A Taste of Slow

A Taste of Slow, Australia’s major Slow Food festival, will bring the Slow philosophy to Melbourne this weekend, countering society’s frantic pace and focusing on ‘slow’ principles of food that respects tradition, communities and the environment. Now in its third edition, the festival has become one of Slow Food’s largest festivals outside Italy. This year it has been relocated to the prominent inner-city Federation Square.
The twelve-day festival begins today with an intensive weekend program of pleasure, learning and conversation concerning food: dinners, public talks, workshops, children’s activities, cooking demonstrations, films, tastings and convivial events across regional Victoria.
From food ethics to the state of modern agriculture, a series of free and compelling Spoken Word sessions will debate the future of our food. Local and international speakers will discuss global trends and local solutions, presented through the personal stories of community heroes and the reflections of writers, chefs and farmers.
Prominent Australian and International speakers include Greg Critser (author of Fat Land), Percy Schmeiser (Canadian activist for farmers’ rights), Kylie Kwong (Australian-Chinese chef and campaigner for sustainable food) and Mel Ware (Papua New Guinean elder and cultural guardian).
This year A Taste of Slow also launches a two-course film festival. First is Slow Shorts, a national search for the best short films expressing the Slow philosophy. Prizes will be announced during the opening night party and screening of finalists on Friday February 22.
Feast on Film offers a five-day program of feature films and documentaries from around the world, many never screened previously in Australia, recounting stories from farmers and producers and the global trends in food consumption.
In addition, this weekend visitors will have the opportunity to meet producers from around Australia at the bustling Slow Food City Marketplace, discover the nation’s indigenous food heritage at the A Taste of Slow Dinner or the Native Food Summit, learn from the cooking traditions of migrant chefs in a series of cooking demonstrations and take the kids to a Vietnamese pho soup workshop or the Young Gourmet Food Art Competition.
The festival continues with a series of regional convivia events until March 7, offering everything from an urban vegetable gardening workshop, a lunch using produce grown by school children to a winemakers’ discussion on tradition and environmental challenges and a tour of Melbourne’s best community and school gardens.

The full program is available online at:

www.atasteofslow.com.au
www.slowshorts.com