THE SEED THAT SOWED THE BEGINNINGS of all things slow was planted in Rome, Italy, in the mid-1980s, when a political activist and (slow) food lover called Carlo Petrini protested against the opening of a McDonald’s outside the famous Spanish Steps. Carlo’s focus was on food, and the way it was produced and consumed. He didn’t want fast food and all it stood for taking root in his neighbourhood. In 1986, Carlo launched the Slow Food organisation and movement, which has since spread worldwide. It strives to preserve traditional and regional cuisine and the endemic ecosystems that support them.
In the decades since, as the slow food movement and its values spread, its relevance began to resonate for people in other, and all, areas of life. And slowly but surely,…
