Carlo Petrini, AKA "Carlìn", (born 22 June 1949) is an Italian activist, author, and founder of the International Slow Food Movement, and ''Terra Madre'' festivals.

Early life and activist career

Petrini was born in the commune of

Bra A bra, short for brassiere or brassière (, ; ), is a type of form-fitting underwear that is primarily used to support and cover a woman's breasts. A typical bra consists of a chest band that wraps around the torso, supporting two breast cups ...

province of Cuneo The province of Cuneo (; ) is a province in the Piedmont region of Italy. To the west, it borders the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur ( departments of Alpes-Maritimes, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Hautes-Alpes), to the north the ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. He was formerly a political activist in the

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

Proletarian Unity Party (''Partito di Unità Proletaria''; PdUP). In 1977, he began contributing culinary articles to the communist daily newspapers ''

il manifesto (; English: "the manifesto") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Rome, Italy. While calling itself " communist" and broadly left-wing, it is not connected to any political party A political party is an organization that coordin ...

'' and ''

l'Unità (; English: "the Unity") is an Italian newspaper, founded as the official newspaper of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1924. It was supportive of that party's successor parties, the Democratic Party of the Left, Democrats of the Left, a ...

''.

Slow food movement

He first came to prominence in the 1980s for taking part in a campaign against the

fast food Fast food is a type of Mass production, mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. ''Fast food'' is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheat ...

chain

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...

opening near the

Spanish Steps The Spanish Steps () in Rome, Italy, climb a steep slope between Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church, at the top. The monumental stairway of 135 steps is linked with the Trinit� ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. In 1983, he helped to create and develop the Italian non-profit food and wine association known as Arcigola. He founded Slow Food in 1989 and became the organization's president. He is an editor of multiple publications at the publishing house ''Slow Food Editore''. He has written weekly columns for ''

La Stampa (English: "The Press") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin with an average circulation of 87,143 copies in May 2023. Distributed in Italy and other European nations, it is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. Until the late 1970 ...

'' and is currently a regular journalist on ''

La Repubblica (; English: "the Republic") is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper with an average circulation of 151,309 copies in May 2023. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (now known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and l ...

''. In October 2004, he founded the

University of Gastronomic Sciences The University of Gastronomic Sciences (UNISG) is an international university located in northern Italy. The campus is in Pollenzo, near Bra, a city in the north-west region of Piedmont. Carlo Petrini, founder of the Slow Food Movement, establi ...

, a university devoted to new gastronomists and innovators of

sustainable food systems A sustainable food system is a type of food system that provides healthy food to people and creates sustainable environmental, economic, and social systems that surround food. Sustainable food systems start with the development of sustainable a ...

. He is now a supporter and member of the Italian Democratic Party (centre-left wing). Petrini was proposed for politician roles (as Minister).

Awards

Carlo Petrini has received numerous awards and acknowledgements including: Communicator of the Year at the International Wine and Spirit Competition in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

; Sicco Mansholt Prize in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

; honorary degree in

cultural anthropology Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans. It is in contrast to social anthropology, which perceives cultural variation as a subset of a posited anthropological constant. The term ...

from the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire, United States. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant coll ...

; and Eckart Witzigmann Science and Media Prize from

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. In 2004 he was chosen as one of ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine's heroes of the year.''The Slow Revolutionary'', Time, 3 October 2004
/ref> He was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award ( Champions of the Earth) in 2013.__NOTOC__

References

Bibliography

https://web.archive.org/web/20090428215643/http://www.practicallyedible.com/edible.nsf/pages/slowfood *''Slow Food Nation: Why Our Food Should Be Good, Clean, and Fair'', Rizzoli, May 2007, *''Slow Food Revolution: A New Culture for Dining and Living'' in conversation with Gigi Padovani, Rizzoli, September 2006, *''Slow Food: The Case for Taste (Arts & Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History)'', Columbia University Press, April 2003,
''Slow Food Nation''
a speech at Princeton University, 17 May 2007.

External links

Carlo Petrini: The slow food star
''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', Allison Roberts, December 2006
Slow Food guru spreads gospel in high places
''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...