A loyal reader asks: With all the hype about buying organic, I’ve been hearing a new term “slow food”. What is it?

Glad you asked.

The slow food movement started in Europe and propagates the idea of good, clean and fair food. It is the belief that the food we eat should taste good; that it should be produced in a clean way that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health; and that food producers should receive fair compensation for their work.

The Slow Food movement incorporates a series of objectives within its mission, including:

• forming and sustaining seed banks to preserve heirloom varieties in cooperation with local food systems
• developing an “ark of taste” for each ecoregion, where local culinary traditions and foods are celebrated
• preserving and promoting local and traditional food products, along with their lore and preparation
• organizing small-scale processing (including facilities for slaughtering and short run products)
• organizing celebrations of local cuisine within regions (for example, the Feast of Fields held in some cities in Canada)
• promoting “taste education“
• educating consumers about the risks of fast food
• educating citizens about the drawbacks of commercial agribusiness and factory farms
• educating citizens about the risks of monoculture and reliance on too few genomes or varieties
• developing various political programs to preserve family farms
• lobbying for the inclusion of organic farming concerns within agricultural policy
• lobbying against government funding of genetic engineering
• lobbying against the use of pesticides
• teaching gardening skills to students and prisoners
• encouraging ethical buying in local marketplaces