The joy of creating slow food
Sometimes just staying in the game long enough is sufficient to coax brilliant results. As a case in point, my 20 years in Niagara kitchens has just earned me a place beside two other Ontario chefs (one from Prince Edward County and one from Toronto) who will travel to Torino, Italy at the end of this week for six days of wine and food, Piedmonte style.
When I was called and offered this exceptional opportunity, I was floored. I was speechless at first but managed to ask how I came to this great fortune and was told, with little ceremony, that I had earned my spot for my years of commitment to cuisine in Niagara. I did not push it. Hearing my mother’s voice from the great beyond, I decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth.
For any person who spends time in the preparation and service of food and wine, there can be few locations more exciting than the north-west corner of Italy’s boot for an inspirational and nourishing trip. This region, named Piedmonte, is home to luscious wines of the Nebbiolo grape: Barolo and Barbaresco, as well as white truffles, porcini mushrooms, cheeses such as Fontina and Gorgonzola, beef and game and delectable cornmeal pastas and polenta. Piedmonte is also the pride of Italian desserts. I am salivating as I write and counting down my sleeps until take-off.
The capital city of Piedmonte is Torino and it holds an even more important role in the world of food than simply being the basket of such incredible foodstuffs. Nestled in the Italian Alps, the medieval city of Torino is the home of the International Slow Food movement. There is a gastronomic university located here which holds the precepts of Slow Food to its very core, a testament to the importance Slow Food has for all of us. By simply embracing the goodness that surrounds us, Torino and the Slow Food movement have given rise to an international reorganization of the way we eat around the globe. When I look at my restaurant and the local procurement program we have in place, as well as our organic garden on the farm, I am reminded that this invitation to visit old world practices has its roots in Torino: In Slow Food.
Slow Food should not be confused with ‘slow service’; it is not an apology for poorly run restaurants! Rather, Slow Food is all about the necessary time taken in the growing and procurement practices farmers, fisherfolk and chefs embrace in pursuing quality ingredients and quality human experiences. Slow Food was established by Carlo Petrini and a group of activists in 1986 after a demonstration on the intended site of a McDonalds at The Spanish Steps in Rome. By 1989 they had amassed a good number of members and had drafted and signed a Manifesto. Today it is an organization with millions of members around the world and it informs many significant choices.
Petrini’s vision with Slow Food was initially aimed at defending regional traditions, good food, gastronomical pleasure and a slow pace of life. Today, Slow Food has grown to support three interconnected principles: Good. Clean. Fair. In other words, food which is good for us; good for those who grow it; and good for the planet. I think that is something we can all get behind!