Revenge of the slow

Bruce Sterling has a nice article up at metropolismag.com about the Slow Food movement. He points out what
a lot of slow food advocates miss: that SF's ace in the hole is the inherent
un-scalability of the food they promote.

Slow Food deploys its convivia to serve as talent scouts for food rarities (such as Polish Mead, the Istrian Giant Ox, and the Tehuacan Amaranth). Candidate discoveries are passed to Slow Food¹s International Ark Commission, which decides whether the foodstuff is worthy of inclusion. Its criteria are strict: (a) Is the product nonglobalized or, better yet, inherently nonglobalizable? (b) Is it artisanally made (so there¹s no possibility of any industrial economies of scale)? (c) Is it high-quality (the consumer ³wow² factor)? (d) Is it sustainably produced? (Not only is this politically pleasing, but it swiftly eliminates competition from most multinationals.) (e) Is this product likely to disappear from the planet otherwise? (Biodiversity must be served!)

Good reading.

(h/t BoingBoing)