Fast food vs. Slow food

Different ways to eat and live


The industrial food of our days is in effect prepared in accordance with standard recipes, essentially in a scientific and fast way: the ingredients are always perfectly measured in the same quantities, they are cooked and / or thawed by machines and the hand of man appears only in the assembly. Even the taste is “chemical”, artificial; this is in contrast with the good old recipes of our grandmother, often elaborated and so slow to prepare; this is why food is a good argument to discuss about Fast/Slow from the Industrial/Artisanal point of view.

http://www.ahioo.net/gpz/?p=53

FAST FOOD: Fast food is the term given to food that can be prepared and served very quickly; typically the term refers to food sold in a restaurant or store with preheated or precooked ingredients, and served to the customer in a packaged form for take-out/take-away. The term "fast food" was recognized in a dictionary by Merriam–Webster in 1951.

Outlets may be stands or kiosks, which may provide no shelter or seating, or fast food restaurants. The concept of ready-cooked food for sale is closely connected with urban development: also in Ancient Rome cities had street stands that sold bread and wine.

In the last 50 born and spread all over the world many fast food restaurant chains, such us McDonald’s and Burger king above all, that are generally connected to the globalization phenomenon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_food

SLOW FOOD: Slow Food is an international movement founded by Carlo Petrini in 1986, to resist the opening of the first McDonald’s restaurant in Italy, near the Spanish Steps in Rome. It strives to preserve traditional and regional cuisine and promotes farming of plants, seeds and livestock characteristic of the local ecosystem. It was the first established part of the broader Slow movement. The movement has since expanded globally to over 100,000 members in 132 countries. Its goals of sustainable foods and promotion of local small businesses are paralleled by a political agenda directed against globalization of agricultural products. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_food

Building a building: how long does it take?

Differences through centuries

Building the tallest building in the world is not only a very hard architectural challenge, but hides many deep meanings, related to culture and country where it’s built.

The Great Pyramid of Cheope, the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, is not only a tomb of the Egyptian pharaon, but was the tallest building in the world for over 3800 years; by the way, for the primitive building techniques, the construction has proceeded very slowly, and totally it took over 20 years to be built.

http://www.anticoegitto.net/costruzionepiramidecheope.htm

The Great pyramid of Cheope, El Giza, Egypt

Today the tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa, a skyscraper in Dubai: construction began on 21 September 2004, with the exterior of the structure completed on 1 October 2009. With the modern techniques (bulldozers, new materials…) is possible to create a 828 mt. tall building in a very fast period, only 5 years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Khalifa

The Burj Khalifa, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Proverbs

Proverbs and sentences
Fast/Slow in peoples' wisdom


"He who goes slowly goes safely and goes far." Italian proverb

"Who goes slowly, goes wisely, and who goes wisely, goes far." Italian proverb

"To a quick question, give a slow answer. " Italian proverb

"Slow but sure wins the race."  Traditional proverb

"The fast talker makes mistakes." Japanese proverb

"Act quickly, think slowly."  Greek proverb

"Slowly but surely." Swedish proverb

"Slower than a turtle." Arabic proverb

"Quick to borrow is always slow to pay." Traditional proverb 

http://www.special-dictionary.com/proverbs/keywords/slow/

"Fast Ripe, Fast Rotten." Japanese proverb

"He runs as fast as if he had eggs in his shoes." Dutch proverb

"If you run too fast you bypass a safe place you would have hidden yourself ." African proverb

"Nothing dries faster than tears."  Italian proverb

"He that runs fast will not run long." French proverb

"Bad news travels fast."  American proverb

"Make good use of your time, it flies fast."  Latin proverb

http://www.special-dictionary.com/proverbs/keywords/slow/ 


Aphorisms and quotations
Thematic: Life

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up, he knows he must run faster than the lion or  he will be killed. Every morning in Africa a lion wakes up, knows that it must outrun the gazelle, or he will die of hunger.

When the sun stands, no matter if you are a lion or a gazelle: you better start running." 

Anonimous

http://www.citazioni.tk/aforismi/ricerca/

 

Futurism: the representation of movement

Speed on canvas

Futurism was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century. The Futurists practiced in every medium of art, including painting, sculpture, ceramics, graphic design, industrial design, interior design, theatre, film, fashion, textiles, literature, music, architecture and even gastronomy. The founder of Futurism and its most influential personality was the Italian writer Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, who launched the movement in his Futurist Manifesto, which he published in the French daily newspaper Le Figaro on 20 February 1909. The Futurists admired speed, technology, the car, the airplane and the industrial city, all that represented the technological triumph of humanity over nature; they contrasted with the ancient art, too linked to the past, and then static, slow, to the new one that looked to the future, technology, machines and speed.

