The Slow Food Movement has been gaining momentum over the past decade and awareness about the origins of our food and the processes involved by which it reaches our dinner tables has been spreading throughout the U.S. Food documentaries such as Food, Inc. and Forks Over Knives have flooded our Netflix queues and local farmers markets have been popping up in clusters around the nation. Slow Food USA (go here if you want to learn more) defines the Slow Food Movement as “taking pleasure in the processes of cooking, eating, and sharing meals with others.” I really like this definition, and think it ties together a lot of what we’ve been talking about in previous discussions about the differences in food culture around the world, emphasizing the fast-paced living and eating styles of most U.S. Americans today.
For me, the Slow Food Movement (SFM) not only represents a push for more local and sustainable food practices, but also a complete revolution in how we think about food in relation to our own bodies. The concept of Mindful Eating has also experienced this surge in popularity, and this is where I would like to direct our discussion towards for Tuesday’s CYOA.
I have chosen this New York Times article describing what Mindful Eating is as well as how it is being practiced in the States. This will be the basis of our discussion on Tuesday.
I hope you all have a great weekend and see you Tuesday!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Emd9q6_o6Z0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Emd9q6_o6Z0
Mckenna, thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed reading your post and an article. I first thought of the slow food movement as simply eating slow. But after reading a bit about mindful eating, I guess it is far beyond just eating or chewing slowly that it's more like a meditation, changing my mind, and even questioning the reason of eating.
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad that you chose this topic and I can't wait to have discussion on Tuesday!
Nice article! For those who are interested in learning to eat mindfully, the free (donation optional) download version of The Mindfulness Diet, an easy-to-understand, self-paced, customizable mindful eating program (includes Mindful Eating Coach™ app) is available at www.MindfulnessDiet.com. The program is fully and completely free by (optional) donation…no fine print.
ReplyDeleteThanks McKenna - as a notoriously slow eater, I felt validated by this article! I'm always the last one at the table and my family and friends give me a hard time about my eating pace. One of my friends (who was always particularly irritated by my eating habits) ran an experiment at the high school lunch table to determine why I eat so slowly. We determined that I chew the same amount of food twice as many times as she does!
ReplyDeleteI think it IS really important to think about what you're putting in you're body and to take the time to really enjoy the process of nourishing yourself. However, I admit that it can get obsessive in my case…I have a lot of thoughts on this and I'm excited to talk about it in class!
McKenna, I think this article does a good job shedding light on not only what we are putting in our bodies but how we do so. I am a slow eater, but it is not something I do intentionally. Though it is better that I eat slowly, doing so without thinking about it doesn't really get at the meditative components addressed in this article. Neat stuff.
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