Slow Food International.

Globalisation, Industrialisation, are they dirty words? They represent the ease of technology, the "help" we get, but at what price? Skilled workers everyday are replaced by machines, garden vegetables on our plates replaced by those store bought ones, is this the life our forefathers envisioned? We think that our palates are more refined over the years by how easy it is to taste the cuisine from somewhere else in the world through store bought frozen food, bottled sauces and canned condiments.

Let me clear your head. We have slowly let our cultures slip; the once broad line between one culture and another slowly thinned, blurred out. Do we even know which dishes belong to our heritage? Do we understand what type of pork we are buying in the supermarket? How many different kinds have you tasted? Heard of heritage fruits and vegetables?

Slow Food International was set up in Italy in 1986 to counter fast food and fast life, the dwindling interest in the food we eat, where they come from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world. They aim to preserve cultural cuisine and the associated food plants and seeds, domestic animals and farming within an ecoregion. The movement has spread across the world with 100,000 members in 132 countries. They have organised many food fairs, and meetings among the food communities. They have also a University of Gastronomic Science at Pollenzo which aims to promote good food and nutrition.