I don't know much about the slow food movement, but what little I've read sounds fascinating. It sounds very similar to what a lot of us are doing, but it extends it somewhat. The slow food site says:
Quote:
Recognizing that the enjoyment of wholesome food is essential to the pursuit of happiness, Slow Food U.S.A. is an educational organization dedicated to stewardship of the land and ecologically sound food production; to the revival of the kitchen and the table as centers of pleasure, culture, and community; to the invigoration and proliferation of regional, seasonal culinary traditions; and to living a slower and more harmonious rhythm of life.
I'm considering ordering a couple of books on the topic and wonder if anyone has them or has an opinion. Slow Food: The Case for Taste and Slow Food: Collected Thoughts on Taste, Tradition, and the Honest Pleasures of Food
Being a book fanatic, I'll probably pick up a copy. This way of eating means more than just weight loss for me. It means exactly what that paragraph says. This is a change for my entire family and our way of life. Funny...since eating like this, we have been eating at the table together. We've not done that typically. I don't know why. But I just realized that.
Please let us know what you think of the book if you get it. I'm going to look into some of them as well.
A journalist named Carlo Petrini's started it in response to a McDonald's opening near Rome's landmark Spanish Steps.
He conceived of the movement as both a reaction to and rejection of the encroaching fast-food aesthetic. Rather than identical chain restaurants throwing together tasteless food for customers to scarf down, Slow Food emphasizes the pleasures of dining on real food in good company at a leisurely pace.
I think it is terrific and my DH and I have incorporated this into our wholefoods lifestyle.
You know I actually got into cooking from my "Nonna" - she was my Italian babysitter from when I was 8 months old until I was about 12. She was like my adopted grandma.
Her family never went out to dinner - dinner was always at home and fresh cooked - no take out and all meals from scratch. Alwasy fresh ingredients and simple Italian homecooking (and nutella sandwiches )
Several factions of the same family could be found gathered round the huge table set up in the back yard under and awning and about 10 -14 people would gather for the evening meal. It was always noisy with laughter and bantering.
I have wonderful memories of making homemade pasta sauce with tomatoes and basil fresh picked from the garden. Once a year the sauce was made with all the women and girls (the men were banished from the house for the day) in the family pitching in and making sauce, then
canning it - it was like and assembly line and the whole time we laughed, gossiped and sang while working. At the end of the day each participating house hold took home a share of the sauce for their pantries and it took them through the winter.
They also made home made sausages, meatballs (full of garlic ) and bread crumbs and grated parmesan cheese from a giant wheel of cheese all of which were all kept in storage or the freezer to use over the winter.
These were some of my favorite childhood memories and I think that is what brought me back to whole foods and cooking again. The smell of fresh basil always brings back those memories for me.
Her family never went out to dinner - dinner was always at home and fresh cooked - no take out and all meals from scratch. Alwasy fresh ingredients and simple Italian homecooking (and nutella sandwiches )
Several factions of the same family could be found gathered round the huge table set up in the back yard under and awning and about 10 -14 people would gather for the evening meal. It was always noisy with laughter and bantering.
I have wonderful memories of making homemade pasta sauce with tomatoes and basil fresh picked from the garden. Once a year the sauce was made with all the women and girls (the men were banished from the house for the day) in the family pitching in and making sauce, then
canning it - it was like and assembly line and the whole time we laughed, gossip and sang while working. At the end of the day each participating house hold took home a share of the sauce for their pantries and it took them through the winter.
They also made home made sausages, meatballs (full of garlic ) and bread crumbs and grated parmesan cheese from a giant wheel of cheese all of which were all kept in storage or the freezer to use over the winter.
These were some of my favorite childhood memories and I think that is what brought me back to whole foods and cooking again. The smell of fresh basil always brings back those memories for me.
What a fabulous memory to have! I'm envious.
I read about this a few years back and even signed up for a local slow foods group, but it never took off. In an attempt to save for a breast reperk, I've banished myself from bookstores and go to the library instead. There's one of the two slow foods books there. I've requested a hold on it.
Yes, it wasn't just about the food it was about the rituals and bonding.
