Carlo Petrini, the founder and president of Slow Food, recently named a great innovator in Time magazine’s list of “European heroes”, has left Italy for the USA, where over the next three weeks he will attend events round the country to promote his new book Slow Food Nation: Why Our Food Should Be Good, Clean and Fair (Rizzoli, New York, $22.50).
‘Carlo Petrini is one of the most important thinkers of our time, not only about what to eat, but also about how to live,’ says Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation. ‘This book is essential reading for anyone who cares about social justice, the environment, and the fundamentals of a good meal.’
In Slow Food Nation, Petrini describes how we can take back control of our food by outlining three central principles: food must be good (healthful and delicious); it must be clean (produced sustainably in ways that respect the environment), and it must be fair (produced with respect for social justice).
His philosophy includes teaching gastronomo — the science of all knowledge revolving around food — in our schools. Instead of consumers, today we should become co-producers, active participants in the production of what we eat.
Petrini will hold talks and attend book signing sessions in the following towns and cities round the States: Portland, OR, San Francisco, CA, Sonoma, CA, New York, NY, Princeton, NJ, Chicago, IL, Raleigh, NC. At this latter venue, he will deliver the Inaugural Sustainable Agriculture Lecture at the Center for Environmental Farming Systems, North Carolina State University.
During his tour, Petrini will also be launching a campaign to promote Slow Food Nation — an unprecedented exposition and celebration of food to be held in San Francisco from May 1-4, 2008. This four-day eco-gastronomic gathering is expected to attract over 50,000 participants, farmers, producers and chefs. It will feature debates, lectures, exhibits, tastings, demonstrations, an international film festival and a market of American artisan foods.
For more information about Slow Food Nation, the book and the event.
www.slowfoodusa.org/index.html