Carlo Petrini dies, the man who made us realize that we must eat with consciousness and that Catalan fuet is very good

The inventor of the Slow Food movement, Carlo Petrini, died yesterday at the age of 76 in the Italian city of Bra. Petrini, who often visited Barcelona, assured that our food choices always have a social responsibility, that they help our neighboring producers and therefore strengthen the local economy. "There is still another factor linked to what we decide to eat: taste. Because good, clean, and fair food, the triad that drives Slow Food, is always a pleasure for the senses," he assured.

Petrini always explained that he ate little meat, but, as he said, he didn't do it because of the alerts sent by the World Health Organization (WHO). "The WHO doesn't know how to explain itself: if I eat twenty whole fuets every day, I'll surely die. Just like if I drink thirty liters of water a day. What we need to watch out for is massive industrial production, which adulterates products. For example, I defend and will always defend artisanal Catalan fuet, and especially local producers, largely young people, who are dedicated to it, because they guarantee biodiversity." Therefore, Petrini based his diet on eating little meat because he considered it not at all sustainable to eat it frequently or in quantity. His diet was based on fruit, vegetables, fish and carbohydrates, without colorants or preservatives. And not always all organic.

The coexistence of industry and producers

Regarding the food industry, Petrini said that he acknowledged that it had fed many people, that he respected it, and that was why he was not against it. However, he did denounce that "the industry works exclusively for money, and what's more, it has absorbed the wisdom of local producers." And the worst of all, according to Carlo Petrini's thinking, is that "the food industry does not allow small producers to coexist, because it poses such strong competition that it ends up drowning them out."

Another of the issues that concerned him were GMOs, which he pointed out had been implemented during a period of political and social silence, but that everything was changing. "And it is changing because the culinary avant-garde, with all of your top-tier chefs, supports quality raw materials. Before it was technique, now the product is fundamental; therefore, producers who work well emerge strengthened from this change in mentality. Precisely these principles are what drive the Slow Food movement, and we find that chefs and citizens converge on it." For all these reasons, Petrini said that we were now living in a "fantastic" moment.