Slow Food USA President Josh Viertel

If we slow down long enough to think about our food we just might come to realize there’s more to it than filling that nagging void in our bellies. We’re so pressed for time that we fail to think about the nutritional value of what we eat. Racing through the drive-thru window of fast food restaurants we pack faces with hamburgers and tacos loaded with fat, salt and empty carbohydrates. And worse than that, we really have no idea where this food came from, how it’s prepared or whether or not the people who made it are treated well and paid a living wage. And it’s not just the folks that flip those burgers and pack those tacos. There’s a complete food chain people who planted and picked the tomatoes, the lettuce and the cucumbers that become our pickles. What about them?

Josh Viertel is the president of Slow Food USA. It’s his job to help all of us slow down and make better food choices.

“As I see it, my job is to help Slow Food basically change the food system so that everyone can eat food that’s good for them, that’s good for land that’s good for the people who produce it and pick it,” he said.

Josh Viertel was one of several presenters at the Mountain Film Festival in Telluride, Colorado. This year the conversation was all about food and how we eat. Viertel suggests that every meal best served slowly.

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