Slow food, slow education

One of the most difficult tasks as a speaker and advocate is to talk to older or more mature students. More often than not, older professionals and executives are too learned (they think) to learn something new. Most of them are already set in their ways and to unlearn is a task they need to be consciously doing or be convinced to even start.

This was not the case when Management Association of the Philippines (www.map.org) through its arts and culture committee decided to hold a Slow Food (www.slowfood.com) event to orient MAP members and the public about the movement for good, clean and fair food. We at Slow Food Manila community gathered four chefs to express the ideas through their recipes using old species or forgotten ingredients but presented in novel ways.

We called the event “Bite Size” for many reasons – bite size factoids about Slow Food were mentioned and the expression was in bite-size portions of appetizers, cocktail bites and even easy to eat desserts like the one made with ube kinampay (an ancient purple yam variety).

There was foraged pipinito (tiny cucumbers) on top of local beef rillete, and adlai grain mixed with rye to become AD-Rye bread with local cheese and tomatoes.

The drinks were just as inventive and new: Atok Benguet cold brew coffee made into a Negroni, and a fermented non-alcoholic pineapple fizz. What was most interesting is the demographics.

The chefs were all below 45 years old (still considered youth) and the audience was a mix of 30-year-olds, MAP’s NextGen members below 50 as well as lifetime senior members (mostly seniors) who came to listen and learn.

I had a close up chat with a couple who grew up on processed food and whose doctor daughter is trying to convert them to eat healthier. They seem to be very open to change even at their age, and listened intently to my suggestions on an easy path to changing dietary habits.

First, I suggested, is to detox their pantry of all unhealthy choices. Remove the white stuff – sugar, flour, bread and switch to sourdough bread, brown rice or adlai. And eat meat just occasionally. They nodded in agreement.

Second is to just practice mindful eating. They admit being too busy watching Netflix while munching mindlessly. That has to stop. And to make their meals more varied in taste and quality.

Many of the people in the audience had wrong impressions about Slow Food at the start. Was it about slow cooking? NO, I explained. Was it about tenderizing meat and native chicken in a tinola? It’s partly the native chicken idea, as we need to respect and support local farmers who still grow native varieties of the fowl. We should also promote the consumption of local eggs from free range chickens who feed on grub and not on commercial feeds. After all, we are what we eat. We need to find out what the cow ate, what the pig ate and what the chicken feeds on. What they all ate is what we end up eating, too.

We must also be conscious of the fish we eat. Most farmed fish feed on scrap food like doughnuts (horrors) instead of algae or smaller fish in the food chain. So, this always begs the question: what is safe to eat now?

Slow Food is not just about safer food choices but the preservation of endangered varieties – usually the forgotten heirloom rice varieties, the local fish from the deep sea, native cattle we still find in Batangas and Negros, local black pig that feeds on vegetables, and chickens that roam freely eating grub and cracked corn, and not cooped up in cages.

Slow Food is about good, clean, fair choices for consumers who get to meet local farmers through our four chefs, for example. They shared with us that even if “farm to table” has been overused by many establishments as a marketing ploy, these four chefs really walk the talk. They get produce from Cavite farmers and I was witness to the community Slow Food Cavite has formed and continues to patronize. I gave the example of a caterer who drives up to Cavite every week to get produce she will use – straight from the farmgate. She gets it at the fair price the farmer quotes and she also saves because they avoid the consolidation fees of middlemen. The farmers save on what usually is their cost to hire a jeepney for transport to a nearby bagsakan or depot. Everybody is happy with the arrangement and it is a fair deal.

All we need is an open mind to find simple solutions to what seem to be insurmountable challenges. For the farmer, how do I sell my produce at fair prices? For the chefs and, ultimately, for us the consumers, how do we get better choices at fair prices? Support local farmers. Eat what is in season. Make your recipes or plan them around what is available in the farms.

A consciousness about Slow Food and its principles is the start of an adult education on sustainability. We are never too old to learn new ways of sourcing food – healthier food for us who are advancing in age. Just being mindful of the food choices we make is already a step in the right direction. The add-on benefit to all these is the preservation of our culture. It is not just about museums and saving bits and pieces of our history. It is about what we do every day, eating three times a day. What we eat can preserve our food culture which is slowly slipping away because of Western influence and the loss of biodiversity in our local farms. Farmers grow lettuce because the market demands it. What if we grow local vegetables instead?

The consumer is a co-producer. The farmer plants what we want to eat. So eat well and eat local, and the farmer will continue to serve us Slow Food.