Overview
- Slow Food confirmed late Friday that Carlo Petrini died Thursday night at his home in Bra, Piedmont; he was 76 years old.
- Petrini launched Slow Food in 1986 as a protest against fast food and later built enduring projects including the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Terra Madre, the Salone del Gusto and the Arca del Gusto.
- The movement he founded expanded to roughly 160–170 countries and carried out partnerships with bodies such as the FAO while earning recognition from organizations like UNEP.
- Petrini framed eating as a political act with his 'good, clean and fair' ethic and used that language to elevate small producers and win allies from farmers to public figures including Pope Francis and King Charles III.
- Italian officials and global food communities issued tributes and his death raises questions about how Slow Food will sustain its education, biodiversity and producer-support programs without its longtime public leader.