Leading article: Slow and steady

Two decades after the concept was invented by an Italian outraged by the appearance of a McDonald's at the foot of the Spanish Steps in Rome, the "slow food" revolution has - at last - arrived in Britain.

The headquarters of Slow Food UK - which will organise food tastings and promote artisan producers - will open next week in Ludlow, Shropshire. It is a natural choice. Ludlow boasts two Michelin-starred restaurants and a popular food and drink festival. It was also the UK's first "Cittaslow", or "slow city". But it is the rest of the country, still in thrall to unhealthy junk food, that needs to hear the message.

The only problem is that, at this rate of expansion, world domination for slow foodies is going to take a very long time indeed. But on the other hand, slow and steady does have a heartening knack of winning the race.