Thank you for visiting! This site was launched in late October 2011, and is powered by yours truly. As you’ll be able to tell during the early stages, the Culinary Timeline is a work-in-progress that will be updated and expanded continuously, as time permits. If you like this site, then please also visit accidentalwino.com for even more food-related goodness. 1643: Giovan Battista Crisci publishes “Lucerna de Corteggiani.” A survey of early Neapolitan cuisine. 1644: Coffee first arrives in France. Imported by Jean de la Roque to Marseilles, the same city where the country’s first coffee house would appear in 1671. 1645: Europe’s first cafe opens in Venice. Although its origins point to Ethiopia, the coffee bean was first documented by the Sufi monks of Yemen in the mid-15th century (the monks were thought to have sipped coffee to keep themselves focused during invocations). Over the next several decades, the drink’s popularity would spread throughout the Middle East, out to Northern Africa, and up into the Ottoman Empire, with coffeehouses in Damascus and Istanbul dating back to 1530 and 1554, respectively. Coffee’s migration continued to Venice by the early 17th century, and the drink soon gained enough cache among wealthy Venetians to prompt the opening of Europe’s first coffeehouse in 1645 (although this date is often cited, it does lack concrete evidence). Meanwhile, in northwestern Europe, coffee was making simultaneous inroads from the Atlantic side, thanks to the British East India Company and the Dutch East India Company. In 1616, the latter organization smuggled live coffee beans from Yemen to Holland, flaunting the strict exporting regulations within the Yemenese port of Mocha. (Image: “Le Cafe Hollandois” by J.F. Beauvarlet, a 1755 etching of Adriaen van Ostade’s 17th century painting.) 1651: Françios Pierre La Varenne publishes “Le Cuisinier francois.” As the first French cookbook to signal the departure from Medieval-style cookery, La Varenne’s “Le Cuisinier francois” offered the first printed reference to several French culinary staples and techniques, including roux-based sauces, emulsified sauces, and the usage of a bouquet garni. Additionally, La Varenne’s recipe for “sauce blanche” was the clear prototype for modern Hollandaise, though his method might be considered unorthodox today. In general, the heavily-spiced sauces of the Middle Ages were largely absent from La Verenne’s repertoire. Instead, “Le Cuisiner francois” offered recipes that streamlined ingredients, while showcasing more refined techniques (the recent advent of the stand-alone charcoal stove, or potage, certainly helped to improve finesse in the French kitchen). The long-tenured chef to the Marquis d’Uxelles, La Varenne (1615-1678) followed “Le Cuisinier francois” with “Le Pâtissier francois” in 1653. That same year, La Varenne’s “Le Cuinisier” would also become the first French cookbook translated into English, aptly titled “The French Cook.” 1654: Nicolas Bonnefons publishes “Les Delices de la Campagne.” In contrast to La Varenne’s “Le Cuisinier francois” of 1651, “Les Delices de la Campagne” addressed the non-professional cook, offering more detailed instructions than La Varenne did (“Le Cuisinier francois” was geared more toward the trade, certainly). Although their recipes were often similar, there was a slight philosophical difference between the two books: La Varenne was organized in the traditional manner, with a section for Lent days and non-Lent days; Bonnefons, on the other hand, organized foods by type, subdividing the sections by ingredients. This ingredient-driven approach reflects the author’s attitude — Bonneefon’s published a volume on gardening, “Le Jardiniere François” in 1651. (Image: Cover page for the 1713 edition of “Les Delices”) 1659: Nicolas Fouquet commissions France’s first purpose-built dining room at Vaux-le-Vicomte. Before the dining room became fashionable in 17th century Paris, the French typically ate their dinners in various rooms of the house, converting an existing space with narrow, trestle-style tables that would be removed after the meal (for the upper classes, the salon was the typical dinner venue; single-room dwellers would typically dine in front of the hearth). However, as French cuisine began to evolve, so did its prominence within daily life. As a high-ranking finance officer for Louis XIV, Nicolas Fouquet (1615-1680) enjoyed a taste for extravagance, and he spared no expense in reconstructing his chateau at Vaux-le-Vicomte, just outside of Paris. As part of the building’s new design, the chateau boasted a dedicated room for formal dinners, ushering in an architectural feature that has since become standard in most Western households. But despite this noteworthy step towards culinary refinement, Louis XIV took exception to Fouquet’s unabashed opulence, and he imprisoned his Superintendent of Finances in 1661, the same year that Vaux-le-Vicomte was completed. Fouquet would die in Pignerol prison 19 years later. In the meantime, Louis XIV hired Le Vau, Le Nôtre, and Le Brun — the same trio whom Fouquet had hand-picked to renovate Vaux-le-Vicomte — to design his royal Palace at Versailles. (Image: 17th century engraving of the gardens at Vaux-le-Vicomte.) 