August 2023 Food Champions Challenge: Slow Food

Food & Drink
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Slow Food, an alternative to Fast Food, was founded in 1986 to object to the opening of a McDonald’s outlet near the Spanish Steps, a 300 years old Baroque architecture in the historical heart of Rome.
Since then it has become a global organisation, our own Maggie Beer introduced Slow Food to Australia in 1995 when she founded the Convivium in the Barossa Valley.

In the words of the Australian food timeline, the movement aims to:
Prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, counteract the rise of Fast Life, and combat people’s dwindling interest in the food we eat.

Its mission:

  • Good (tasty, seasonal, wholesome food linked to local culture and seasons)
  • Clean (doesn’t cause harm to the environment, animals, or people)
  • Fair (affordable but respecting fair conditions and pay)
    Good, clean, affordable food should be accessible to all, to celebrate the diverse cultures and traditions that reside in Australia.

In our own homes how can we best contribute to the ideals of Slow Food?

  • Has our life style changed so much that we no longer have the time nor the skills of cooking from scratch using only local, fresh, wholesome ingredients?
  • Is it becoming increasingly difficult to find local fresh ingredients in our shopping strip stores.
  • Do we rely on ready made meals purchased in the ubiquitous supermarkets to help us put food on the table in the fastest possible time?
  • Have we forgotten the art of fine dining, taking our time to enjoy our meals sitting at a beautifully set dining table instead of sitting on the couch with our eyes glued to our home theatre entertainment unit while gulping down fast food?
  • What do you think are the benefits of Slow Food?

Please share your thoughts with us for a chance to be awarded a food champion badge.

Thank you to all participants of the July challenge, you have made it a great one!

From @vax2000 @phb @Gaby

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Catchy labels don’t always truly represent the subject but Slow Food does. It’s about real food where enough time is taken to get the best result you can manage.

We can’t all be great chefs but we can all cook with care and patience and love. Taking the necessary time is not producing a monumentally complex dessert with 12 components that takes five hours of hard work. That kind of thing is excluded because very few can do it or afford to pay for an expert to do it.

This is what it does mean. Firstly it means being prepared to wait for your ingredients.

It is netting your peach tree to keep the competitors from hijacking the crop and then picking the fruit on the right day when the juice is full of flavour and runs down your chin and you don’t care because you want to take another bite not to wash your face.

It is preparing a special bed for asparagus and waiting three years before you can cut the spears. If you do, that spring will be a special one as you will taste the real thing for the first time and swear you will never go back to eating the insipid chilled rubbish that was flown in from Chile.

If you don’t have room to be a grower then get up early and go to the markets in season and choose the best you can find.

Taking time to cook simple dishes that are within your ability is the second slowness.

It is taking ham bones and stewing the meat off, the next day adding fresh cut veges, grain and seasoning and cooking again. It is waiting a day before you serve it to get the maximum complexity and depth of flavour. All very simple techniques but worth it and the result will blow away whatever comes out of a tin and as a bonus you can pronounce all the ingredients without a chemistry degree.

I did a bad thing two weeks ago. I was unwell and my kitchen time was limited so I took a short cut and used frozen pastry for an apple tart for guests. It was crap. The apples and sweetness and spices were aromatic and just right for a winter dessert, the pastry was tough as old saddle. I should have taken the time to make my own pastry, which isn’t difficult at all, or made apple crumble instead that needs no pastry.

The third slowness is at the table. Life does not permit lingering over meals all the time but do it for those you care for when you can. Make the meal an event where the courses come at your pace and not that of the restaurant that wants you out the door to get a second sitting. Allow for conversation and sipping. Let the children go and play when they are full until they are old enough to join in the full event. How else will they learn? Before dessert get up and walk around the garden, smell the roses and return to table refreshed.

If you haven’t got time to do any of these things then haven’t got time to live.

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Thank you @syncretic for conveying the true meaning of Slow Food.
Time is often a matter of priority, and when we opt for the enjoyment of good food and the art of fine living above other things we will reap the benefits in a healthier, longer, happier, life.

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The poem by William Henry Davies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leisure_(poem) is relevant. If he thought late 19th and early 20th century life was overly hectic, what would he have made of life now?

We certainly should take time to “stand and stare”, and prepare and appreciate slow food.

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Look, up in the sky. It’s a bird, it’s a plane. No it’s Pedant Man!

What’s a Campions?

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Oh look! It’s a typo!! :wink:

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Maybe not! Very apt to use an archaic variant of the word “champion” that harks back to the days when ‘campion’ leaves were used to crown ‘champion’ athletes - and food always was slow. :laughing:

From https://www.dictionary.com/browse/campion

campion / (ˈkæmpɪən) /
noun

  1. any of various caryophyllaceous plants of the genera Silene and Lychnis, having red, pink, or white flowers: See also bladder campion

ORIGIN OF CAMPION

C16: probably from campion, obsolete variant of champion, perhaps so called because originally applied to Lychnis coronaria, the leaves of which were used to crown athletic champions.

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I remember having Sunday lunch with my Grand parents . Very laid back . Traditional roast , a nice bottle of claret . 2 hours of relaxing food . Don McClean sang that the " Music died" with Buddy Holly . Our family died in many ways when my grand mother passed .Oh yeah .We actually ate in a room called a DINING ROOM . Where did they go ?

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We still have one and it gets used nearly every night for the family meal, (2+1). :wink:

No guarantee every night it is 3+ courses and entertainment like they do with “Come Dine with Me” (SBS TV). Home cooked 6.5 nights a week, there is always an investment in time from one or more. Sometimes started straight after lunch, or the night before. No excuse if pressed for time to not cook an easy and short order standard.

