Growing up things were too slow for my liking. Living outside of town, next door to a dairy farm and not having too many other kids around, I truly learned the meaning of slow. Time went slowly by. Seasons were clearly marked not only by weather and apparel, but by what my mother did in the kitchen and what my father did around the house. It was tedious and I wanted things to move along faster so that I could grow up, move away and be about doing important things. Looking back, it looks pretty good. Simpler, healthier and easier in many ways.
Over the last several decades others have begun to sense that things are moving too quickly as well. Too quickly to understand. To quickly to be done well. And too quickly to be truly savored and appreciated. In 1986 this awareness went from individuals sensing that things were slipping a bit, to what is now a world-wide movement - Slow Food, founded by Carlo Petrini. It's still not quite mainstream, but understanding the importance of paying attention to what you eat, eatingwhat is local and eating fresh rather than prepared foods is accepted, acted on and promoted by more and more people every day. It's hard work going against a culture of convenience but I see young people doing what my grandparents did. My grandfather was a butcher and I see young chefs butchering and curing their own meat and home cooks wanting to learn how to do more in their own kitchens than microwave. My grandmother made legendarily-good "pocket book rolls," yeast rolls with aroma that filled the house. Young people are baking artisan breads regularly, leaving behind the Wonder Bread-like product that so many of us grew up on.
I don't think my parents would believe that there was a willing turning back to a world they grew up in. It was physically harder. They saw progress in prepared foods, chemical fertilizers and pesticides and all the advances of science. They believed the people in authority in those businesses always had their interests at heart. My father would never vote a stock proxy other than the way management wanted, because in his mind, "who knew the situation better than management?"
Unfortunately, even well-intentioned actions have unintended consequences and the pesticides, and fertilizers and antibiotics and scientific advances lead to outcomes that are far from the best intentions of those involved. I don't want to believe that people knowingly do things that are harmful although I know they have in the past. Caveat emptor was a saying I grew up hearing - let the buyer beware. Good guidance for today's world and yet another piece of wisdom from my elders I see being lived out by consumers who see access to healthy, fresh food as a right for themselves, their children and their communities.
