Champions of 'slow food' give their cause more bite

Fast food harms health, destroys the environment and is wiping out regional cuisine, says an international group promoting natural, traditional food

NAGOYA (Japan) - For Mr Katsushi Kunimoto, slow is the way to go when it comes to food.

He is the founder of the Japan Slow Food Association. The group's objective is to promote food that is natural, traditional, diverse and skilfully prepared. In other words, everything that fast food is not.

His group is part of a worldwide organisation, Arcigola Slow Food, whose creed is that fast food does more than possibly harm health - it is also destroying the environment and wiping out regional cuisine throughout the world.

Set up in the Italian town of Bra in 1986, the international organisation now claims a membership of about 60,000 members from 35 countries, including Japan.

Fast food, according to the group's philosophy, is a symptom of the 'fast life' we are all being forced to lead, leading to a deterioration in our quality of life in recent years.

Mr Kunimoto joined Arcigola Slow Food in the early 90s and established the Japan chapter in 1999, Kyodo News said.

The 47-year-old resident of Nagoya city, in central Japan, is especially keen to teach children about the world of flavours that exists outside fast-food restaurants.

'It is said the palate can be created until the age of 10, but it won't develop through uniform, standardised food,' he said.

'It's important to explain to children such things as how fruit grows and how fish are caught.'

The group plans to spread 'food education' by, among other things, staging hands-on demonstrations in which participants try to sort tangerines by their sweetness and size and encouraging parents and children to try their hand at casting fishnets.

Mr Kunimoto is also putting together a comprehensive guide that will cover the history of food and taste. He also believes Japan's traditional cuisine has much to offer, not just to the Japanese but to people throughout the world.

'A lot of Japan's culinary heritage should be introduced overseas, including hometown cooking and regional types of sake,' he said.

Mr Kunimoto himself has a life-long association with traditional cuisine.

He was raised in Kanazawa prefecture, the home of kaga ryori, one of Japan's main regional cuisines and considered among the nation's finest. --Bernama