Slowing Down Our Food

“What really inspires me,” Muncaster said in a follow-up email after our chat, “is that the farmers who have lived here for generations can no longer afford to farm and are selling out to developers. Meanwhile, in what was once a self-sustaining community, we can no longer buy local milk from the cows we pass on the road and all our organic produce comes from Los Angeles. I have gotten to know many of the old-timers and their children and have tremendous respect for the agrarian lifestyle. It seems so simple—they go back to growing food to sell locally, the farmland and lifestyle that makes this place so beautiful is preserved, the environmental impact of food distribution is mitigated, and we have better taste and health.”

But what exactly is The Ecogastronomy Initiative? Muncaster explains this between posts on whether eating fish with its mercury levels outweighs its important Omega-3 factors and her update from attending Terra Madre, Slow Food’s world conference in Turin, Italy, which gathered 5,000 sustainable food producers, chefs, and university representatives from more than 150 countries. Basically, the Ecogastronomy Initiative is her way to get those in Middle America involved in the conversation about how and where they get their food, and how to enjoy it when they finally take some time to sit down and eat.

While Muncaster researched the environmental aspects of food, she came upon the issues of organic food versus local food and seafood versus over-fishing. She explored the social impacts of food, regarding fair trade, global justice, and those cultural trades such as cheese making, which are currently threatened to be lost over time. As for the health aspects, Muncaster refers to nutrition and Americans’ approach to food. “We’re just so selfish. We only consider our own pleasure and health and forget to consider other cultures [and what they need]. In all of the decisions about food, we shouldn’t make a decision on our own health and taste, but think about the social aspect and eco-aspect.”

And then she stumbled upon the Slow Food movement. “It clicked and I said, ‘This is it!’” Slow Food USA had created conviviums (from the term, convivial, which Merriam-Webster defines as “fond of feasting, drinking, and good company), local chapters that encourage those involved to start their own local Slow Food communities.