By now most of us are aware of the threats looming in the food world. The best-selling Fast Food Nation and other recent books have alerted us to such dangers as genetically modified organisms, food-borne diseases, and industrial farming. Now it is time for answers, and Slow Food Nation steps up to the challenge. Here the charismatic leader of the Slow Food movement, Carlo Petrini, outlines many different routes by which we may take back control of our food. The three central principles of the Slow Food plan are these: food must be sustainably produced in ways that are sensitive to the environment, those who produce the food must be fairly treated, and the food must be healthful and delicious. In his travels around the world as ambassador for Slow Food, Petrini has witnessed firsthand the many ways that native peoples are feeding themselves without making use of the harmful methods of the industrial complex. He relates the wisdom to be gleaned from local cultures in such varied places as Mongolia, Chiapas, Sri Lanka, and Puglia. Amidst our crisis, it is critical that Americans look for insight from other cultures around the world and begin to build a new and better way of eating in our communities here.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
"Carlo Petrini's manifesto makes switching from grabbing dinner from a drive-thru to seeking out environmentally friendly foods seem not just worth the effort, but necessary." -- Atlantan
"We'd love to do a book review of Carlo Petrini's new book - could you send a review copy? "We'd love to do a book review of Carlo Petrini's new book - could you send a review copy? -- TK: The Kitchen
...author Carlo Petrini addresses the complex and interconnected issues of global food production and consumption. Is it really best to eat organic or to eat local? Does the way we grow wheat or meat adversely affect our environment and, eventually, our health?... Petrini lays out a plan for a change in global food systems based on three principles: Producing food that is good, clean and fair. -- The Daily Review, Hayward, Ca. Tri Valley Herald, Pleasanton, CA. Alameda Times - STAR, Oakland, Ca. San Mateo County Times, San Mateo, CA. Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, CA. West County Times, Richmond, Ca. by Jenny Slafkosky
"We'd love to do a book review of Carlo Petrini's new book - could you send a review copy? "We'd love to do a book review of Carlo Petrini's new book - could you send a review copy? -- TK: The Kitchen
...author Carlo Petrini addresses the complex and interconnected issues of global food production and consumption. Is it really best to eat organic or to eat local? Does the way we grow wheat or meat adversely affect our environment and, eventually, our health?... Petrini lays out a plan for a change in global food systems based on three principles: Producing food that is good, clean and fair. -- The Daily Review, Hayward, Ca. Tri Valley Herald, Pleasanton, CA. Alameda Times - STAR, Oakland, Ca. San Mateo County Times, San Mateo, CA. Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, CA. West County Times, Richmond, Ca. by Jenny Slafkosky
About the Author
Carlo Petrini is the founder and driving force of Slow Food and was recently acclaimed as a great innovator in Time magazine's list of "European Heroes."
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More About the Author
Carlo Petrini is the founder of the international Slow Food movement, which was established in 1986 and now has more than 70,000 members in 45 countries around the world. Slow Food is committed to celebrating and preserving biological and regional diversity in food, and to promoting taste education, as well as supporting local agriculture and economies in our increasingly homogenous world.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
41 of 44 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Carlo Petrini gave a lecture at NCSU in Raleigh earlier this year. His talk was in Italian, but his ideas were universal: if we want happiness and peace, we're going to have to change the way we eat.
The book is fantastic. It is beautifully written, powerful, and balances scientific data and understanding with cultural histories and sensible aestheics. His proposal of a new branch of science, gastronomy, is as revolutionary as Freud's proposal to study the human psyche or David Kelley's efforts to study design as a science.
This book is The Inconvenient Truth for those who eat. But it is also a far more optimistic book, for the solution to the problem of industrial agriculture is to seek out good food, to meet and learn about the farms and farmers who grow it, and the reward is pleasure.
The Introduction by Alice Waters is, like the food at Chez Panisse, a sensual as well as a sensible delight.
This is a great book to buy, read, and then share with others, all around the world.
The book is fantastic. It is beautifully written, powerful, and balances scientific data and understanding with cultural histories and sensible aestheics. His proposal of a new branch of science, gastronomy, is as revolutionary as Freud's proposal to study the human psyche or David Kelley's efforts to study design as a science.
This book is The Inconvenient Truth for those who eat. But it is also a far more optimistic book, for the solution to the problem of industrial agriculture is to seek out good food, to meet and learn about the farms and farmers who grow it, and the reward is pleasure.
The Introduction by Alice Waters is, like the food at Chez Panisse, a sensual as well as a sensible delight.
This is a great book to buy, read, and then share with others, all around the world.
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful
By Marya Dumont
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
More than a reaction to Fast Food's arrival in Italy, Slow Food
has evolved into a global movement encompassing many different actions to improve what we all taste and eat.
It's not about eating well in the privileged, Michelin-starred table sense. It's about recognizing everyone's barriers to eating well and judging the quality of our food on three levels, asking whether it is good, clean and fair. (The book's original title is just that: Buono, pulito e Giusto).
The movement's founder wrote this book to set out a new definition of gastronomy, enumerating some of the issues facing our food supply and helping to turn a thinking eater to positive action.
Beautifully translated, Slow Food Nation is a cogent & readable introduction to what Slow Food is about. Highly recommended!
has evolved into a global movement encompassing many different actions to improve what we all taste and eat.
It's not about eating well in the privileged, Michelin-starred table sense. It's about recognizing everyone's barriers to eating well and judging the quality of our food on three levels, asking whether it is good, clean and fair. (The book's original title is just that: Buono, pulito e Giusto).
The movement's founder wrote this book to set out a new definition of gastronomy, enumerating some of the issues facing our food supply and helping to turn a thinking eater to positive action.
