I have been reading In Praise of Slow. A nice ‘info read’ about the world wide ‘slow movement’. This is spreading in this day and age of downshifting and sea (or tree) changers. The book goes through all different areas of life and shows how going slower will work better – Food, community, housing, sex, and so on. One of the towns in the Italian (and now world wide) slow cities/towns movement is Altamura. My firend Grainne found this article about a baker in this town who put McDonald’s out of business.
A BAKER who has put a McDonald’s out of business has become a hero of Italy’s Slow Food advocates.
Macca’s ran into big trouble when Luca DeGesu (his surname means “of Jesus”), opened a bakery specialising in local products next door in Altamura.
Article found here.
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One of the things I enjoy about living in Nollamara is the small shopping centre near my home. Firstly, I can walk there and there’s this little fruit and veg store with a couple of Iraqi guys who sell dirt cheap fruit. There’s only a small supermarket and Kakulas sister who sell dried fruit, nuts, spices, flours and have a good deli section.
I pretty much buy all my food from there, I think of it as investing in my neighbourhood.