What will it take, short of a clobbering with a frying pan, to make Canadians realize that our eating habits are all wrong? We've taken aim at fat, sugar, salt, potatoes, bread, and any number of particular foods and ingredients, but what has it accomplished? Look around you - we're a fat nation! Overweight children grow into fat teen-agers, who mature into obese and unhealthy adults.

In September, Philip James, chairman of the International Obesity Task Force, spoke to a gathering of health professionals and government ministers at the European Union Summit in Copenhagen. He pointed to the fast food industry as a major culprit of obesity, and predicted that if nothing is done to stop the advance of junk foods there will be a need for clinics to deal with 13-year-old diabetic children who will not live as long as their parents. Serious stuff? so, what can we do about it.

Perhaps the first step is to move out of the fast lane and get back to the slow. Slow living, slow eating, slow drinking, slow food.

There is already a movement out there whose 65,000 members, formed into 560 local chapters in 45 countries, are tackling the problems of the fast life. Called Slow Food, and symbolized by a snail, the movement was started in 1986 by one man, an Italian named Carlo Petrini. Upset because a McDonald's restaurant was opening in his community, he decided to fight fast food with slow food.

This is not just using a slow cooker, although it could mean the long slow baking of beans in the oven, the long simmering of a stew, or a made-from-scratch salad dressing, sauce or soup. Slow Food is more than that. It's a state of mind.

Cookbook author and food activist Anita Stewart, of Elora, Ontario, is a Slow Food member and advocate. Not only has she crossed Canada 20-odd times in search of our national cuisine, but as a juror of Slow Food, she has attended international meetings in Turin and Bologna, as well as several in Ontario.

"Slow food is the opposite of fast food with an emphasis on comfortable, real dining; good flavours; respect for ingredients both in terms of quality and in terms of their place in the food system," she says.

But, there's nothing new about slow food. Until 60 years ago, it was the way people ate, gathering around the table at meal time because that's when the food was ready. It was the way families communicated. Fathers came home for the noon-time dinner, whether from the office, store or barn. And children, at least city and town kids, came home to the dining table as well. Not only was there freshly cooked food to be eaten slow enough to digest, but there were problems to be solved, and conversation in which to participate. It was a way of life that brought a kind of security and sense of identity.

But something went wrong after World War II. Modernization crept _ no, rushed in as factories opened and researchers and food developers found ways to tamper with the foods that had sustained generations of people before us.

The traditional family meal has all but disappeared. Once the pivot of family life, dinner table conversation is now reduced to an occasional comment about what's going on on the television around which the family gathers to eat.  It didn't take 60 years to destroy the world's food system. Few knew what was happening as processed foods brought excitement to new generations of school children who, if they ate breakfast at all, popped a tart into the toaster and ate it on the run.

Even though that tart is devoid of any real food and less nourishment, marketing people point to the filling as a serving of the fruit recommended in Canada's Food Guide.  The horror story of food processing is ignored as billions of dollars are spent in singing the praises of "fake" food. Stewart sees the Slow Food movement as a step in the right direction.

 "Perhaps, as a part of a larger global food movement, Slow Food will allow us to understand the value of "local" and "regional". We must begin to eat locally, regionally, nationally, and only then internationally," she says, adding that such a philosophy takes work and creativity and courage.

Thoughtful and caring chefs and cooks are more and more often choosing fresh regional produce over aging imports. And they take pride in serving it. Sophistication isn't the "real" story. There's nothing wrong with local rutabaga (turnip) cooked with apples, or a winter squash baked with maple syrup or cranberries, or green cabbage sauteed with sliced onions, apples and caraway seed. These are wonderful foods with stimulating flavours, and are far tastier than out-of-season imported asparagus, Belgian endive, chayote, or "cardboard" tomatoes, picked before they are ripe and reddened without ripening by gassing them. This is especially true if the time is taken to really taste the food. Eat slow and let your taste buds do the walking over the palate.

As much of a Maple Leaf waver as anyone in Canada, Stewart says there are certain facts that, although not particularly fashionable, must eventually be understood if this marvellous nation of ours is to survive. "It would be good to see some consciousness raising but the real goal (of Slow Food) is to regain the appreciation for convivial dining and the return to full-on pleasure in the kitchen," she says. "It's important that we work together, as a nation, towards preserving biodiversity and the various species that have, for some reason, fallen out of favour, while protecting our culinary heritage that still exists in the wild."

Let us hope that the future of our eating habits lies in our past

by Jim Gourlay

There are some who suggest a "quiet revolution" is about to engulf North America-a spontaneous and urbane protest against the fast-food culture.

