February 2011
1 post
November 2010
6 posts
1 tag
four sentences
Enjoyment is the experience of pleasure for an individual—a highly personal encounter, not singularly replicable for a second individual, but based on personal history and current factors; however, standardized processes risk the user’s enjoyment in favor of efficiency and production. Standardized processes, the mass-production of goods, industrialization, commercialization, and branding, have...
We are not rats and life is not a race →
Not sure I yet fully support the Slow Revolution, but I am still continuously brought back to its concepts and ideals. Is it possible to bring the whole world back to slow? What would this look like?
Pioneers of Change →
WORKac and MVRDV look at reducing New York’s eating habits to an 100 mile radius of the city center.
25 years
2011 will mark the 25th anniversary of Carlo Petrini’s efforts in the Slow Food movement and the 22nd year of the organization. However, in terms of production and growth in Italy, this continues as new formation. Slow Food is a formal, articulated organization countering fast food and the fast life. The organization is an outward expression of Italy’s long term way of life, an appreciation for...
Food City →
Thinking about this congruently with Slow Food
October 2010
3 posts
1 tag
50
Good—Clean—Fair—Active—Local—Authentic—Holistic—Quality—Respectful—Sensible—Experiential—Variety—Refreshing—Commitment—Delicious—Up-cycled—Eco-effective—Fresh—Flavor—Traditional—Critical—Globalization—Pleasure—Informed—Delicacy—Freshness—Special—Hard...
2 tags
Kill the Smartphone- the Slow Fight against the... →
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Slow Food founder talks global food overhaul →
September 2010
9 posts
2 tags
Eataly market by Mario Batali, Joe Bastianich,... →
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“Taste is both flavor and knowledge, sapore and sapere in Italian: the...”
– Carlo Petrini in Slow Food Nation
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Fantasized Counterfeit Reality
The picturesque is nothing more than a fantasized mental creation, denying reality. This conjured counterfeit image, also referred to as the ideal condition—resembles a dream-like world without facts, actions, or consequences. This is not a place for living. The counterfeit champions the iconic while everything else is interchangeable and disposable. The iconic is re-produced, re-created, and...
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"Slow Architecture" Show Afloat in Ireland →
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Festa della Rificolona
On Tuesday evening, some of the villa students and professors headed into Firenze for the Festa della Rificolona (the Festival of Paper Lanterns). When we arrived, the procession was waiting in the Piazza di San Giovanni for the Cardinal to lead the parade, where it would later continue to the Piazza Santa Croce and the Piazza Santissima Annunziata.
The children (and some other university...
Lesson Learned – Plan ahead!
This past Saturday a group of seven of us headed by train to Cinque Terre for what we thought would be a great weekend. However, a great weekend turned into a great day trip with a few hitches on the way home. We traveled to Monterosso, the largest of the five towns, and planned on finding a hotel on the fly. We looked around and checked in at the travel office only to find that there was only...
Arrival!
I’ve arrived and am in love with Italy!
I finished packing last Monday by dividing my one suitcase into two and adding in a few more books that might be helpful for the semester. Lufthansa has a really silly rule that an overweight bag costs 150 dollars while a second bag only 50 dollars. My few good intentions of packing light didn’t end up coming true.
Tuesday afternoon, I left from...
August 2010
8 posts
Packing Lists
Today, I got the chance to talk to my friend Kelsy about travel and studying abroad. She just got back from a seven month study abroad and internship in France. Her advice lined up with everything I’ve heard so far — leave out everything that can be picked up and purchased easily abroad. Bring the basic necessities of clothes, but limit what I bring. Wow, this is going to be hard!
...
6 tags
Dinner at Carnivale
Tonight I had dinner at Carnivale in Chicago with two friends from undergrad at Michigan. The food was amazing! I tried the sangria while Amanda and Anne tried some different types of martinis. For dinner, I had the rum glazed pork shoulder, plantains, rice and beans. All very delicious! But thats not all, the restaurant has a strong commitment to going green. The produce is grown locally during...
