In SLOW FOOD NATION: Why Our Food Should be Good, Clean, and Fair, author Carlo Petrini offers a number of observations and suggestions for reclaiming our food system. Each idea is thought provoking and intellectually intriguing which made for (no pun intended) a very slow, but enjoyable and educational, read.

Petrini, father of the Slow Food movement, envisions and has dedicated his life's work toward the development of a food system that is "based on the principles of high quality and taste, environmental sustainability, and social justice..." But what intrigued me most in this book was his personal experience with a friend's peperonata. I love peperonata. It's an Italian side dish made with bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, and garlic, all slowly simmered in olive oil, that can be piled onto grilled bread or pasta and used as a side dish to accompany grilled or roasted poultry, fish, and meats. Every summer I make batches of it using vegetables from my garden.

In the beginning pages of the book, Petrini describes his visit to a friend's restaurant in Italy. He's craving his friend's peperonata and is highly disappointed as he digs into a bowl of it which he pronounces as "completely tasteless". When he asks his friend for an explanation, he's told that the peppers which were used to make the traditional dish ceased to be grown locally for a number of reasons and now the peppers are imported to Italy from Holland. The imported peppers are not the same variety that he's always used in the past but Petrini's friend assures him "they are beautiful and perfect for export." Petrini declares the peppers "utterly tasteless" and resigns himself to the fact that the wonderful peperonata he remembered and craved, made with the flavorful Asti peppers, is now gone forever from the restaurant menu. The experience for Petrini is at once both a disappointment and a revelation.

http://www.goinglocal-info.com/my_weblog/2008/04/book-report-slo.html