Carlo Petrini was horrified. To him, it seemed that a global takeover of industrialised, standardised fast food was well on the way - and it could be the beginning of the end for the huge variety of good, traditional, regional Italian food. He decided that it was necessary to set up a 'slow food' movement to counteract the potential for 'fast food' world domination.

Eco-gastronomy: Between the 1980s and now, Slow Food has become an international organisation of members who not only care about retaining our diverse heritage of regional food and drink, and protecting it from unthinking globalisation, but are increasingly aware of the associated environmental issues.

To become a recognised Slow Food Producer, food is judged to be…

GOOD, CLEAN and FAIR

Food should taste GOOD: the frantic fast world's obessions with unnecessary industrialisation, excessive 'food miles', standardisation and homogeneity very often result in bland food that simply doesn't taste as good as food that has been produced locally with care, pride and passion.

Food should be CLEAN: it should be produced in a sustainable way, without any negative impact on our environment, and with a minimum of artificial intervention.

Food should be produced in a FAIR way: its producers should not be exploited but should be paid a fair amount for their skill and labour.

None of this means that Slow Food is against progress or technological advances. Far from it, Slow Food is a truly progressive concept that seeks to utilise mankind's ever-expanding knowledge base to retain and develop the diversity of all that is best in our world heritage.

To buy delicious Italian Food made to Slow Food principles click here