1662: Bartelomo Stefani publishes “L’arte del Ben Cucinare.” A landmark in Italian cooking… 1660s: Chateau Haut Brion begins fetching top prices. In an emerging market for Bordeaux. 1668: Dom Pierre Perignon begins his service at the Abbey of Hautvillers. But he did not “invent” Champagne. 1671: Francois Vatel commits suicide. Although little is actually known about Vatel, his reputation for perfection is legendary; during an event held in honor of Louis XIV, Vatel is said to have impaled himself with his sword when he learned that the fish would arrive late (the royal banquet was held on a Friday during Lent, making the requirement for fish especially significant). According to some versions of the story, the fish arrived shortly after the chef’s suicide. Vatel’s death, at age 39, was considered a national tragedy in France. (Portrait: French School, 17th Century. Musee Conde, Chantilly, France.) 1671: France’s first cafe opens in Marseilles. Port city. 1673: The Compagnie de Distillateurs-Limonadiers is recognized as a guild. In 17th century Paris, several decades before the city’s first restaurants would emerge, the guild system flourished under Louis XIV. As the public’s primary source for prepared foods, the catering guilds paid taxes and charged membership dues in order to maintain their exclusivity. Dozens of different guilds held jurisdiction over different prepared foods, ranging from bread to roasted meats to charcuterie. Among these specialized groups, the Distillateurs-Limonadiers secured exclusive rights to sell honey-sweetened citrus drinks and distilled beverages. In 1676, this guild also secured the exclusive rights to sell coffee, which would ultimately give rise to the earliest Parisian cafes in the 1680s. (Image: “Still Life with Two Lemons” by Peter Claesz, Dutch Golden Age, 1629. The Cleveland Museum of Art). Late 17th century: Porcelain becomes fashionable in Europe. 1679: Denis Papin invents the steam digester. The precursor to the domestic pressure cooker, Denis Papin’s steam digester or “bone digester” was used to render bones under high steam pressure (the gelatinized bones could then be used to thicken sauces, or they could simply be eaten as a jelly on their own). Papin also used his digester to pressure cook meats, and in 1682, he prepared such a meal for the Royal Society of London and King Charles II. Papin’s designs and his experiments with steam pressure inspired the world’s first steam engines, developed in the early 18th century. (Image: Artist unknown, 1689.) Late 17th century: Coffee, chocolate, and tea achieve widespread popularity in France. Within 17th century Europe, the trio of coffee, chocolate, and tea represented exotic tastes from the New World, although each beverage’s path to popularity was quite different: Coffee arrived in Europe via the Ottoman Empire during the early 17th century, but didn’t achieve popularity in France until the late 1660s; chocolate first arrived in Europe in 1528, when Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortés returned from Mexico, but chocolate’s popularity took more than a century to spread across Europe; tea first appeared in Europe in 1610, via the Dutch East India Company, and found its way to France by the middle of the century. In response to these three beverages achieving their mainstream status, two French books regarding coffee, chocolate, and tea were published in the 1680s: Phillipe Dufour’s “Traitez nouveaux et curiex du café, du thé, et du chocolate” and Nicolas de Belgny’s “Le Bon usage du thé, du caffé, et du chocolat.” Both books explored the health benefits of each drink. (Image borrowed from “The Vegetable Kingdom” by William Rhind, 1886. Illustrations by Walter Hood Fitch.) 