Discover the Real Thing Through Slow Food Experiences

© Slow Food

This month, Slow Food launched Slow Food Experiences, a series of social impact travel experiences made available through the Airbnb platform. Slow Food Experiences are activities designed and led by inspiring locals who are members of the Slow Food community across the world – from farmers preserving heritage breeds of chickens, to cooks sharing their love of artisanal recipes and ingredients, to small-batch producers preserving time-honored production methods. Each experience is tailored according to Slow Food quality standards and offered with the support of our network, to offer participants the chance to discover food products, techniques, and cultural treasures through the lens of Slow Food, which ensures that they are delicious, socially responsible and sustainable.

Starting this week, our members and communities can apply to host their own Slow Food Experiences by visiting experiences.slowfood.com. By becoming a host of Slow Food Experiences, you are given a great new tool to promote your cause and share your passion for good, clean, and fair food with new audiences from across the world, providing guests a better understanding of the history, culture, and practices that mean the most to you. It is a unique opportunity to sustain your activities at the local level, while attracting more activists and enthusiasts to the Slow Food mission.

© Slow Food

As an alternative to mass tourism, Slow Food Experiences offer the opportunity for travelers to engage with locals and discover the gastronomic identity of a territory, far from stereotypes and, above all, far from false claims of authenticity often marketed to tourists, an increasingly pervasive problem with the globalization of the food system. Worlds apart from standard tours or classes designed for tourists, 100% of the proceeds collected from Slow Food Experiences go to the Slow Food community, helping to support the hosts in their activities, as well as implementing projects worldwide that empower local communities, promote artisan farmers and producers, and support school gardens and education projects.

“I believe that this initiative can help a lot in strengthening our network even more,” says Paolo di Croce, General Secretary of Slow Food International. “By offering Slow Food Experiences on the Airbnb platform, we have an opportunity to join forces in our common goal of ensuring that travel experiences remain authentic and help travelers learn about local communities and sustainable food practices.”

© Ivo Danchev

Slow Food also believes that these experiences have the potential to transform the way travelers understand food, giving them the opportunity not only to contribute to local, artisanal, and small-scale food practices, but also providing them with knowledge and experience to help them become more conscious consumers.  To enact change in the food system, we need to change our individual habits and food choices, with begins with greater awareness and knowledge. This innovative way of travelling aims to preserve local food cultures communities that might otherwise disappear, all while educating individuals on the importance of food choices when it comes to the environment and the health of our planet.

Join us today by hosting or booking your own Slow Food Experience, a new way of traveling that supports Slow Food communities across the world!

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For more information on how to become a Slow Food Experience host, visit: www.experiences.slowfood.com

To book a Slow Food Experience, visit: www.airbnb.com/slowfood