Giacomo Balla, an important futurist painter, starts from the realization of the movement seen as the sequence and repetition of the image and, for this reason, is closer to the techniques of photodynamic than to those of the other futurists. In a painting like Dinamismo di un cane al guinzaglio the splitting of the images depends on the “dynamic” effect of the photo, which is just the analytic study of the movement of the woman’s legs, of the dog’s tail and paws, and of the attempt to immortalize a fast movement into a fixed image. Even in the painting Le mani del violinista the dynamic effect consists in the representation of the fast movement of the violinist’s hands; the final result appears as a sequence of frames overlapped and partially staggered.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futurism
Futurist_Manifesto 

Giacomo Balla, Dinamismo di un cane al guinzaglio,1912

New York, Museum of Modern Art

http://www.noemalab.org/sections/specials/tetcm/2003-04/dinamismo_futurismo/successioni_dinamiche.html

Giacomo Balla, Le mani del violinista, 1912

http://www.noemalab.org/sections/specials/tetcm/2003-04/dinamismo_futurismo/successioni_dinamiche.html

Umberto Boccioni, another important artist, tried to translate into three dimensions his futurist ideas, especially through sculpture. In Forme uniche nella continuità dello spazio he wanted to transmit the expression of fluidity, dynamism and speed by the paradox of a statue, a fixed object.

Umberto Boccioni, Forme uniche nella continuità dello spazio, 1913

http://www.scultura-italiana.com/Approfondimenti/Forme_uniche.htm

"Gioca Jouer" - Ok guys, now become faster!

Song citation

"Gioca Jouer" - Claudio Cecchetto

"Gioca Jouer! Dormire, salutare, autostop, starnuto, camminare, nuotare, sciare, spray, macho, clacson, campana, ok, baciare, capelli, saluti, saluti, Superman! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight! Ok, ragazzi, ora più veloce, perché i comandi cambiano ogni due battute, se riuscirete a farlo, d'ora in poi potrete giocare anche solo con la musica, perché sarete dei veri campioni di ?Gioca Jouer!? Dormire, salutare, autostop, starnuto, camminare, nuotare, sciare, spray, macho,clacson, campana, ok, baciare, capelli, saluti, Superman! All right!"

Claudio Cecchetto - "Gioca Jouer" 

http://www.canzoni-mp3.net/c/cecchetto_claudio/canzoni/testo_giocajouer.htm 

The fastest man in the world

"Lightning Bolt"

Everyone who follows the world of sport in some detail would have surely heard that the fastest man in the world is a certain Jamaican gentleman going by the name of Usain Bolt. Along with holding the world record for the 100 meters dash, he also holds the world record for the 200 meters dash, and is also a part of the team that holds the world record for the 4 x 100 meters relay dash.

A true champion, Bolt is also a 3 time Olympic gold medalist, and holds the Olympic record for these 3 events as well. Going by the sounds of it, there truly is no one on the planet faster than him, and it is safe to say that he is, undoubtedly, the fastest man in the world.

Popularly known as 'Lightning Bolt', the Jamaican set his world record in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. He set the new record for the 100 meters dash at 9.69 seconds, breaking his own previously set record of 9.72 seconds which he clocked earlier the same year. For the 200 meters dash, he set the record at 19.30 seconds, breaking the precious best of 19.32 seconds set by Michael Johnson in 1996.
To an ordinary layman, these times and records may not mean much. But many people claim that Usain Bolt is so fast that he can actually race a bullet fired from a gun. Now this may be a slight exaggeration, but it just goes to show the status of this legendary 23 year old. Its hard not to get taken aback by the fact that he is still only 23 years old.

   

Usain Bolt

 
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/fastest-man-in-the-world.html

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/usain-bolt/ 

Movies citations

Fast and Slow on the screen 
- Jour de fete,(1949), directed by Jacques Tati

In this film the concept Fast/Slow can be found when the protagonist Francois tries to imitate the american postman, by speeding up his deliveries, with his bicycle.

- Koyaanisqatsi, (1982), directed by Godfray Reggio

Contrast between the frenetic life of the city and the slow pace of the nature, through different cinematographic techniques (fast forward, rallenty).

-Eat drink man woman, (1994), directed by Ang Lee

Contrast between the traditional Chinese food (slowly prepared) and the fast food where one of the three sisters work

- The Fast and the Furious, (2001), directed by Rob Cohen

Representation of the speed with illegal race of automobiles.

- Les Triplettes de Belleville, (2003), directed by Sylvain Chomet 

Bicycle race, Tour de France.

- Cars, ( 2006), directed by John Lasseter

Automobile race representing speed, in a cartoon way.

