Good taste

It has taken a bit of time, but the Slow Food Movement has made a breakthrough. The organisation, founded 18 years ago to promote traditional foods, agricultural bio-diversity and good taste, has opened a University of Gastronomic Sciences in Italy. And later this month they will welcome 5,000 organic farmers from around the world to a conference in Turin where they will discuss how to roll back the tide of bland convenience food. The anti-corporate values of the group's founder, Carlo Petrini, have gone global. So, with McDonald's profits slipping and so many Westerners looking for alternatives to their unhealthy diets, the question on every foodie's lips must be: how long before slow food becomes the new fast food?