1686: Cafe Procope opens in Paris. The city’s first cafe was a lemonade shop owned by an Italian. Voltaire and Diderot in the pic. 1691: François Massialot publishes “Le Cuisinier Royal et Bourgeoise.” Originally published anonymously, “Le Cuisinier Royal et Bourgeoise” helped set the tone for 18th century cooking by broadening his scope beyond the aristocracy (at least in principle, given the book’s title). Like most cookbook authors prior to the 19th century, Francois Massialot (1660-1733) honed his craft in the royal courts, a fact that he acknowledges in the book’s preface. However, unlike many cookbook authors of the time, Massailot is not associated with any specific royal employer (and thus, there is very little record of his personal life). Historians suggest that Massailot worked in a free-lance capacity, as one of France’s top chefs-for-hire. Among its catalog of recipes, Massialot’s “Le Cuisinier” featured the first known appearances of meringue, crême brulée, and chocolate. The book was translated into English in 1702, under the title “The Court and Country Cook.” (Image: The cover page from the 1732 French edition.) 1694: Antonio Lanitni publishes “Lo Scalo alla Moderna.” The first culinary reference to the tomato, as well as ice cream. 1719: The first potato is planted in America. The potato originated in Peru’s Andes Mountains, first finding its way to Europe in the 1560s via Spanish explorers. The Canary Islands boast Europe’s earliest recorded planting of potatoes, dating back to 1562. As the humble tuber began to move inland, it would eventually spread to several other parts of Europe by the end of the 16th century, including Italy, France and Great Britrain. By the end of the 17th century, the potato had assumed an increasingly important role throughout most of Europe, though many people continued to dismiss the potato as being “unfit” for human consumption, an attitude that lasted well into the mid-19th century. America’s first potato was planted in 1719 in New Hampshire’s Londonderry Common Gardens, a community plot that helped to support many of Londonderry’s local families. (Image: “General Marion Inviting a British Officer to Share His Meal [Potatoes]” by John Blake White, 1830-1837.) c. 1724: France’s first wine bottle factory opens in Bourdeaux. 1733: Vincent La Chapelle publishes “The Modern Cook.” During his tenure as the chef to the Earl of Chesterfield, Vincent La Chapelle (1690-1745) originally penned “The Modern Cook” in English, though the multi-volume book would be translated to French in 1735. As an apparent admirer of Francois Massailot (1660-1733), La Chapelle re-purposed nearly one-third of his recipes from 1691′s “Le Cuisinier Royal et Bourgeoise,” although La Chapelle does inflect his book with an English bent. 1739: François Marin publishes “Les Dons de Comus.” Perpetuated a rumor that exists today. 1742: Eliza Smith’s “The Compleat Housewife” is reprinted in America. Originally published in England in 1727, “The Compleat Housewife” was reprinted in Williamsburg in 1742, becoming the first cookbook published in America. William Parks reprinted the cookbook from Eliza Smith’s best-selling London edition (already in its fifth printing by then), editing some of the content for his American audience. 1746: Menon publishes “La Cuisiniere bourgeoise.” The feminine “La Cuisiniere” in the title alludes to a book written for a small household with perhaps only one or two female servants. Among the succession of French cookbooks written before the Revolution of 1789, “La Cuisiniere bourgeois” was the only cookbook republished in the 19th century. 1748: France’s parlement in Besançon outlaws the potato. On ties to leprosy. 1751: The first recipe for chowder is published. The etymology for the word “chowder” stems from the French chaudière, meaning “stew pot,” and the origins of the dish are presumed to have begun in Brittany, or perhaps across the English Channel, in Cornwall. In North America, Native Americans also had their own versions of fish stew long before the word “chowder” was coined. Nonetheless, the first-known reference to “chouder” occurred in 1751, in a recipe published in the Boston Evening Post (the recipe itself was comprised of rhyming couplets). By 1765, the word “chowder” appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary, and over the centuries, several regional variations of chowder began to emerge, including New England (or Boston) clam chowder, Manhattan clam chowder, Long Island clam chowder, Rhode Island clam chowder, Delaware clam chowder, and several others. (Image: A 1905 advert for Burnham & Morril’s canned Scarboro Beach clam chowder.) 1765: M. Boulanger opens the first “restaurant.” Although the details are murky (as is the evidence), general consensus has long claimed that the world’s first restaurant was established in Paris by one Monsieur Boulanger, who advertised “restorative” soups and stews at his Rue Bailleul location (in French, “restore” translates to restaurer). Although the legend of this first “restaurant” is apocryphal, according to lore, the legality of Boulanger’s establishment was challenged by the Parisian catering guild of traîteurs, which had already been awarded exclusive rights to sell ragouts within the city. However, the French courts decided that Boulanger’s restorative stews did not qualify as ragout, and therefore he was not guilty of infringement. (Image: “Portrait of Joseph” by Jean-Baptist Greuze, 1755. Louvre Museum.) 