- Fast Food Nation, (2006), directed by Richard Linklater



This movie shows the parallel between fast food and fast modern life in big cities.



Aesop's tale: "The hare and the tortoise"

Fast/Slow through words, texts, books, poetry, tales...

"The Hare was once boasting of his speed before the other animals. ‘I have never yet been beaten,’ said he, ‘when I put forth my full speed. I challenge any one here to race with me.’
The Tortoise said quietly, ‘I accept your challenge.’
‘That is a good joke,’ said the Hare; ‘I could dance round you all the way.’
‘Keep your boasting till you’ve beaten,’ answered the Tortoise. ‘Shall we race?’
So a course was fixed and a start was made. The Hare darted almost out of sight at once, but soon stopped and, to show his contempt for the Tortoise, lay down to have a nap. The Tortoise plodded on and plodded on, and when the Hare awoke from his nap, he saw the Tortoise just near the winning-post and could not run up in time to save the race. Then said the Tortoise: ‘Plodding wins the race.’"

Aesop

http://www.planetpdf.com/planetpdf/pdfs/free_ebooks/Aesops_Fables_NT.pdf 

A representation of the tale
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Texts/Aesop/THE_HARE_AND_THE_TORTOISE.html

About the blog

Blog SMC_Fast_Slow, created by Giacomo Ariano and Silvia Rosa Cardinal

Theme: inquiry about the couple of adjectives Fast/Slow

 

Course of Hystory of Material Culture, degree in Ecodesign - Politecnico of Turin -  A.A. 2010
Professor Vittorio Marchis

http://storiamateriale.blogspot.com/

How else can we say "Fast and Slow"?

Synonyms

Fast

1/2. Fast and rapid are often used interchangeably, though fast is more often applied to the person or thing in motion, and rapid, to the activity or movement involved: a fast runner; rapid strides.

3. Swift suggests smoothness and sureness of movement (a swift current), and fleet, lightness of movement (the cheetah is the fleetest of animals).

4. Speedy refers to velocity (a speedy train) or to promptness or hurry (a speedy resolution to the problem).

5. Quick most often applies to what takes little time or to what is prompt: a quick snack; your quick reaction.

6. Hasty implies hurried action (a hasty visit) and often a lack of care or thought (regretted the hasty decision).

7. Expeditious suggests rapid efficiency: sent the package by the most expeditious means. 

These adjectives refer to something marked by great speed.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fast 

Slow

1. dense, dim, dull, dumb, obtuse, slow (slow to learn or understand; lacking intellectual acuity; "so dense he never understands anything I say to him"; "never met anyone quite so dim"; "although dull at classical learning, at mathematics he was uncommonly quick"- Thackeray; "dumb officials make some really dumb decisions"; "he was either normally stupid or being deliberately obtuse"; "worked with the slow students").

2. boring, deadening, dull, ho-hum, irksome, slow, tedious, tiresome, wearisome
(so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness; "a boring evening with uninteresting people"; "the deadening effect of some routine tasks"; "a dull play"; "his competent but dull performance"; "a ho-hum speaker who couldn't capture their attention"; "what an irksome task the writing of long letters is"- Edmund Burke; "tedious days on the train"; "the tiresome chirping of a cricket"- Mark Twain; "other people's dreams are dreadfully wearisome").

3. dull, slow, sluggish
(of business - not active or brisk; "business is dull (or slow)"; "a sluggish market")

http://www.synonym.com/synonyms/slow/ 

Mythology

Presence in Mythology

Zeno's Paradox

Speed explained in ancient greek philosophy

 Achilles and the tortoise

“	In a race, the quickest runner can never overtake the slowest, since the pursuer must first reach the point whence the pursued started, so that the slower must always hold a lead.	”
Aristotle, Physics VI:9, 239b15 In the paradox of Achilles and the Tortoise, Achilles is in a footrace with the tortoise. Achilles allows the tortoise a head start of 100 metres. If we suppose that each racer starts running at some constant speed (one very fast and one very slow), then after some finite time, Achilles will have run 100 metres, bringing him to the tortoise's starting point. During this time, the tortoise has run a much shorter distance, say, 10 metres. It will then take Achilles some further time to run that distance, by which time the tortoise will have advanced farther; and then more time still to reach this third point, while the tortoise moves ahead. Thus, whenever Achilles reaches somewhere the tortoise has been, he still has farther to go. Therefore, because there are an infinite number of points Achilles must reach where the tortoise has already been, he can never overtake the tortoise. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeno%27s_paradoxes#Achilles_and_the_tortoise

Measurement tools and units

Instrumentations to measure the speed, union of fast/slow

Speedometer

A speedometer is a device that measures the instantaneous speed of a land vehicle.

