Milan (Italy) (AFP) – Carlo Petrini, whose worldwide Slow Food movement has spent 40 years promoting quality traditional cooking and sustainable farming, has died at the age of 76, his organisation announced Friday. The Italian journalist and writer from Piedmont founded Slow Food in 1986, in protest against the opening of the first fast food restaurants in the country. Since then, the movement has ballooned, spreading to 160 countries in its mission to promote good taste, defend biodiversity and promote a healthy food model that respects the environment and local cultures.
“The most important work Slow Food has done is to restore the concept of gastronomy to its holistic, multidisciplinary form. The idea of gastronomy as merely recipes and Michelin stars is a very limited one,” Petrini told AFP in a 2016 interview. According to the movement, Petrini died on Thursday evening at his home in the town of Bra in his native Piedmont. Hailing him as a “visionary”, Slow Food said Petrini “brought to life a global movement rooted in the values of good, clean and fair food for all, connecting communities, farmers, food artisans, cooks, activists and young people across the world.”
“‘Those who sow utopia reap reality’ — a phrase Carlo Petrini loved to say — encapsulates his life. He firmly believed that dreams and visions, when they are just, capable of inspiring collective participation, and pursued with conviction, are not impossible to achieve.” In a statement, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Petrini was “ahead of his time.” “He was among the first to promote the concept of food sovereignty and defend the right to quality food for everyone, enhancing the link between identity, territory and traditions,” she said.
Besides his work with Slow Food, Petrini founded the international Terra Madre network for sustainable agriculture and the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo. For Slow Food, “he combined the ability to dream with a deep sense of joy and collective purpose, paving concrete paths toward social change.”
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