Paper: Lexington Herald-Leader (KY)

Title: WORDS TO LIVE, EAT BETTER BY: TAKE IT SLOW FOOD-APPRECIATION GROUP WORKS TO IMPROVE TASTE EDUCATION

Close your eyes and imagine the fragrant spices of Cajun cooking or the bouquet of world-class wines. Recall the flavor of a farmhouse cheese, an heirloom fruit or a robust hand-crafted beer.

These foods are more than great-tasting -- they are part of our cultural identity.An organization called Slow Food USA believes there can be more pleasure and quality in everyday life simply by slowing down, respecting the convivial traditions of the table and celebrating the diversity of nature's bounty.

"People don't slow down enough to eat, let alone digest what's happening in their lives," said Sara McGinley of Duluth, Minn., a personal coach who helps clients achieve their personal, professional and life goals. "The thing I think that is so powerful about Slow Food is that it is a way of living, not something you have to put on your to-do list."

Ron Huff, a certified chef de cuisine who is a culinary professional at Lund's Food Holdings Inc. in Minneapolis, is head of the Minnesota convivium of Slow Food. He recently wrote about Slow Food for Buon Gusto, a Twin Cities culinary newspaper, and quoted Carlo Petrini, the founder of Slow Food:

"Slow Food is not a knee-jerk reaction to the homogeneity of fast food. It's a call for consideration of the effect speed has on our lives."

The Slow Food movement got its start in 1986 in Piedmont, Italy, when Petrini decided that fast-food culture had gone too far. The proverbial straw that broke the camel's back: The opening of a McDonald's on the 18th-century Piazza di Spagna in Rome.

"Fast food is the enemy. It's the abnormal rhythms in which we are living our lives," Petrini writes. "Being slow does not mean you have to move more slowly, chew a certain number of times per bite. Slow means you govern the rhythms of your life. You're in control of deciding how fast you have to go. Today, you might want to go fast, so you do. Tomorrow, you may want to go slow, so you can. That's the difference!"

The Slow Food philosophy is resonating worldwide: Slow Food now has more than 70,000 members and 650 chapters, which are called conviviums.

Minnesota's growing convivium has more than 60 members. It's not a social group; it's an educational organization with an agenda to promote taste education. The group meets on an informal basis to promote micro-purveyors of traditional foods, learn about culinary traditions, arrange tastings and discuss philosophies of how eating well improves our mental and physical well-being.

"To me, life is not about the number of toys I have, but the amount of time I have with the toys I do have," Huff said. "I want to educate people, let people know there is a whole different lifestyle."

Slow Food has pioneered projects such as Ark of Taste, which is aimed at saving endangered food products, cultivators and livestock breeds. Current Ark projects include oranges from Morocco, barbecue from the Mississippi Delta and Minnesota wild rice.

For guidance, Huff said, Americans need only to look to Europe, where food is still purchased daily from butchers, bakeries, chocolatiers and other small food shops -- all fresh, none designed to travel. Slow Food USA wants Americans to rediscover the joys of buying fresh local foods in season.

For more information about Slow Food USA, see www. slowfood.com.

Recipes

Waldorf salad

1 cup Granny Smith apples, diced

1 cup diced celery

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

In a bowl, combine all ingredients. Serves 4.

Smothered chicken

1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Salt and freshly ground black pepper (for seasoning flour)

2 tablespoons paprika

1 4-pound roasting chicken, disjointed, or 4 pounds breasts and thighs

2 cloves garlic

2 generous cups heavy cream

2 to 3 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 sprigs tarragon, chopped

Heat oil in large saute pan. In a plastic bag, combine flour, salt, pepper and paprika. Add chicken pieces to flour mixture and shake to coat chicken. Fry chicken until golden brown, about 6 minutes per side. Remove chicken and place on a plate. Add chopped garlic to saute pan and cook for 2-3 minutes; do not let burn. Return chicken to pan, add cream and butter. Cover pan and simmer for 30-plus minutes. In the last 10 minutes of cooking, add tarragon, cover and cook for remaining time. Serve chicken with the cream gravy in the pan. Serves 4-6.

Roast chicken with herbed salt

1 5-pound roasting chicken

2 tablespoons herbed salt (see recipe below)

3 large cloves garlic

3 sprigs fresh rosemary

2 sprigs fresh thyme

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Truss the chicken and rub it inside and out with the herbed salt. Tuck the garlic cloves, rosemary and thyme inside the chicken. Place the chicken on a rack and roast until golden brown, about 1 1/4 hours. Remove from the oven and let the chicken stand for at least 15 minutes before carving. Deglaze pan with white wine and serve with the pan juices. Serves 4.

Fresh herbed salt

2 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves

2 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

1 tablespoon fresh oregano

6 cloves fresh garlic

1 cup salt, preferably sea salt

Mix all ingredients on a large cutting board. Using a sharp chef's knife, chop them together until they are very fine. Transfer the herbed salt to a glass bowl and leave at room temperature for 24 hours to allow it to dry out. Transfer to a glass jar, close it tightly and store in pantry until ready for use. Tip: Keep this on hand. It is excellent with roasted or grilled fowl, pork or lamb. It is far superior to commercially prepared "seasoned" salt.

Endangered list

Slow Food USA has selected these foods as "passengers" on ARK U.S.A., a project that aims to protect endangered foods from extinction. ARK U.S.A. is interested in food that reflects the history and culture of a region and in food that is endangered by industrial and agricultural standardization.

1. Sun Crest peach. Unique fruit with excellent taste. High risk because of fragility and difficulty in shipping.

2. Red abalone. Protected mollusk now cultivated by aquaculturists.

3. Green Mountain potato. Hybrid potato developed in mid-19th century. Once was most sought-after baking potato.

4. Bleinheim apricot. Unique fruit with excellent taste. High risk because of fragility and difficulty in shipping.

5. White oak cider. Made with rare apple varieties. An unpasteurized product, it risks elimination if FDA requires pasteurization of all ciders.

6. Chimayo chile. This variety of chile is found principally in northern New Mexico. Generally not available as a commercial product; difficult to grow.

7. Creole cream cheese. The resurgence of this cheese in home kitchens might spur new commercial interest. A New Orleans specialty, it has the texture of very thick sour cream and slightly more tart flavor.

8. Non-flavored traditional black tea. An intriguing product that captures a historic tradition in South Carolina.

9. Naturally grown, hand-harvested and hand-processed wild rice. Slow Food members Marcia and Chuck Lavine of Nevis, Minn., researched this grain and found that the true wild form is endangered for two reasons: growing conditions are fragile, and there is economic competition from lower-priced "wild" rice that is cultivated, machine-harvested and machine-parched.

10. Monster Ale. Brooklyn Brewery makes limited quantities of this high-quality ale, available only in late January. Unique sherrylike flavor.

12. Love Tree Farm's Trade Lake Cedar Cheese. A highly regarded aged raw milk sheep cheese from Wisconsin, it is made from specially bred animals.

13. Delaware Bay oyster. Valued for its mild taste and firm texture, this oyster has been in steady decline because of changes in water circulation and natural factors. Only five producers remain.

14. Heritage Clone Zinfandel. Originally planted in small family vineyards by Italian immigrants, Heritage vines were abandoned in favor of a super-clone Zinfandel, developed in the 1970s, that could tolerate the hot interior valleys of California.