped with unnatural hormones and antibiotics, and straying more and more from plant-foods, which in turn leads to problems such as increasing occurrences of food allergies and food poisoning.

How you can participate in the Slow Food Campaign

• Eat locally
• Eat seasonally
• Avoid fast foods

If you want to join the Slow Food USA campaign, you can also go to this link to sign up for the mailing list. Some members of Slow Food USA include Alice Waters (of Chez Panisse), Michael Pollan, and Eric Schlosser.

Start with yourself, then move onto your friends and family, and hopefully, eventually, the global movement for healthful, local, and ethically responsibility can gain enough momentum to change the current food system.