I love getting my hands dirty in the garden while taking care of my herb garden and tomato plants - it sounds weird but it makes me feel in touch with nature in the middle of the city. I love the smell of the earth and the plants.
mauvaisroux, that story has really inspired me. I've been living with my parents for the past 4 years!!!!! Finally, we (me, hubby and two young daughters) are about to move to our own home, again! We are so overjoyed at the thought of beginning our own family traditions. My family traditions have always centered around food and family and laughing and loving. When my great grandmother passed away, it all seemed to disappear. I'm so sad when I think of what my girls missed out on. But I am inspired to create new family bonding rituals. I think we may do a version of the memory that you hold so dear to your heart. A day of picking garden fresh ingredients to make a giant pot of *something* that we all take home to enjoy over the months. That sounds wonderful! And I love the fact that it included everyone, young and old. What a fabulous way to bond with family members. I am really touched by this. Thank you so much for sharing your memory with us.
olivia - glad that you were inspired I think it is important to maintain nice family traditions that bring people together.
Another thing that I always remember is making homemade Scotch Broth in the winter with my mum. We would do it on a Sunday afternoon with the wind howling outside and I would watch as she put the ingredients in the pot - a handful of this, a pinch of that - no exact measurements just all by feel and memory.
We would then sit in front of the t.v. watching and old movie on PBS or TVO and she would peel the potatoes for the soup while I grated carrots into a large bowl which would later be emptied into the soup pot to help the soup thicken. The house would fill with the aroma of soup and when it was ready we would have a big bowl with a slice of crusty bread.
To this day I make the soup (but a vegetarian version) and everytime I grate the carrots I think of those Sunday afternoons.
I guess this is why I love to cook and one of my favourite movies is "Like Water for Chocolate".
In fact I missed doing things like that and in January I set up one Sunday of each month as a "Bake Date" with my mum and we spend the day at her house baking just the two of us. It is great! We buy the ingredients for a recipe and have fun chatting while mixing the ingredients. While we wait for the item to bake we sit and have a cup of tea and discuss the latest episode of Coronation Street.
We both really enjoy the time together and I am getting to hear family stories of my mum growing up in Scotland and about our family and I am learning some traditional family recipes too.
I think it would be terrific for you to do things like that with you family - what a great bonding and learning experience for all of you. Another fun thing to do would be to go to farm and go strawberry picking! I did this once or twice as a kid and it was awesome - I'm trying to talk my DH into taking me but I have to twist his arm to do it!
Actually, every summer since my oldest daughter was 3, we've gone to a local orchard to go fruit picking! We get strawberries EVERY year. Market strawberries can't compare to sun ripened fresh strawberries right off of the vine! We've picked raspberries, peaches, and cherries so far. Next year we'll fit in blueberries and apricots. Still to come are blackberries...yum! We've gone fishing in their pond and participate in their festivals that happen all year long. It has been here for over a hundred years! And I went there as a kid, too, with my mom. My hubby hadn't ever done this before, and now he is hooked!
As soon as we move, we'll be working on our own gardens. I'm going to designate a separate spot for each of the girls. What fun it'll be for them to pick their own fruit/veggies and to watch their own flowers mature and blossom! I'm so excited, I can hardly contain myself!!!!
Yes, I think that's why I love cooking now too, and why I love for my girls to be involved with the process. There is a lot of bonding that happens in kitchens!
I probably look like a freak at the supermarket since I am always touching the fruit gently and sniffing it to see if it is ripe or tapping the melons - I get funny looks from people unless they are Italian (lots of Italian people in our neighborhood) then they are doing the same thing I am
I actually ask total strangers about what they are buying and how they make it or peel it and serve it if it is something interesting I've never tried. I asked a lady who was buying mangoes what to look for and another lady buying kumquats how to eat them and what you could make with them. Another time I learned about pomelos from someone else. They looked at me funny at first but then started telling me and we ended up having a nice chat.
Slow Food Movement?
FIELD TRIP!!!!!!!! We should go see how well the Slow Food Movement has taken hold in Italy 
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