I had first heard of the Slow Food Movement while studying abroad in Genova, Italy, a few years back. And honestly, I didn't understand the true meaning until finally moving to San Francisco this past January. I had thought that slow food meant taking way too much time thinking of an impossible meal, buying too-expensive ingredients in order to make a Thanksgiving Feast, which is only to be gobbled up in minutes after cooking.
After trying the new American/San Franciscan cuisines, buying local produce, paying attention to the importance of "in season and following, what I like to call, "gateway food blogs," did I truly begin to understand how slow food can change the way you think and feel about food.
Slow food isn't complicated. By far, it's experiencing your food in the best and simplest of ways.
It's about learning which foods come into season and how to create harmonious blends of flavors.
It's knowing certain scientific facts about your food. Like when you combine yeast with sugar, fermentation will occur, creating carbon dioxide gas. It is that process that creates that light, airy and chewy texture in bread. And it only gets better when you let the process set up and rest for a long period of time.
Slow food creates a certain environment while eating. No longer is dinner considered the third meal of the day. It is a meeting and gathering of family and friends. The experience of good food, sustaining drink and warm conversation is the end goal of slow food. It becomes more of a way of life rather than a complex meal.
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