Sunday, November 25, 2007

The downside of Slow Food...

is that it's slow.

Seen scrawled on the bottom of a sheet pan, somewhere in the Midwest:

I'm a Slow Food slave, trapped in the Ark of Taste! Roasting an uncarved pumpkin so it does not go to waste.

I've been wanting to do the sustainable, locally grown, heirloom/heritage thing for a while now, and this summer, I really got into it with the CSA that I joned. And, I've also scored a great fresh meat supplier--my friend's parents. The meat is so fresh, that I've met the turkey that I'll be serving at Christmas.

But it's really, really hard to 1. source all ingredients locally, and 2. take the time to cook every single night. I believe that in the next 20 years, we'll have no choice but to cook local, sustainable food in season--or pay much, much more for the exotic, out-of-season, and convenient. The "local infrastructure," so to speak, is already building. Local Harvest, farmer's markets, and CSAs will only become more popular.

But that means our society needs to radically slow down for this to work. And that's the part I'm not sure will happen. Food takes time to cook--even the 30-minute meals.

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