Slow food is the antithesis of fast food in every way-healthy, tasteful, wholesome, relaxing, social.

It's not a menu; rather a state of mind, an attitude, a social atmosphere-an old fashioned value we have all but lost in the headlong race to see who can achieve the highest blood pressure, or die with the most toys.

The concept of slow food is a delicious antidote-for food additives, for insecticide residue, for antibiotic-resistant bugs, (and possibly for indigestion and bad television.)

Truth be told, it may not be so much of a stretch for Atlantic Canadians who seem to just naturally gravitate towards the kitchen whenever two or more of us gather for almost any reason.

Slow food is essentially a European concept. It's about seasonality and locally available foodstuffs-fiddleheads and wild spring trout; local beef and wild September mushrooms. It's the joy of growing your own vegetables and herbs; the enjoyment of gathering your own berries or fruit-whatever is in season. It's about small town farmers' markets or chemical free and low-fat wild game. It's about fish from the wharf, local fresh lamb or New Year's rabbits.

We do that.

Slow food is about careful preparation and traditional recipes and home baking and meal preparation as a choice rather than a chore, with the kitchen as a social gathering place.

We do that.

Slow food is about the appreciation of good food properly prepared and presented; about getting out of a meal what is put into it. It can be about many courses consumed over several hours of pleasant social intercourse with friends and family where time is inconsequential. It's the meal itself as the main event.

We do that.

And slow food is about the discriminating enjoyment and digestive value of fine wines and liqueurs and other beverages appropriate to particular dishes and courses. Well, maybe we've got a little work to do there.

The effervescent Pete Luckett, of Pete's Frootique, ATV and more recently the Food Network fame, is of the opinion that Canada is ripe for this new-old concept of eating. He says he's seen quite a dramatic evolution in Canadian food-buying habits in the past 20 years.

"Items that were considered exotic 10 years ago, today are staples." Canadians seem to be extremely open to trying new things and experimenting.

But it's a weekend phenomenon. The relaxed Sunday shopping scene, he said, is very different from the hustle of the weekday shopper. Much more of what might be described as adventurous foods is sold on Sundays. Whole families participate in a leisurely exercise of picky, choosy food selection and demonstrate a willingness to experiment.

"It's quality time spent preparing for a quality experience. It's cooking as a social function… more than just putting fuel in the belly."

But North Americans still have lots of learning to do, Mr. Luckett says.

He said during recent shooting of is his now "Food Hunter" television series he visited the town of Bra in northern Italy where the Slow Food movement is thought to have originated. It makes sense, he said, that Europeans would rail against the proliferation of American fast-food joints as an assault on their culture. It seems likely that Europeans are destined to move some distance towards North America in their eating habits while North Americans now appear ready to move back towards the "old-fashioned European foody way of life".

It should come as no surprise, then, that the Slow Food concept has a prime advocate in Atlantic Canada who is of recent European descent.

Hanspeter Stutz, a charming and refined former Swiss banker turned wine-maker, cider-maker, specialty vinegar-maker and restaurateur in Grand Pré, N.S. is firmly convinced of the multi-faceted value of Slow Food.

It has nothing to do with the menu, the number of courses or the venue, he explains.

"It's a state of mind, an attitude… where time is inconsequential. It involves an element of perfectionism. You get out of a meal what you put into the food. The meal is an event."

From the point of view of a restaurateur, he says, "it's not about bums in seats… it's about relaxation and enjoyment. It's about presentation and the quality of the experience. Instead of flicking or dimming the lights (at closing time) the restaurateur may bring a bottle and sit down."

Slow food, he says is about the use of wines and liquors and liqueurs in the cooking process. It's about fresh food of the highest quality, about scrupulous preparation, pleasant savouring and totally satisfying consumption.

Mr. Stutz purchased the old Grand Pré winery in 1993 and spent the years between 1997 and 2000 engaged in extensive renovations that have produced a truly European exterior aesthetic with an interior ambiance of distinction and class existing in a leisurely and relaxing environment.

The establishment matches the man.

With his European eye, Hanspeter Stutz sees potential in eastern Canada that residents may miss. His Stutz Cider, made from six varieties of Annapolis Valley apples, is quickly growing in popularity in the United States and elsewhere. His unblended wines from his own Nova Scotia vineyard are superb. He is also producing icewine, sweet grape juice and specialty vinegars…

And he sees an opportunity, in this part of the world particularly, for the concept of wholesome, delicious, and slow, food to re-enter our lives.