"The fast-paced life of the city is distorting our lives and the environment in the name of productivity. We must start by eating slowly, to resist the fast-paced life." —This is the "Slow Food Manifesto" published by the Slow Food International Association.
They hope that people can quietly enjoy the slow food culture, which is embodied in the 6 M's:
Meal (Refined Cuisine)
Menu (Magnificent Menu)
Music (Enchanting Music)
Manner (Elegant Etiquette)
Mood (Sophisticated Atmosphere)
Meeting (Pleasant Gathering)
Slow Foodists are identified by the SLOW FOOD logo, in which the two O's are stylized into the shape of a snail, the meaning of which is self-evident. Fast Food Faces Challenges
In 1948, American brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald opened the first McDonald's restaurant. This new type of fast food, modeled on industrial assembly lines and commercial kitchens, was born in the post-industrial era. It quickly spread from the United States to all over the world, forming a corresponding fast-food culture. It is said that McDonald's has no chefs; its hamburgers and french fries are produced on an assembly line in the "Henry Ford industrial model," and staff members fill orders in 90 seconds, with customers waiting no more than 3.5 minutes. The world-renowned magazine "The Economist" even has a "Big Mac Index," which uses the price of McDonald's in various countries to evaluate exchange rates.
According to a certain market survey: among consumers in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, 23.2% of consumers said they like Western fast food very much, and 29.3% like it relatively, with a total of 54.5%, while those who said they don't like it very much and dislike it very much account for only 15.5% and 9.5%, respectively. A further understanding of the reasons why consumers like Western fast food found that 48.3% of consumers like it because it is fast and convenient. Perhaps inadvertently, your daily life has already become inseparable from these three things: hamburgers, french fries, and Coke.
Is fast food good? In the eyes of nutritionists, fast food is a "triple-high" food with high fat, high calories, and high protein. They see the fast food industry as one that "makes people fat." Now, some Americans have also begun to reflect on fast-food culture, calling fast food, which is like refueling a car, "junk food." Recently, a TV news report said that McDonald's was sued by parents of children. The defense lawyer tried to argue that McDonald's does not force people to eat there every day, that its advent was to meet the needs of society, and that the product itself is not wrong, and so on. Slow Food, In the Name of Culture
Unexpectedly, the founder of the Slow Food Association, Carlo Petrini, is actually a journalist. He says that Slow Food is not only about finding delicious food for our taste buds, but also about preserving our humanity. In his view: "A ham made using traditional methods has a cultural value no less than a medieval castle."
He said that Slow Food is not simply chewing slowly. The core of the slow food culture is: to protect the resources and production methods of traditional foods that are on the verge of extinction, thereby protecting the diversity of biological resources and the balance of the ecosystem, and ensuring the diversity of people's dining tables and their own culture.
He has played this cultural card very well, and the membership of the Slow Food Association is increasing rapidly. These "gourmands" have reached a consensus that if humans are satisfied with industrialized and standardized fast food, then in a few years, our menus will probably only have McDonald's and KFC. Fast food culture standardizes people's tastes, and foods and drinks with strong characteristics are gradually disappearing. They emphasize that what they oppose is not just a food or a recipe, but more importantly, protecting a tradition and a culture. What they oppose is not just a certain fast food, but more importantly, opposing the blind wave of globalization. For this reason, a senior executive of a certain fast-food brand couldn't help but sigh: "We have become a symbol of everything people dislike or worry about related to local culture." The Contest is More Than Just About Speed
There are fewer and fewer people who have never been to McDonald's, KFC, or pizza shops, but this does not mean that we do not appreciate the elegance of vegetables on a plate or the warmth of rice porridge in a bowl. We need fast food, and we also enjoy chewing slowly. Fast food and slow food, for you and me, are not a matter of choice. They are two completely different attitudes towards life. Their emergence and development have their own specific historical environment. As a dietary culture, the two are by no means simple. Fast Foodists:
A high-speed society and life rhythm require fast food, which is an alternative combination of speed and quality. Compared with classic food culture, it is like pop music, with a sense of freedom and chic in its coming and going, full of challenges. It is a symbol of youth and a representative work of the fleeting light of the 20th century. Slow Foodists:
Using a snail as its image spokesperson is to express a return to searching for flavor, emphasizing a kind of tranquility and interest. Faced with the noisy outside world, it always retains a leisurely and elegant attitude. It represents a calm attitude towards an ideal life, a natural portrait of never losing oneself. I am slow, therefore I think, therefore I am.
You can suddenly get off the fast subway and enter a cozy teahouse, to see yourself clearly in the contrast, or you can sleep until noon and then just order a fast food. A simple day, a casual life, the "degree" is in your own hands.