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When an American branch of Italy?s Slow Food movement was launched in 1998, many people saw a new reason to celebrate and savor local cuisine. Utne Reader reported on the movement?s progress in 2000 when Slow Food already boasted 3,000 members. Since then, membership in the United States has more than doubled.

?To find Slow Food events and groups (called convivia) in your area, learn about the movement?s progress around the world, and revel in the pleasures of authentic eating, visit www.slowfood.com. There you can also read about the 14 international winners of the annual Slow Food Award for the Defense of Biodiversity. Among the winners are Do?a Sebastiana Juarez Broca of Mexico and Thierno Maadjou Bah and Mamadou Mouctar Sow of Guinea. Juarez Broca helped organize three women?s cooperatives that produce chocolate according to the Maya tradition, thus pioneering the move toward growing organic cacao tabasqueno. Bah and Sow, who are working to resuscitate the n?r? tree (Parkia biglobosa) and a traditional condiment made from its seeds, have helped protect this fundamental element for the culture, tradition, and economy of one of Africa?s poorest countries.

? Slow Food?s mouth watering magazine, Slow, won an Utne Reader Alternative Press Award last year for art and design. (Subscriptions: $44/4 issues from Slow Foods USA, 434 Broadway, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10013.)

? Slow Food, Chelsea Green Publishing's new book drawn from the first five years of Slow, is a delicious 'Best of Slow' collection (www.chelseagreen.com).