"Our defense should begin at the table with Slow Food. Let us rediscover the flavors and savors of regional cooking and banish the degrading effects of Fast Food."

"That is what real culture is all about: developing taste rather than demeaning it."

- The Slow Food Manifesto.

As the Asia Pacific hurtles towards the greatest drive towards modernization in recent times, people's standards of living have improved and more importantly, a greater number of people now have a wider choice in terms of what they wish to eat in terms of food items and cuisines. As with anything in the world, there are ethical choices and repercussions that have to be considered even with the simple process of eating. Have you ever thought about the authenticity of your own local cuisines in the new world of globalization? Does organic farming and the preservation of farm landscapes appeal to you? Have you ever thought about how eating seafood affects the coral reefs of the Asia Pacific? If the answer is yes then the ever-expanding SLOW FOOD MOVEMENT is the correct group of people for you.

Founded in 1986 in Italy in protest at the opening of a McDonalds near a major tourist site in Rome, the slow food movement is an ideal that is growing in popularity all around the world. It is the direct opposite of fast food and all its repercussions in terms of health, food preservation and unethical food processes and business practices.

Supporters of slow food stress that everyone has a fundamental right to enjoy eating and the consumption of food products. The pleasure induced from a meal includes bearing the responsibility of protecting the heritage of food, tradition and culture that make this pleasure possible. If a person tracks back on the food they are about to consume, many steps have been taken along the way and there are repercussions to consider. How was the food processed? Were the lands used replenished? Did the farmers receive a good deal? One of the main building blocks of the movement is the underlying idea of eco-gastronomy – a clear recognition of the strong connections between plate and planet.

Slow food dishes are seen as ethically good, environmentally clean and fair food produced in a methodology that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or someone’s health. It is also important that food producers should receive fair compensation for their work. People involved in the process are seen as ‘co-producers’ who are all involved in the goal of producing good ethically produced foods.

One of the Asia Pacific’s most well known food and wine critics, Annabel Jackson, is a long term Hong Kong resident as well as one of the region’s leading advocates and voices for the slow food movement.

It was not always clear that Ms. Jackson would become a slow food guru. She was born in rural England and took a degree in English literature before moving to Hong Kong in 1989; after her arrival, she first tried her hand at journalism, writing for both the South China Morning Post and the Hong Kong Tatler.

A lady of many talents, she is also a lecturer and PR expert and has written eight popular books exclusively about food, cooking and wine, including Street Café Vietnam (Conran Octopus, 1998), Taste of Macau (Hong Kong University Press, 2003), World Food China (Marks & Spencer, 2004) and Modern Indian Cooking (P3, 2004). She holds a number of professional memberships, including Guild of Food Writers (UK), The Society of Authors (UK) and the Circle of Wine Writers (UK). She is also a member of Hong Kong Wine Society, a founding member of Macau Wine Society, and a founding member (and now leader) of the Slow Food Convivium in Hong Kong.

For more of her thoughts, please read our interview here

..... Stop here Please click here to read iCUBED.us "September 08 Editorial Theme: THE SLOW MOVEMENT - Stop and Smell the Roses ... by Margaret Chen, Editor-in-Chief" Please click here to read iCUBED.us "Being and (Doing) Nothingness .... by Jennifer Deayton"

http://www.slowfood.com/ The Slow Food Manifesto