1769: Junipero Serra establishes several “Old World” orchards in California. Oranges, grapes, apples, peaches, pears and figs arrived in California during the construction of Mission San Diego de Alcalá. 1773: Antoine-Augustin Parmentier advocates the potato as a solution to French famine. 1779: California’s first wine is produced at Mission San Juan Capistrano. 1782: Antoine Beauvilliers opens the Grande Taverne de Londres. Credited as the first true fine dining restaurant in Paris, the Grande Taverne de Londres marked a significant social change, as professional chefs began to move out of the wealthy private sector and into the emerging public sector. Antoine Beauvilliers (1754-1817) was a former royal chef, and his Grande Taverne became a popular political meeting place during the Russian occupation of Paris in 1814 and 1815. The Grande Taverne was operated by Beauvilliers’ sons after his death, and the restaurant was lauded by Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin in “The Physiology of Taste” (1825). In addition to his innovations as a restaurateur, Beauvilliers also authored “L’Art de Cuisinier” in 1815 (the image above is taken from the book’s cover page). c. 1784: Antonin Carême is born. Dubbed “the king of chefs and the chef of kings,” Carême began his culinary career in 1793. Born the youngest of 16 — and possibly even 24 — children, Carême was abandoned by his family during the midst of the French Revolution, and as the legend goes, his father confided in him, “Nowadays you need only the spirit to make your fortune, and you have the spirit.” On the heels of that succinct pep talk, Carême became a dishwasher, and eventually worked his way into a well-known Parisian pastry kitchen, where his talent blossomed. As an international chef for several royal figures, Carême is credited with solidifying the haute cuisine movement. After years of inhaling noxious fumes from coal-fueled ovens, Carême died in 1833, at age 48. 1786: Les Trois Freres Provençaux opens in Paris. One of France’s earliest and most important fine-dining restaurants, Les Trois Freres Provençaux remained fashionable for several decades after the French Revolution. 1787: Thomas Jefferson tours France and Italy. Early American wine advocate. 1791: France abolishes its long-standing guild system. As a by-product of the French Revolution, the newly-formed National Assembly voted to dismantle France’s guild system under its Le Chapelier Law of 1791. 1796: Amelia Simmons publishes “American Cookery.” The first cookbook writen by an American author. 1803: Grimod de La Reynière begins publishing “L’Almanach des gourmands.” Regarded as the first compendium of restaurant reviews, “L’Almanach des gourmands” was written by Alexandre Balthazar Laurent Grimod de La Reynière (1758-1837) from 1803 to 1812. The annual publication produced eight volumes of food criticism, which became popular enough to spawn the monthly Journal des Gourmandes et des Belles in 1806. As a child, Grimod de La Reynière was born with severely deformed hands, growing up sheltered and developing a darkly satirical outlook. As the result of his antics, Grimod was exiled by his wealthy family when he was 22, although he did regain his full birthright after the death of his parents. Upon receiving his inheritance in 1812, Grimod faked his own funeral — just to see who would attend — and then promptly retired to the Parisian countryside. (Image: “Alexandre Grimod de la Reynière” by Antoine Blanchard, 19th century.) 1806: Alexandre Viard publishes “Le Cuisinier Imperial.” A very popular 19th century French cookbook, Alexandre Viard’s “Le Cuisinier Imperial” was known by various titles during its seven decades of publication. Spanning more than 30 editions during that time, Viard’s cookbook was republished as “Le Cuisinier Royal” in 1817 (beginning with the ninth edition, pictured above) and “Le Cuisinier National” in 1852 (beginning with the 22nd edition). Alexandre Viard was chef to Louis XVI and Napoleon. 