How often are we told to ‘take it slow’? Modern life often has us hurtling through tasks at 100 miles per hour – we lurch from job to job on our to-do list, with no time to pause in between. And sadly, this way of being has filtered its way into our travel habits. When we pack our suitcases and head to the airport, we all have that idyllic vision of a relaxing break in the sunshine where the hardest decision we’ll make that week is whether to sit by the pool or the beach. Yet nowadays, the reality is trying to cram in as many tourist attractions as possible, while reaching our next destination using the quickest mode of transport – with no thought to the environmental cost of doing so. his is why the term slow travel comes as a refreshing break to our current vacation style. Inspired by the Slow Food movement (slowfood.org. uk), which began in Italy in the 1980s as a protest against the opening of a McDonald’s in Rome, it champions local farming, regional cuisine and communal meals. According to them, slow food is ‘concerned not just about our own wellbeing, but also the wellbeing of the planet’. They ‘want to contribute to just causes, while also satisfying our desire to slow down, our need to reconnect with ourselves and our communities through meaningful experiences.’
Michele Rumiz, the international project manager at Slow Food explains more. “Thirty years ago the world was pretty different – a lot of food habits and traditions were getting lost. Back then, the more artificial food was, the better. We wanted to counteract that. Fast food generates pollution, unhealthy habits and unfair economic relationships between the producers and middle man. Food should be good, clean and fair – for everybody.”