Slow Food rock star Jamie Oliver with DA Usec. Berna Romulo-Puyat, Chef Margarita Forés, and Philtatler.com columnist and Slow Food Manila's Chit Juan

In this fast-paced world, one may find it hard to have enough time to enjoy eating food that is produced, prepared, and cooked in its proper slow process. Hence the rise of fastfood restaurants and processed foods, which give temporary satisfaction but lead as well to significant health risks. 

Slow Food Manila, with ECHOstore sustainable lifestyle owner and founder Pacita “Chit” Juan at its helm, heads this year’s World Food Expo events at the SMX Convention Centre with the Slow Food Summit on August 7 as its highlight. With the mission of informing the public about this particular global movement that aims to preserve biodiversity and promote “good, clean and fair food,” renowned chefs from Manila such as Margarita Forés, Robby Goco, Claude Tayag, and J. Luis Gonzalez, slow food advocates like Chit Juan and Jenny Pascual, together with farm producers like Cordnet, Malipayon Farms, ECHOfarms and DownToEarth all converge for the said event. 

“Our mission as Slow Food Philippines is to inform the public that every farmer in the world has a chance of going back to his sustainable farm, because traders and chefs will continue to buy from him or her,” says Juan. “[Our mission is] to engage the whole supply chain to be part of the movement. So we will have farmers, chefs, and consumers in our summit [and there] we can meet each other and make the chain more connected,” she continues.

The Slow Food Summit on August 7 at the SMX Convention Centre Function Room 2 starts at 9 AM and includes the Ark of Taste exhibition, which is a showcase of some endangered Filipino food, pop-up food tasting booths by various local farms dedicated to sustainable farming, as well as educational sessions about farm to table, backyard gardening, grassrooots movement, and more with the participating chefs. There will also be a special lunch tasting of slow food curated by Jenny Pascual and her team from Moveable Feast.

“Slow Food, whilst preserving these species, also promotes good, clean, and fair food,” says Juan. “Good means it tastes good, and is good for the people to consume; clean means free from chemicals and pesticides; and fair means fairly-priced and fair for both the farmer and producer,” she continues.

“We now have many chefs and culinary practitioners who are into local food. But one more precious step is to make it to slow food, not just local. Make it slow food, not just farm to fork or farm to table. Make it go the whole nine yards and make sure local farmers benefit completely.”