Beautifully translated, Slow Food Nation is a cogent & readable introduction to what Slow Food is about. Highly recommended!
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Carlo Petrini has been attempting to preserve a more traditional view of food for a long time, this book lays out his current thinking in a clear and concise layering of understanding food in culture (gastronomy), understanding quality (good, clean, fair food), and the tools to put these ideas to work in the world going forward.
As we reconstitute a food culture based on transparency and quality in the USA and hopefully across the globe, this book provides key ideas related to respect for diversity of food products, respect for food in culture, and respect for the work associated with food that can serve to guide us. This book made me think and laugh, and I recommend it highly.
As we reconstitute a food culture based on transparency and quality in the USA and hopefully across the globe, this book provides key ideas related to respect for diversity of food products, respect for food in culture, and respect for the work associated with food that can serve to guide us. This book made me think and laugh, and I recommend it highly.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is simply a beautiful book. It is motivational. It is deep. It is intelligent. It is profound. I am glad I have read it. It is a simple matter really. If you care about people, animals, plants, food, the earth; what is called the world then you will enjoy this book and will find enrichment and satisfaction. If on the other hand you choose to live in ignorance and oblivion and prefer to act as an individual pursuing only ones selfish interests and to consume indiscriminately without concern or knowledge then you need this book but will most likely find a way to refute it. The translation is excellent. This is not a difficult read for a well-formed mind and I suspect you will enjoy Petrini's style. I particulary enjoyed his diary insights about the experiences of his life that gives us an acoount of others trying to do good. Read this book you will be rewarded.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
A great book for anyone wanting to know about the 20 year old revolution of slow food that began in Italy...buying locally grown and produced foods to provide the healthiest foods for our bodies and to take care of our planet as well. If you're into agricultural and ecological sustainability or your not, but you either want to be a part of it or are curious about it...this book is the one to start with. An easy read and highly recommended.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
By RY773
Format:Hardcover
The in-depth book provides a thorough examination of the quintessential modern diet that merely depletes and deprives the modern person. Petrini goes fully into slow food technicalities to exemplify his rather complex theology.
Certainly worth the meticulous read, so long as you're up for such immense information.
Certainly worth the meticulous read, so long as you're up for such immense information.
14 of 22 people found the following review helpful
By Caoimhín
Format:Hardcover
I wonder how many guests have dined with Mr. Petrini and thought, "Does this guy ever shut up?" The author wastes too much ink waxing philosophical or arguing for a Utopian "return to the old ways" of agriculture. Never mind we couldn't feed a few billion people.
In "Slow Food Nation", Mr. Petrini lays out his argument for a sustainable world food system that is "good, clean, and fair." Unfortunately, Mr. Petrini loves the sound of his own voice and how clever he is, and he ends up preaching to the choir. Since Mr. Petrini is trying to save the world by changing the way we all perceive our food, perhaps he should have written his book so that a noble peasant-of-the-soil could appreciate his world-view.
In Petrini's narrative there were several somewhat amusing anecdotes and I gleamed some insight about how insidious Agribusiness truly is, but these gems were far and few between. Most of the book was insufferable verbal gymnastics of what he deems a gastronome should be. This guy has way too much time on his hands or has some kind of OCD.
I am actually 100% in agreement of what Mr. Petrini stands for. He just shouldn't be the messenger. If you're still interested in this important subject from a practical point of view--and not what reads like an elitist restaurant critic--I would recommend Michael Pollan's informative and enjoyable tome "The Omnivore's Dilemma".
In "Slow Food Nation", Mr. Petrini lays out his argument for a sustainable world food system that is "good, clean, and fair." Unfortunately, Mr. Petrini loves the sound of his own voice and how clever he is, and he ends up preaching to the choir. Since Mr. Petrini is trying to save the world by changing the way we all perceive our food, perhaps he should have written his book so that a noble peasant-of-the-soil could appreciate his world-view.
In Petrini's narrative there were several somewhat amusing anecdotes and I gleamed some insight about how insidious Agribusiness truly is, but these gems were far and few between. Most of the book was insufferable verbal gymnastics of what he deems a gastronome should be. This guy has way too much time on his hands or has some kind of OCD.
I am actually 100% in agreement of what Mr. Petrini stands for. He just shouldn't be the messenger. If you're still interested in this important subject from a practical point of view--and not what reads like an elitist restaurant critic--I would recommend Michael Pollan's informative and enjoyable tome "The Omnivore's Dilemma".
Most Recent Customer Reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Things we've all heard before plus some annoying elitist thought.
If you're into reading about the woes of industrial agriculture then you've probably already heard most of the things he's mentioned in this book already, things that are actually... Read more
Published 15 months ago by bc
5.0 out of 5 stars
Change the way you see food
This is a beautifully written book that will make you stop and think. In Slow Food Nation, Petrini has given us an objective way to judge the quality of our food.
Published on June 16, 2009 by JK
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating book
A very important book for all who are interested in real and healthy food for the planet.
Published on April 15, 2009 by JD
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good Food
I really bought this book as a gift item for my daughter. According to the source, it is an excellent book and quite well written.
Published on January 17, 2009 by Vincent A. Pezzullo
2.0 out of 5 stars
Slow food, slow reading.
This was slow, slow reading. Lots of technical information which I am just too tired to digest. Maybe something was lost in the translation? Read more
Published on November 5, 2008 by history buff
4.0 out of 5 stars
Slow Food Nation: A Socialist Eater's Manifesto
Let me start off by stating that I agree with the essential concept of this book. I think we should all try to slow down, buy locally grown, fresh, seasonal food and cook a few... Read more
Published on October 3, 2008 by J. Canestrino
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