1810: Nicolas Appert pioneers airtight food preservation. A confectioner by trade. Early 19th century: Service a la russe begins to win popularity in France. Although it took the better part of a century to become the national standard, Russian-style dinner service first began to appear in France in the early 19th century. There are several different accounts of how service a la russe was introduced into French society: Some argue that Napolean learned to favor this approach during his campaign against Russia in the Patriotic War of 1812; other sources point to the dinners of Russian Ambassador Alexander Kurakin, who held a post in Paris beginning in 1810; a third source credits Antonin Carême (1784-1833), who served as the on-again-off-again chef for Tsar Alexander I in 1819 (some historians, however, argue that Carême favored service a la francaise). The defining difference between the two service styles lies within their presentations: Service a la francaise is more banquet-oriented, featuring large, ornate platters of food which were presented to the table all at once. In contrast, traditional service a la russe featured several consecutive courses of individually-plated portions. Today, most Western restaurants incorporate a modified version of service a la russe. (The image above is from “La Veritable Cuisine de Famille par Tante Marie,” 1927.) 1825: Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin publishes “The Physiology of Taste.” Considered a landmark of food writing, “The Physiology of Taste” was published just two months before Brillat-Savarin’s death in 1826. The oft-quoted text treats gastronomy as a science, and many of Brillat-Savarin’s observations and assertions remain relevant today. The definitive English translation of “The Physiology of Taste” was penned by MFK Fisher, a legendary food writer in her own right, in 1949. 1833: Antonin Carême publishes “L’Art de la Cuisine Française.” Text coming soon. 1846: Auguste Escoffier is born. Although his predecessor, Antonin Carême (1784-1833), is credited with launching France’s haute cuisine movement, Auguste Escoffier remains the most influential figure in Western culinary history. Escoffier built upon Carême’s ideas by simplifying his cuisine and restructuring the professional kitchen through the “brigade” system. Along with his business partner César Ritz, Escoffier founded the Paris Ritz Hotel in 1898 and London’s Carlton Hotel in 1899. Escoffier’s landmark cookbook, 1903′s “Le Guide Culinaire,” contains more than 5,000 recipes and remains the definitive glossary of French cuisine. Escoffier died in 1935, at age 88. 1855: The classification system for Bordeaux is established. As part of the Exposition Universelle. 1862: Louis Pasteur tests pastuerization. Got milk? 1863: Abraham Lincoln declares Thanksgiving an American national holiday. Honestly. 1869: Henry John Heinz founds the H.J. Heinz Company. Text coming soon. 1871: The first bananas arrive in the United States. As ocean travel began to improve towards the end of the 19th century, importers could finally ship perishable fruits from remote destinations. Lorenzo Dow Baker captained the first ship to deliver bananas to the United States, which reached Boston’s Long Wharf, via Jamaica, in 1871. During the next decade, Baker would co-found the Boston Fruit Company, which specialized in importing exotic fruits, including mangoes, avocados and coconuts. As bananas continued to gain widespread popularity in America, the fruit eventually inspired its own specific displayware, such as the glass bowl pictured above. In 1899, The Boston Fruit Company merged to become the United Fruit Company, and then later merged to become United Brands in 1970. In 1984, United Brands re-named itself Chiquita Brands International. (Image: The cover of 1947′s promotional “Chiquita Banana Cookbook”). 1873: The “Grand Dictionnaire de cuisine” by Alexandre Dumas is published posthumously. 1886: John Pemberton creates the Coca-Cola formula. A local Atlanta pharmacist, John Pemberton originally developed Coca-Cola as a patent medicine, with the hope of selling it at soda fountains. Touted as a cure for dyspepsia, headaches, impotence, and a variety of other maladies, Coca-Cola was originally branded as Pemberton’s French Wine Coca, although only briefly. Pemberton’s bookkeeper, Frank Mason Robinson, actually coined the name Coca-Cola, and he also created the soda’s trademark Spencerian Script logo. One of Coca-Cola’s earliest vendors, Atlanta businessman Asa Griggs Candler realized Coca-Cola’s marketing potential (especially as the Temperance movement gained momentum in America), and he purchased exclusive rights to the Coca-Cola formula in 1888. Griggs founded the Coca-Cola corporation in 1892, and curiously, burned the company’s early records in 1910, perhaps to protect his ownership of the brand. Coca-Cola was first sold in bottles, such as the one pictured to the left, in 1894. Cans of Coca-Cola made their debut in 1955. Presently, Coca-Cola is sold in more than 200 countries. 1891: Pellegrino Artusi publishes “La Scienza in Cucina.” Easily the most important Italian cookbook of the 20th century (factoring longevity over the actual publication date), “La Scienza in Cucina”… 1897: Fernand Point is born. More details soon. 1897: Jell-O is coined. With roots dating back to 1845. 