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A very important aspect of slow food is to encourage using locally grown ingredients in our cooking. Sourcing locally would benefit the environment, the economy, and promote a local culture and tradition in Australia.

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Often on a Saturday afternoon I would head out to the back blocks with gun and dogs in tow . I had 2 Brittany Pointers . The bitch trained for feather .Bonnie . The dog trained for fur . Bret .

I used a 20 gauge Beretta u/o shot gun . Would drop a brace of rabbits (2) and any quail I shot to one of my aunties . She would clean ,marinate them over night and slow cook them for Sunday dinner . I would turn up with a bottle of good claret . Great memories .Great dinners .

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The recipe for hot chips on the fryer book is to cut the chips and fry them at 180C for 9-12 minutes. Not slow.

If not a winner an honourable slow mention? Instructions on a sack of Maris Piper potatoes for chips. Usually buy kestrals. but Maris Pipers are supposedly the best for frying and roasting…First time we saw them locally - currently available at Coles.

  • rinse the cut potatoes under cold water for 5 minutes
  • place potatoes into a large pot of cold water
  • bring to boil then reduce heat to simmer for 20 minutes or until soft
  • drain and spread out evenly on a wire rack
  • put in freezer for 1 hour to remove moisture
  • cook chips in small batches at 130C for 5 minutes or until a crust starts to form
  • Drain and spread out evenly on a wire rack lined with paper towel
  • put in freezer for 1 hour
  • cook chips at 180C for 5-7 minutes or until golden brown
  • season with salt and pepper and serve immediately

prep time 25 minutes + 2 hours
cooking time 35-40 minutes

I will not question the price of good hot chips again.

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A few years ago I made the mistake of buying an electric pressure cooker. I really wanted one but all the mucking around to prep stuff beforehand, then the cleaning of all the fiddly bits when you’re done really took any enjoyment out of any meal. Not to mention that even when following recipes provided to the letter, was still being left with relatively bland and sometimes watery food. I think I used it about 3 times and now its tucked away at the back of the pantry.

Give me a slow cooker dinner or a nice roast any day. If I could, I’d have a roast dinner every day. Herbed baked vegetables, basted meat, steamed greens. Would get a bot expensive. I don’t own an air fryer. And I cook from scratch most days. Essential when living rural. And yes, linger over dinner every time.

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I think this is a great idea as I believe that fast foods contribute to health problems and childhoods obesity. The only fast food we had grown up was fish and chips on a Friday night. We now buy our fruit and vegetables from farmers markets and cook everything out except for one night a week we have takeaway pizza as a treat. I think a lot use fast food as a staple rather than a treat which doesn’t help educate the kids about good food and how it’s made and where it comes from.

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I nearly got a pressure cooker a while ago glad i didn’t sinchad heard of ones not working properly. I tend to think having a solid fry pan and stockpot can be useful. Most cooking is in preparation and enjoy the frying or baking that needs doing

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Pressure Cookers can be an excellent choice that speed up a core part of the cooking process. That does not automatically lead to a poorer outcome or instant meal. A meal made using a PC still requires considered and thoughtful preparation. It’s just one part of the cooking process. One of our family favourites was oxtail stew. It was best prepared and cooked the night before. Allowed to cool and excess fat skimmed off the next day.

There are one pot wonder recipes. Some IMO work well (split pea and ham soup). Some not so. For some recipes the main use of the PC is to efficiently turn a cheap cut into luxury, removing the meat reducing the stock adding back and bringing up to serving temp or …… There are so many different ways to make a great meal with the aid of a pressure cooker.

Choice has the following advice, includes links to reviews. Member content for the full reviews.

And

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My family were always involved in restaurants and cafes. On Fridays I would peel, chip and cook six 150 pound bags of potatoes. And yes thankfully I had machines to do the hard work.

It may sound strange, but the food our family eat was not sold out the front because it tool so long to prepare and cook.

I cook breakfast and dinners seven days a week for two, and twice a week for five. And some lunches I may prepare a hot meal like Pea and Ham soup that I made and put into glass containers and froze.

But I also bake lamb and beef cuts in a very slow oven. The meat cut will be placed on a rack in a baking dish and I add nearly two cups of water, salt, pepper and whole garlic and put in the oven at 70 to 80 C for six hours. The last 20 minutes at 180C. this way the cut does not shrink, retains moisture, and gives a great base for a gravy. I have a second oven for the baked vegies. The potatoes are cut into quarters and hash cut on top before steaming, not boiling, steaming for 15 minutes then added to the vegetable tray, Sweet potatoes, pumpkin, carrots, onions and sprayed with olive oil and Italian herbs and baked in the 2nd smaller convection oven at 180C for about 45 minutes. Peas and beans are also steamed, not boiled.
I am also teaching all my grandkids how to cook. As a male I find the grandsons have taken to cooking with pleasure.

I have also introduced them to a real steak, Blu. But that is another story.

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I bake my own bread using locally produced flour from the local Furney’s Flour Mills in Dubbo. Whilst I do use a bread maker I only use the mixing part of it the rest is hand kneaded and proved in my oven set to just 30 degrees. Then its placed in a cranked up 220 degrees for 25 minutes and at the end of 3 hours two crusty high tin loaves that you can actually taste the flavour of the bread.

Not including the power used, each 500g loaf costs me about 85 cents and there is no wastage (it’s too yummy).

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What better than an archeological find complete with skeletons to attract customers to a fast food place? :wink:

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