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 f you think food fights are just for little kids,
think again. The very adult mem- bers of Slow Food see the pervasiveness
of American fast food as the enemy, and themselves as champions
of meals as communal and social gatherings.
 Leading
the local Slow Food forces is Hansjakob Werlen, a Swarthmore
College associate professor of German who founded Slow Food's
Philadelphia chapter last year.
Werlen is
organizing Slow Food's big annual event - a multi-course meal
prepared by nationally renowned chefs from Sicily. Swarthmore's
meal is taking place at the Friends Meeting House on March 17,
and is one of only four the chefs are planning during their trip
to the United States. The others are in Washington, D.C., New
York, and Santa Barbara, CA.
"Anyone
who knows me knows I'm crazy about authentic food," Werlen
says. "In my own way, I want to make people in this area
aware of all of the organic food that is produced locally - the
small cheese makers, the small wineries, the incredible vegetables
and fruits."
Founded in
1986, Slow Food is an international food and wine movement with
60,000 members in 35 countries. According to Werlen, the organization
supports small food producers and works to counter the "degrading"
effects of industrial and fast food culture and the standardization
of taste.
In addition
to providing a sumptuous feast for Slow Food members, the dinner
will also raise funds for a project the organization is sponsoring
in Nicaragua. Its goal is to recover agricultural land and improve
food production capacity in the rural area around San Francisco
Libre. 
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