1900: Michelin publishes its first Red Guide. As a means to help promote automobile travel, the Michelin tire company began publishing its famed Red Guide at the turn of the last century, highlighting noteworthy hotels and restaurants, along with information regarding mechanics and filling stations. Over the years, as its focus shifted to the culinary realm, the Michelin Guide would become the most highly-esteemed restaurant guide within France, and eventually, Europe. As part of this evolution, Michelin developed its famous star-based rating system in 1926. 1903: Auguste Escoffier publishes “Le Guide Culinaire.” As mentioned elsewhere on this timeline, Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935) is by far the most important Western culinary figure in history — his contributions and innovations in the kitchen are simply unparalleled, and realistically, they will probably never be eclipsed. It therefore stands to reason that Escoffier’s life work — his “Le Guide Culinaire” — has also managed to retain its relevancy over the years: It certainly has. With more than 5,000 recipes, “Le Guide Culinaire” is the most comprehensive and authoritive survey of classic French cuisine, period. The first English translation of Escoffier’s cookbook, titled “A Guide to Modern Cookery” (and pictured above), appeared in 1907. 1908: Kikunae Ikeda isolates monosodium glutamate (MSG). Having observed that dashi broth exhibited a distinct and basic flavor component that was neither sweet, salty, bitter, nor sour, Ikeda sought to isolate the source of this “fifth taste,” which he called umami. A profesor at Tokyo Imperial University, Ikeda derived pure glutamic acid from kombu seaweed and submitted a patent to produce MSG, which first entered commercial production as the brand Aji-No-Moto (meaning “the essence of taste”) in 1909. 1914: Louis Saulnier publishes “Le Répertoir de La Cuisine.” A friend and protege of Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935), chef Louis Saulnier penned “La Répertoire” as the short-hand companion to Escoffier’s mammoth 1903 opus, “Le Guide Culinaire.” Saulnier’s book assumes a fair amount of knowledge from its reader, and without quantities or methods among its entries, it serves primarily as a quick-reference guide to the classic recipes of French haute cuisine. 1916: Nathan’s Famous hosts its first hot dog eating contest. Coney Island. 1920: The Prohibition Era begins in the United States. After nearly a century-long campaign by the temperance movement, the so-called “Noble Experiment” officially became law in America on January 17, 1920. This subsequent ban on the sale, production, and transportation of “intoxicating liquors” was defined by the Volstead Act, which was introduced to the House in the summer of 1919. Despite being vetoed by President Woodrow Wilson later that fall, the Volstead Act was overridden into law on October 28, 1919, adding the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The results, however, proved disastrous; as bootlegging eventually gave rise to organized crime in America, Prohibition was finally repealed in 1933 under the 21st Amendment. 1931: Irma Rombauer publishes “The Joy of Cooking.” An American classic. 1933: Repeal ends Prohibition. At last. 1935: Rudolph Hass patents the Hass avocado. A letter carrier from Southern California, Rudolph Hass purchased a 1.5-acre avocado grove with his life savings in 1925, at age 33. The following year, as Hass set about grafting and re-planting his La Habra Heights orchard, one newly-planted tree began to stand out, and at the advice of a professional grafter, Hass allowed the tree to mature. Eventually, as the tree began to produce a year-round abundance of delicious fruit, Hass patented his unique cultivar, and this tree soon became the “mother plant” for all Hass avocados. Born with a defective heart, Hass died in 1952, at age 60, just one month after his tree patent (the very first of its kind) expired; the Hass “mother tree” died in 2002, at age 76. (Image: Avocado crate labels from the 1940s and 1950s.) 1941: Gourmet magazine debuts. Defunct in 2010. 1957: Craig Claiborne becomes Food Editor of the New York Times. Details coming soon. 1963: Julia Child makes her television debut. Details coming soon. 1976: Napa wines prevail at the Paris Tasting. Dubbed the “Judgment of Paris” in retrospect… 1986: Slow Food is founded. In response to the opening of a McDonald’s near Rome’s historic Spanish Steps, Carlo Petrini founded the Slow Food movement, which strives to preserve the world’s culinary traditions and to promote sustainable food production. With the motto “Good, clean, and fair,” Slow Food currently spans 132 countries with more than 100,000 members.