Slow Food was founded in Italy in 1986 by Carlo Petrini.
Carlo was standing at the “Seven Steps”
in Rome when he saw a MacDonalds Restaurant being built.
He was so upset that he and several of his close friends
started Slow Food in reaction to Fast Food. Slow Food
is a philosophical organization that believes that the
sameness of the food we now see in the market (fast
food everywhere), is a signal that we are losing an
important part of our culture. The food that grandma
and even mother made is being lost and many of today’s
children do not recognize quality.
Slow Food now has more than 70,000 members in over
50 countries with over 600 conviviums or local organizations
in these countries. Since 1997 a branch has been successfully
operating in Bodrum under the chairmanship of Frank
Marciano, a Turkish- speaking local resident with over
40 years of food and wine experience.
Slow Food hosts the Salone Del Gusto every two years
in Torino, Italy where over 600 vendors come together
to offer members and guests a taste of quality food
and beverage products. For the past 2 events, in 2000
and 2002, Frank Marciano has held seminars at the Salone
where he introduced rare Turkish cheeses and Doluca
and Kavaklidere wines, with both firms sponsoring their
wines for these tasting events. The audience was composed
of worldwide journalists, cheese specialists and gourmet
attendees. Last year, more than 120,000 members attended,
2000 different wines were available for tasting, as
well as hundreds of different world cheeses.
Slow Food also sponsors the yearly International Slow
Food Award. Since its inception in 2000, this award
has been given to 4 Turkish individuals or groups. Veli
Gulas was awarded the top prize in 2000, for preservation
of a rare honey from Rize, and the long-established
Haviar producer, Dalko Cooperative from Dalyan also
won one of the 12 worldwide awards. The village of Ismailkoy
in Afyon won the prize in 2001 for their traditional
culinary use of the poppy seed, its oil and the by product,
kaymak. Finally, last year, a farmer from Igdir, near
Mount Ararat, Haydar Aligoz, was awarded a top prize
for his efforts to bring back to life the ancient cultivation
of the famous Igdir apricot.
There are almost 60 members of the Bodrum Slow Food
chapter throughout Turkey. Almost each month we meet
to have a quality dinner, but tasting is the key. Tasting
is one of the most important activities of the organization
and we have sampled wine, Raki, cheeses, mushrooms,
bread, olive oil and not so common sea foods. Some recent
tasting dinners and lunches are depicted. Slow Food
awarded the Best Restaurant Award for 2002 to Denizhan
Et Lokantasi. Bodrum Slow Food has developed a restaurant
rating form that was the basis for this award being
made. We invite restaurants to ask for a free copy of
this Turkish-language form so that they can be better
prepared for the future.
Membership in Slow Food comes with a subscription to
the Slow Food magazine in English, German, Spanish,
French or Italian, along with the ability to attend
any Slow Food function anywhere in the world. We invite
interested people to join our fraternity.
For information: www.slowfood.com
Frank Marciano frank@efes.net.tr |
