It’s an ironic way of saying no to fast food. Slow Food means living an unhurried life, beginning at the table.
The snail was chosen because it moves slowly and calmly eats its way through life. It also happens to be a culinary specialty in the area around the northern Italian city of Bra, where the Slow Food movement was born.
Slow Food supports the principles behind organic agriculture, such as promoting methods that have a low impact on the environment and reducing the use of pesticides. Yet Slow Food argues that organic agriculture, when practiced extensively, is similar to conventional monoculture cropping, hence that organic certification alone should not be considered a sure sign that a product is grown sustainably. Though most of the Slow Food Ark of Taste products practice organic techniques, very few are certified on account of the high costs of certification. To join the Ark of Taste, products must be consistent with the concepts of agricultural sustainability, while Slow Food works to ensure that they are ‘good, clean and fair’. In the next few years, the Foundation for Biodiversity aims to promote (and finance, where possible) the certification of Ark products in cases in which this would broaden markets or increase earnings.
Anyone! The goal of the Ark of Taste is to create a vast catalogue with contributions from many people to represent the planet’s edible diversity at risk of being lost. You do not need to be an expert, have particular skills or even be a Slow Food member. The only prerequisite is an interest in the product and commitment to do a little research. You many nominate a product from your own area, but also from other communities or towns, for example a cheese, fruit variety or jam discovered during a trip or holiday. All nominations will be assessed by the Ark Commission to gauge their suitability for inclusion. Find out more about nominating a product.
low Food in the UK receives all of its funding from membership fees, personal donations, supporters from the Supporters Scheme, and contributions from our partners.
In order to support the grassroots communities of our organisation, a third of the membership income will goes directlty towards your local group, a third is distributed amongst the Slow Food Country bodies in Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales, and the final third goes to Slow Food International to fund our overseas projects.
