Slow Food basics

Not sure what Slow Food is about?

Here are a few basics to get you started. Slow food can simply start with choosing to eat more food that is locally produced, seasonal or homemade.

Another way to define Slow Food is that it is Good, Clean and Fair.

GOOD - This means quality, flavorsome and healthy food.

CLEAN - meaning the production of the food doesn't harm the environment. For example it might mean avoiding food made with palm oil from countries such as Indonesia as this is know to involve the destruction of orangutan habitats).

FAIR - this means the people who have made the food have had fair working conditions and fair pay. An example of this are products with the FairTrade certification or products you buy from the TradeAid range.

Embracing Slow Food means starting to think about where your food is coming from.

Perhaps it mean buying some of your veggies from the local market rather than the supermarket. Slow food means choosing to eat more food that is free-range or organic.

Simple and delicious homemade chorizo soup

Another way to think about slow food is to ‘Shake the hand that feeds you’. It means meeting or knowing the people that make your food.

For example when you go to a farmers' market you can meet the people on the stall who have been involved in growing or making the food.

Ooooby is another example of a local, ethical food network. Ooooby stands for Out Of Our Own Backyard – everything you buy through Ooooby comes with a story of the people who produce that product.

An easy way to start to embrace slow food principles when shopping at the supermarket, is to look for produce that's locally made and in season.

The upside is that seasonal fruits and veggies are cheaper, fresher and taste better. For example in winter that means buying more carrots, bok choy, beetroot, cauliflower, apples, pears, oranges … not strawberries that have been air freighted here from overseas.