Slow Food is an international non-profit organisation which addresses people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world.

Slow Food encourages us to take a little more time to understand and appreciate the food we eat, highlighting the basic philosophy that eating good food can, and should, be a pleasure.We believe that everyone has a fundamental right to pleasure and consequently the responsibility to protect the heritage of food, tradition and culture that make this pleasure possible. Our movement is founded upon this concept of eco-gastronomy – a recognition of the strong connections between plate and planet.

Slow Food is good, clean and fair food. We believe that the food we eat should taste good; that it should be produced in a clean way that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health; and that food producers should receive fair compensation for their work.

We consider ourselves co-producers, not consumers, because by being informed about how our food is produced and actively supporting those who produce it, we become a part of and a partner in the production process.
Slow Food began in Italy with the foundation of its forerunner organization, Arcigola, in 1986 to resist the opening of  a McDonald's near the Spanish steps in Rome. The Slow Food organization spawned by the movement has expanded to include over 100,000 members with chapters in over 132 countries. All told, 800 local 'convivia' or chapters exist. 360 convivia in Italy are composed of 35,000 members, along with 450 other regional chapters around the world. The organizational structure is decentralized: each convivium has a leader who is responsible for promoting local artisans, local farmers, and local flavors through regional events such as Taste Workshops, wine tastings, and farmers' markets.

Offices have been opened in Switzerland (1995), Germany (1998), the United States (2000), France (2003), Japan (2005), and most recently in the United Kingdom (2007) and Chile (2008). The head offices are located in Bra, near the famous city of Turin, northern Italy. Numerous publications are put out by the organization, in several languages. In the UK, SnailMail is the quarterly of choice, while Slow Food puts out literature online & in nations all over the world, most famously Gambero Rosso, arguably the most highly regarded guide to Italian wine. Slow Food also organise the world's largest food and wine fair, the Salone del Gusto in Turin , a biennial cheese fair in Bra called Cheese, the Genoan fish festival called SlowFish, and Turin's Terra Madre ("Mother Earth") a world meeting of food communities.

In 2004 Slow Food opened a University of Gastronomic Sciences at Pollenzo, in Piedmont, and Colorno, in Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Carlo Petrini and Massimo Montanari are the leading figures in the creation of the University, whose goal is to promote awareness of good food and nutrition.