Slow Food in France

A decade ago, a Bolognese buddy told me about this new “movement;” the “Slow Food” trend.  A fellow colleague/food fanatic gave us a list of places to go to, as we were headed for the Piedmont; included of course was the Mother Ship – the Buongusto in Bra, where we found ourselves one Monday (which of course was its closing day) and had to satisfy ourselves with their brochures.  But we ate at several of his other suggestions and loved them. Now of course, there’s the “Guide d’Osterie” Guidebook for Slow Food places with a snail for adherence to their credo of a restaurant’s serving: local product fresh food food in season etc etc and the whole world has gotten on the bandwagon – except France, but more on that later. Now.  Colette and I, taking off once again to the Piedmont after a Congress in Milano, find ourselves at the Mother Lode in Bra, a fine meal, superb. But still in search of the essence of the movement of snail (= Slow) Food, we had dinner way up in the hills, in Verduno, halfway between Bra and Alba.  Arriving late (fashionably early here) we are greeted warmly by a young girl calling her dog back from biting us, in a courtyard totally unmarked, that we had only found after an hour of searching.  We enter, and are greeted inside by another young girl who gives us a wine list, suspiciously long and full of reasonably priced Barolos, Barbescos, Dolcettos, etc., from the neighborhood.  No mention of food. The reigning queen arrives to detail their offerings (she turns out to be Mom/Mama/etc).  Wonderful English, some French.  After some to-ing and fro-ing, we decide on: an assortment of antipasti (spicy salami, tongue with spicy caper sauce, goat cheese with olive oil and miniscule chive bits and pig face) all of which were super except the last, a green salad that had the best in years lettuces with the Signora’s own red wine vinegar that looked white, tagliatelle with ragu –Colette insists this was the best dish of the year anywhere and the best ragu since that of Guiseppi Buitoni’s cooking class outside Perugia eons ago, a spit-roasted rabbit (which made it slightly dry and raw but not annoyingly so with so-so potatoes, sheep cheese. In addition, we had some Barbaresco and Verduno, both grown by the family, on property nearby, which have been featured in the New York Times.  Not bad at all. So (1) what is the essence of Slow Food in Italy and (2) why don’t we have it in France? Ans:     (1) It is truly the presentation of product over production of cooking and (2) Because we don’t need/clamor for/want it. But the Ca’ Del Re in Verduno represents the essence of Slow Food; a young, unheralded chef; a supportive family making vinegar, wine and bread (not bad); good fresh, local and seasonal product; and no pretense. Does it rival my current Paris favorite – Ze Kitchen Galerie – non!  We’re talking apples and oranges.  But we do need Slow Food here too, someday, soon. My favorite in the area is: Ze Kitchen Galerie 4, rue des Grands Augustins, 6th (Metro: Saint Michel) T: 01 44 32 00 32 Closed Sundays. A la carte 30 €. ©2008 John A. Talbott