New York - November 21, 2000

How Slow Can You Go?

Slow Food Magazine

Sure, the idea of a leisurely meal is fine. But who doesn’t have that snail-paced friend who manipulates her plate of capellini like she’s weaving a masterpiece?

Then again, the wham-bam, in-and-out m.o. at places like Mickey D’s can be irksome, too. At least that’s what struck Carlo Petrini, an Italian foodie, when McDonald’s plunked down their golden arches in his homeland thirteen yearsago.

In response, he created Slow Food, an organization dedicated to all those masticators dead set on spending their sweet time getting a meal down. (Also dedicated to the fine epicurean ritual, we admit this goes beyond fun-poking.)

Now some 600,000 members strong (who knew that so many people had time to chew 45 times before swallowing?), Slow Food runs 400 convivia (local branches that convene regularly to eat slowly) throughout the world, publishes books, a magazine and newsletter, and sells kitchen tools.

A year’s membership is $60. How long you can take to pay that off, well, you’ll have to ask Carlo.