The Nutrition Center at 94 West Avenue

94 West Avenue & Slow Food

The Nutrition Center works in collaboration with the Slow Food Western Massachusetts chapter in the organization and sponsorship of local food experience events.

Slow Food believes that everyone has a fundamental right to pleasure and consequently the responsibility to protect the heritage of food, tradition and culture that make this pleasure possible.

Slow Food is good, clean and fair food. Slow Food believes the food we eat should taste good; it should be produced in a clean way that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health; and food producers should receive fair compensation for their work.

Slow Food is an international, member-supported organization, with over 80,000 members involved in over 850 convivia - or local chapters - worldwide. Nationally, Slow Food USA oversees Slow Food activities in North America, including the support and promotion of the activities of 140 local chapters. Convivia carry out the Slow Food mission on a local level. Each convivium advocates sustainability and bio-diversity through educational events and public outreach. These promote the appreciation and consumption of seasonal and local foods, and the support of those who produce them.

Our local convivium, Slow Food Western Massachusetts, is active and gaining momentum. We encourage you to learn more about Slow Food, and consider becoming a member. Please visit the Slow Food Western Massachusetts website at http://www.slowfoodwesternmass.org/.

The Nutrition Center
94 West Avenue
Great Barrington, MA 01230
Tel. 413-429-8110
Fax. 413-429-8111
info@nutrition94west.org

The Slow Food Manifesto

The Slow Food international movement officially began when delegates from 15 countries endorsed this manifesto, written by founding member Folco Portinari, on November 9, 1989.

Our century, which began and has developed under the insignia of industrial civilization, first invented the machine and then took it as its life model.

We are enslaved by speed and have all succumbed to the same insidious virus: Fast Life, which disrupts our habits, pervades the privacy of our homes and forces us to eat Fast Foods.

To be worthy of the name, Homo Sapiens should rid himself of speed before it reduces him to a species in danger of extinction.

A firm defense of quiet material pleasure is the only way to oppose the universal folly of Fast Life.

May suitable doses of guaranteed sensual pleasure and slow, long-lasting enjoyment preserve us from the contagion of the multitude who mistake frenzy for efficiency.

Our defense should begin at the table with Slow Food.

Let us rediscover the flavors and savors of regional cooking and banish the degrading effects of Fast Food.

In the name of productivity, Fast Life has changed our way of being and threatens our environment and our landscapes. So Slow Food is now the only truly progressive answer.

That is what real culture is all about: developing taste rather than demeaning it. And what better way to set about this than an international exchange of experiences, knowledge, projects?

Slow Food guarantees a better future.

Slow Food is an idea that needs plenty of qualified supporters who can help turn this (slow) motion into an international movement, with the little snail as its symbol.

Click here for more information.