What is Slow Food?

Honest food, locally produced, simply prepared, leisurely shared

Slow Food is an international non-profit organisation which addresses people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world.

Slow Food encourages us to take a little more time to understand and appreciate the food we eat, highlighting the basic philosophy that eating good food can, and should, be a pleasure.

Slow Food was founded in 1989 in Italy. It now has more than 85,000 members in 132 countries, with 2500 members and 45 local groups, or convivia, in the UK. The Slow Food Edinburgh convivium is the second largest in the UK after London, with over 160 members.

Slow Food offers an alternative to fast food but it isn’t all about slow cooking and long, leisurely meals – instead it promotes an attitude to food which values locally grown produce, eating food in season, small-scale artisan producers and non-industrialized farming.

Slow Food sets itself against fast food culture by creating meaningful links between those who eat food and those who grow, farm, produce, sell and cook it. Both locally and internationally, Slow Food gets involved in projects aimed at spreading taste education, increasing our appreciation of local food producers and protecting threatened breeds of animal, varieties of fruit and traditional food-related skills.

Slow Food: a better way to eat.

What does Slow Food Edinburgh do?

Slow Food Edinburgh organises monthly events, including informal “Slow Suppers”, cooking demonstrations, tastings and themed meals. The aim of these and other local projects, which include a Kids Taste Adventure initiative, is to raise our awareness of good local food. It also hopes to rise to the challenge of Scotland’s suspect food culture by inspiring better shopping, convivial eating, simpler cooking and encouraging everyone to discover more about the wide array of good food grown and produced in Scotland.

Other groups around the UK also organise local events, including food markets, school gardens projects and forums bringing together chefs and local food producers. Internationally, Slow Food organizes international events such as Salone del Gusto, the world's biggest artisan food fair, and Terre Madre, which brings together food communities from around the world. Slow Food's Foundation for Biodiversity protects and promotes threatened foods around the world, while Slow Food's ground-breaking University of Gastronomic Sciences is introducing a new generation of students to all aspects of the history and production of good quality food.

For more information, go to the About section of this website or check out the Slow Food Companion

Follow Slow Food Edinburgh on Twitter @slowfoodedin
and join us on Facebook (SlowFood Edinburgh)

Slow Suppers – Slow Food Edinburgh's convivial monthly gathering

Our regular Slow Suppers offer a chance to meet local Slow Food supporters, find out more about the movement and enjoy good food and conversation. Designed to be informal, relaxed meals with no particular theme or agenda, they're held on the second Monday of each month. The suppers are open to both members and non-members. For £10 you get a light main dish and a glass of wine. They are regular sell-outs, so please book early to guarantee your place at the table.

Upcoming Slow Suppers:

• Monday 13 February 2012 at Café St Honoré, 34 North West Thistle Street Lane, from 6.30pm. Please book with restaurant.

Edinburgh's popular Farmers' Market is held every Saturday from 9am until about 2pm on Castle Terrace in the West End of the city centre, in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle. On the first Saturday of each month, we'll have a Slow Food stall at the market. This acts as an information point for the public to find out more about Slow Food and we usually organize a cooking demo with a local chef, who'll use produce from the surrounding stalls to whip up something simple but tasty. Volunteers to help look after the stand are always welcome. Keep an eye on Upcoming Events for more details.