1 tag
“Respecting diversity in design means considering not only how a product is made...”
– William McDonough & Michael Barungart in Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things
5 tags
Read | Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make...
From food to things, because food is not the only process that has undergone industrialization. All of our products and services have undergone a mass-produced, mass-consumed scale shift. The answer is not returning to our pre-industrialized state, but rather finding a way to create more effective: creating a new product while simultaneously providing positive benefits for the planet.
William...
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“Recycling is an aspirin, alleviating a rather large collective hangover …...”
– Robert Lilienfeld and William Rathje
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Why Food?
So far, all my posts have centered on the topic of food. Food, like shelter, is a basic need we all have, but rarely consider unless we do not have it. Italy is also the founding country for the Slow Food Movement. As we have industrialized and commercialized, so too has our food. It is mass produced and distributed regardless of locality.
Growing up in Southwest Michigan, the spring, summer, and...
July 2010
7 posts
2 tags
“Here it is enough to note the recent polemics about GMO grapes: if transgenics...”
– Carlo Petrini
7 tags
Read | Slow Food, The Case for Taste, By: Carlo...
“And then look at what people today are buying with the money they save on food: superfluous possessions suggested to them by advertising campaigns, high-tech toys, designer clothing, and even worse, expensive medical and health-industry solutions—face-lifts, saunas, cosmetics, workouts—to problems originating with how they nourish themselves in the first place.” pg. 23-24
Food is not just a meal,...
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“But if you paid attention to material culture and thought about people’s working...”
– Carlo Petrini
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Read | The Slow Food Story, By: Geoff Andrews
“The rise of the critical or ethical consumer has been one of the most significant developments in politics in recent years. In an age widely regarded as one of political disengagement, whereby citizens have become apathetic, isolated from the political process and alienated from the values of citizenship, the rise of the critical consumer has been the exception to this rule.” pg. 86
Geoff Andrews...
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“We are in a rush. We are making haste. A compression of time characterizes life...”
– James Gleick in Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything
5 tags
Read | Slow Food Nation, By: Carlo Petrini
“It is no longer necessarily the well-to-do citizen who has the best diet, since he, too, buys poor-quality industrial products in soul-destroying supermarkets.” pg. 41 Good. Clean. Fair. The three principles guiding the Slow Food Movement seem easy enough. However, what they entail, forces one to become more than a consumer. Slow Food requires an active participant interested in the process...
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Local Flavors | Cherries
Happy 4th of July! And synonymous with the celebrations are the local cherry pit spitting contests. While I have never been to an official contest, backyard competitions are unavoidable. All the buzz in my family seems to surround strawberry season; however, I prefer the latter season for cherries. They are still something of a delicacy as they have not yet invaded the supermarket as a year...
June 2010
2 posts
6 tags
Local Flavors | Strawberries
Strawberry season is about over for the year and I have yet to write about how delicious eating locally grown strawberries is! Throughout the past few years, seeing strawberries year round at the supermarket has become a normal, typical weekly event. What was once a treat has almost been demoted to part of my daily diet. But one taste of the local crop, and I know it is something special. The...
6 tags
Read | Fast Food Nation, By: Eric Schlosser
“Americans now spend more money on fast food than on higher education, personal computers, computer software, or new cars. They spend more on fast food than on movies, books, magazines, newspapers, videos, and recorded music—combined.” pg. 3 This book revealed many industry secrets that the general public mostly chooses to ignore. Each restaurant chain has become iconic and is recognizable in...
May 2010
1 post
5 tags
Local Flavors | Asparagus
Summer is on its way! How do I know? The first local crops of asparagus are appearing on local stands and farmers’ markets. Even Kroger is offering local varieties! I picked up a bundle there where Lawton, Michigan, a small town 30 minutes southwest of Kalamazoo was listed as the home field. I also added in a few stalks from Baroda, Michigan that my mom and I picked up at a local fruit and...
