You probably aren’t aware of this, but if you live on Gabriola, grow your own organic vegetables and fruit, buy eggs, dairy and meats from island farmers or make apple wine from an old family recipe, you are actually part of a growing world-wide movement called “Slow Food.”

Don’t be fooled by the name. On the surface it may appear that the prime goal of this group is to have everyone taking two-hour lunches. But what started as a rather tongue-in-cheek protest fifteen years ago in Rome to prevent the building of a McDonald’s restaurant in the famous Piazza di Spagna, has mushroomed into an important international effort to prevent the extinction of various plants, animals and food production methods that have for various reasons either disappeared altogether or are in danger of vanishing. Unfortunately, MacDonald’s persisted and built what was to become one of their top-ten visited restaurants in the world; but the association can brag that they have already saved over a hundred endangered foods.

The international logo for the movement is a snail (get it?) and chapters are referred to as convivium, from the word “convivial” which means “fond of feasting, drinking, and good company.” The US branch of Slow Food is called ArkUSA, which denotes the more serious aspect of the society: to preserve food varieties and methods of food production that are becoming extinct and to protect biodiversity.

The mission of the organization is exhaustive but noble: to support high quality, small scale food production; protect endangered foods from industrial/agricultural standardization; to identify food and flavours which have or are on the verge of disappearing; to protect biodiversity; and, perhaps more esoterically, “ to champion the art of taste and the right to pleasure.”  This last statement makes the society appear to be a group of elite hedonists, but this is not its intent: this is a grassroots movement.

Yes, it would seem that the need to protect the Delaware Bay Oyster or the Bavarian turnip should not be a concern to the common man, but if you look further into what is being advocated, you will see that the main thrust of the movement is to retain the food of our heritage and get it back on our dinner table. The list of foods needing protection is extensive and includes ancient grains such as kamut and spelt, cheeses made from unpasteurized milk, heirloom tomato strains and handcrafted beers and wines.

One of the primary reasons that foods become obsolete is that they are no longer economically viable in the world of agribusiness. They require too much care and time to grow, they defy uniformity, or production is not compatible with large-scale manufacturing processes.