Slow Movement and Forms of Evolution in the 21st Century

Introduction

Slow food movement was initiate in Italy in the 1980's as a protest opposing the opening of a McDonald's in Rome (Heitmann et al., 2011). The slow food movement aims to preserve regional cuisine, local farming, communal meals, and traditional food preparation methods (Chrzan, 2004) (www.slowfood.com, 2019). This cultural initiative has since spout into a whole way of life known as the Slow Movement, which emphasizes relation: relation to food, relation to families and, in the case of travel relation to local peoples and cultures.

“Slow movement and forms of evolution in the 21st Century„ meets the specific objective of characterizing “slow movement” worldwide, highlighting the decisive role “Slow Travel” and “Slow Food” plays in the development of this movement.

The old Latin adage “Festina lente” returns to present time (Steinmayer, 2001). We are, recently, advised to travel and look around without haste, leisurely to better meet those we meet and to take more care of the environment. “The democratization of the journey and the opening of new horizons for tourism have caused frenzied reactions - observes Maximilien Nardi, co-founder of the Swiss travel agency Synopsis. This has prompted many to visit the world in record time” (Dorobanţu et al., 2012). But Scheou objects - “too many trips kill the trip” (Schéou, 2007). Hence the urge to do less tourism to make it better.

The desire to keep our connection with the world and ourselves is not new. Most traditional cultures still have these connections. These people relate to their culture, the people around them, the places where they live. It is not long since the extended families lived under the same roof. The children grew up knowing their cousins, uncles and aunts, grandparents and other relatives. These children felt bound to the people around them. Not long-ago people were connected to their food. Most of them were cultivating vegetables and fruit in their gardens usually behind the houses where they lived. Many families had dairy cows, cheese and butter as well as a wide variety of meat. Families usually used fresh products to prepare traditional dishes, everyone was involved, and meals were social events. At the end of the events, the whole family was involved in cleaning and washing dishes used at the table (Slowmovement.com, 2019). In today's times, the rush and speed of events, the stunning developments in technology that are emerging at a dizzying, have made these family ties weaker. This constitute into a reason why slow movement can contribute to the phenomenon of “slowing down”.

Recognizing the rhythm of activity in our lives as an unwanted item is a first step in restoring the connection and slowing down the pace of life. What we all want to know is how to make this reconnection with the traditional lifestyle, but at the same time to be able to fulfill our responsibilities in society.

On this background appeared the “slow movement” which aims to redefine the notion of spending free time, minimize environmental impact, enrich social and non-consumerist experiences (Fullagar et al., 2012).

Starting from these aspects the author presents in this paper the main types of evolutions in connection with the slow movement. Based on findings he groups the slow movement types of evolutions in 3 categories: a category which has strong connection with tourism, a category witch has a strong connection with technology and a category witch has a strong connection with social life. This way of presentation wants to be one of the first made in the scientific literature and wants to illustrate the importance of the slow movement implication in the lives of people.