Living slow

The Slow Movement spans a vast range of areas of activity and has now spread globally. In Portugal, the NGO Slow Portugal seeks to promote and implement its ideas. To talk about its activities, ECO123 interviewed its Board President, Raquel Tavares.

ECO123: How did the slow movement emerge in Portugal?
Raquel Tavares: This took place following the founding of the ‘Slow Portugal’ NGO with the objective of filling a gap that had not been taken up in the national panorama accompanying a rising and deepening international trend. A slow movement style organisation makes every sense to the extent this defends life styles based on simplicity, sustainability, solidarity and quality – factors so very relevant to current times.

What characterises this movement in comparison with the original Slow Food initiative?
The ‘Slow Movement’ is an international movement that traces its origins to the ‘Slow Food Movement’ that in Italy in 1986 stood up against the values and culture associated with mass and impersonal fast food before then also specialising in the slow city concept and seal of quality.
This trend has then steadily spread throughout Europe and the world as well as into other areas of action: health, children and education, tourism, the preservation of heritage and traditions, relationships, the balance between personal and professional lives, leisure, family life, etc. (Slow Travel, Schools, Cities, Family Living, Medicine, Slow Design, etc.). The Slow Movement defends efforts to live at a particular pace, prioritising quality, balance and wellbeing in the different areas of life and always within a logic of sustainable development in harmony with the dynamics of local communities and in conjunction with the globalisation movement that we today experience.
Hence, the ‘Slow Movement’ stands out from its slow food counterpart as the latter has its focus uniquely and exclusively on diet related issues. In turn, the ‘Slow Movement’ is more holistic and transversal and relates to the utilisation of time and material resources in a more balanced, moderate and satisfied fashion, premises that may be adopted in different areas of life and not only in terms of the food chain.

How is the slow movement structured in Portugal?
The ‘Slow Movement’ followers do not fit a single profile but rather identify with the principles and the general idea that it is necessary to slow down and give more value to the essential and only in a society that is not excessively speedy and fast are we able to attain such depth whether in the world of work, personal relationships, consumption patterns or in the way we live in our territories and communities. As such, the slow movement has grown spontaneously and without any great formalisms or structures. However, there began to emerge ever more initiative that sought to organise the movement into a more structured fashion. In Portugal, the pioneering and also the only entity, – with the exception of slow cities – is the NGO ‘Slow Portugal’.

What establishments or companies are associated with you?
We are getting frequent and countless contacts with various entities seeking to establish partnerships, whether local councils, tourism companies, artisan and regional products and restaurants. However, we have not yet expanded our scope of action to be able to welcome everybody who gets in contact with us. We are beginning small and growing step by step. At this moment, we have a protocol with the council of Arruda dos Vinhos where we have our headquarters and we have an associate agreement with the restaurant ‘Nau Palatina’ and the tourism residence unit ‘Casa Carpe Diem’ and negotiating a partnership with the ‘Mercearia do Prato’ restaurant.
One of our objective is launching the ‘Slow Movement’ seal of quality that would be unprecedented both nationally and internationally and correspondingly holds great potential for development. We are now in a new phase of revitalisation and boosting our range of activities and planning to establish the means to expand our network welcoming all of those who contacts us and giving them the means to take part and collaborate with the movement.

Plans for the future?
Developing a diverse series of workshops, demonstrations and ateliers in accordance with the slow theme; expanding our network of partnerships and associate members; promoting the movement online and on social networks; running more slow activities, meetings and debates. Furthermore, getting official recognition for the ‘Slow Movement’ seal of quality would be an unprecedented contribution to the slow movement.

Team members

About the author

Hugo Filipe Lopes:Has a degree in sociology and a post-graduate qualification in clinical nutrition from the Egas Moniz Faculty. Collaborates with a number of online publications, a trainer and nutritional therapist. Honourable mentions in the Casa da Imprensa and Lisboa à Letra competitions..