Slow Food for a Fast Nation

 
Humans - and especially Americans - are all about instant gratification. When faced with a choice between now and later, we often choose now. Instant happiness. Instant satisfaction. It does not matter how long the satisfaction lasts, the point is that we did not have to wait for it. When it comes to food, this often means picking dinner up at a fast food joint or eating an eight minute TV dinner instead of preparing a meal from scratch. Why? Because Americans are not just busy, we feel busy. We do not want to miss out on something because we were too busy with food. We can get more sleep if we eat breakfast in the car. We can absorb more pop culture if we eat dinner in front of the television. Basically, we prioritize both work and play over health.

The Slow Food movement has attempted to fight this trend by teaching citizens of the world how to grow and prepare food for themselves and by lobbying for change.

Slow Food USA's suggestions are simply stated:

"Go Slow in Your Life

1. Buy whole ingredients. Cook them. Eat them.
2. Avoid processed stuff with long ingredient lists. Eat real food.
3. Grow some of your own food. Start in your backyard, community garden or windowsill.
4. If you eat meat, choose grass-fed and if you eat poultry, choose free-range.
5. Whenever possible, know the story behind the food you buy."

Is it really that easy for Americans? Not all of them. The type of lifestyle Slow Food USA describes is hard for people with low income to achieve or even consider. Low income families just do not have enough money to buy fresh ingredients and they generally do not have any extra time in their days to spend growing and cooking food. Time is money, and they do not have the luxury of wasting either one.

Higher income individuals, however, certainly have the funds to live this lifestyle. Maybe they are on-the-go too often to grow their own food, but they still have the resources necessary to seek out and purchase non-processed food. If every person who can afford to the Slow Food movement would do so, local growers would have more money to grow more food. Local food businesses could expand and get fresh food to new places. More importantly, the demand for processed foods would start to decline.

Americans do not just vote with a pen in a booth. Americans vote with their wallets. Fast food restaurants exist and thrive because we, the people, fund them. Farmer's markets are few and far-between because Americans prefer to give their money to the sellers of precooked meals. Because we are not putting our money towards locally grown goods, local stores are only going to continue to dwindle. If the Americans who could afford to eat slow would do so, politicians would take notice. Trends would show that healthy food is what the American people want.