book review: slow food nation
so I finally finished reading carlo petrini's slow food nation: why our food should be good clean and fair.
petrini makes a wonderful and sensible argument for why we should care about where our food comes from, who raised it, and also for preserving local recipes and folklore, even song and dance. using food as his main focus, he really calls for the salvation of heritage in his book. he discusses local recipes and methods of food preparation, heirloom varieties of vegetables and rare animals kept in traditional village farms. he talks about how these are of course disappearing, and how important it is for these unique and vital ways of life become archived and encouraged to flourish in there specific regions. throughout the book he always returns to gastronomy and why it should be an important science, not merely seen as an unattainable luxury for the rich. his hope is that through a new an impassioned gastronomy, our cultures can strive for better, cleaner and higher quality foods, leaving the current tasteless trends of dining behind us.
through slow food, of which petrini is the founder, a network of gastronomes and farmers, and truly anyone interested, can meet, discuss, and connect in ways that consumers (who petrini dubs co-producers) have not previously been able to do with the producers of their food. their aim is to remove the middle-man. if corn is available in a particular village in mexico, their goal is to make it so the villagers there are eating the corn grown locally, rather than the imported corn they have in their markets grown in the united states. this idea promotes the "fairness" part of their mission; that producers receive fair compensation for the products they sell, and that the co-producers (consumers) pay a fair price for the products they receive.
only 250 pages long, this book reads like a passionate and well-thought yet wordy essay. petrini has a wonderful command of the english language and sometimes I felt like I wasn't quite understanding what I was reading. this is probably more my fault than it was his. still, it makes for slow reading (which is fitting for his message). throughout the book he has inserted diary entries that relay his personal experiences with travel, meeting farmers and eating food that help to highlight his arguments for why one should care about gastronomy. the anecdotes were much more interesting and enjoyable to read and I found myself wishing there were more of them in this book. and unlike some authors, petrini imparts a passionately positive message, rather than a "holier than thou" diatribe on why you should do what he does. his hope for the future of gastronomy is refreshing and motivating.
while difficult for me to get through at times, I did find the book rewarding and would recommend it to anyone seeking more information on the topic of local food.
petrini makes a wonderful and sensible argument for why we should care about where our food comes from, who raised it, and also for preserving local recipes and folklore, even song and dance. using food as his main focus, he really calls for the salvation of heritage in his book. he discusses local recipes and methods of food preparation, heirloom varieties of vegetables and rare animals kept in traditional village farms. he talks about how these are of course disappearing, and how important it is for these unique and vital ways of life become archived and encouraged to flourish in there specific regions. throughout the book he always returns to gastronomy and why it should be an important science, not merely seen as an unattainable luxury for the rich. his hope is that through a new an impassioned gastronomy, our cultures can strive for better, cleaner and higher quality foods, leaving the current tasteless trends of dining behind us.
through slow food, of which petrini is the founder, a network of gastronomes and farmers, and truly anyone interested, can meet, discuss, and connect in ways that consumers (who petrini dubs co-producers) have not previously been able to do with the producers of their food. their aim is to remove the middle-man. if corn is available in a particular village in mexico, their goal is to make it so the villagers there are eating the corn grown locally, rather than the imported corn they have in their markets grown in the united states. this idea promotes the "fairness" part of their mission; that producers receive fair compensation for the products they sell, and that the co-producers (consumers) pay a fair price for the products they receive.
only 250 pages long, this book reads like a passionate and well-thought yet wordy essay. petrini has a wonderful command of the english language and sometimes I felt like I wasn't quite understanding what I was reading. this is probably more my fault than it was his. still, it makes for slow reading (which is fitting for his message). throughout the book he has inserted diary entries that relay his personal experiences with travel, meeting farmers and eating food that help to highlight his arguments for why one should care about gastronomy. the anecdotes were much more interesting and enjoyable to read and I found myself wishing there were more of them in this book. and unlike some authors, petrini imparts a passionately positive message, rather than a "holier than thou" diatribe on why you should do what he does. his hope for the future of gastronomy is refreshing and motivating.
while difficult for me to get through at times, I did find the book rewarding and would recommend it to anyone seeking more information on the topic of local food.