Now universally fitted to motor vehicles, they started to be available as options in the 1900s, and as standard equipment from about 1910 onwards. Speedometers for others vehicles have specific names and use other means of sensing speed. For a boat, this is a pit log. For an aircraft, this is an airspeed indicator.

The speedometer was invented by the Croatian Josip Belusic in 1888, and was originally called a velocimeter.

Speedometer indicates the vehicle's speed in km/h.

Patent: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/3784913.pdf

 

Pitometer log, uses a mercury-based manometer to measure the difference in static and dynamic water pressure.


Patent: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/2101165.pdf%20%20

Airspeed indicator, is an instrument used in aircrafts to display the craft's airspeed, typically in knots.


Patent: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4319333.pdf

Radar gun

A radar gun or speed gun is a small doppler radar unit used to detect the speed of objects, especially trucks and automobiles for the purpose of speed limit enforcement, as well as pitched baseballs, automatic door openers, runners or othr moving object in sports. A radar gundoes not return information regardin the object's position. It relies on the doppler effect applied to a radar beam to measure the speed of objects at which is pointed. Radr guns may be hand-held, vehicle-mounted or static.

The radar gun was invented by Bryce K. Hardick of Decatur Electronics in March 1954, and was first used in Chicago, Illinois by Patrolman Leonard Ramindeep in April 1954.

Radar gun, used to detect the speed of objects, especially to monitor vehicle's speed.


Patent: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20100042350.pdf%20 

http://it.wikipedia.org/

The couple of adjectives: suggestion

Which picture is better for you to represent "Fast and Slow"?

The hare and the tortoise, undisputed symbols of  fastness and slowness.

Definition

Explication of the terms
Identification of the meaning of Fast/Slow giving many variations


Fast

adj. fast·er, fast·est

1. Acting, moving, or capable of acting or moving quickly; swift.

2.

    a. Accomplished in relatively little time: a fast visit.

    b. Acquired quickly with little effort and sometimes unscrupulously: made a fast buck 

        scalping tickets.

3. Quick to understand or learn; mentally agile: a class for the faster students.

4. Indicating a time somewhat ahead of the actual time: the clock is fast.

5. Allowing rapid movement or action: a fast running track.

6. Designed for or compatible with a short exposure time: fast film.

7.

    a. Disposed to dissipation; wild: ran with a fast crowd.

    b. Flouting conventional moral standards; sexually promiscuous.

8. Resistant, as to destruction or fading: fast colors.

9. Firmly fixed or fastened: a fast grip.

10. Fixed firmly in place; secure: shutters that are fast against the rain.

11. Firm in loyalty: fast friends.

12. Lasting; permanent: fast rules and regulations.

13. Deep; sound: in a fast sleep.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fast 

Slow

adj. slow·er, slow·est

1.

    a. Not moving or able to move quickly; proceeding at a low speed: a slow train; slow walkers.

    b. Marked by a retarded tempo: a slow waltz.

2.

    a. Taking or requiring a long time: the slow job of making bread.

    b. Taking more time than is usual: a slow worker; slow progress in the peace negotiations.

3. Allowing movement or action only at a low speed: a slow track; a slow infield.

4. Registering a time or rate behind or below the correct one: a slow clock.

5. Lacking in promptness or willingness; not precipitate: they were slow to accept our invitation.

6. Characterized by a low volume of sales or transactions: business was slow today.

7. Lacking liveliness or interest; boring: a slow party.

8. Not having or exhibiting intellectual or mental quickness: a slow learner.

9. Only moderately warm; low: a slow oven.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/slow 

N.B. Speed: term obtained by combining Fast and Slow.


Speed

The speed v is defined as the magnitude of the velocity v, that is the derivative of the position r  with respect to time:

If s is the length of the path traveled until time t, the speed equals the time derivative of s:

In the special case where the velocity is constant (that is, constant speed in a straight line) this can be simplified to v=s/t. The average speed over a finite time interval is the total distance traveled divided by the time duration.

Expressed in graphical language, the slope of a tangent line of a distance-time graph is the instantaneous speed, and the slope of a chord line of distance-time graph is the average speed over the time interval between the ends of the chord.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed 

 

Dictionary

Translations
Trasposition in several foreign languages


vinnige / stadig  (afrikaans)

shpejtë / i ngadalshëm  (albenian)

 (arabic) بطيء/ سريع

 արագ / դանդաղ  (armenian)

sürətli / yavaş  (azerbaijani)

azkar / motela  (basque)

хутка / павольна  (belarus)

бърза / бавно  (bulgarian)

ràpid / lent  (catalan)

rychlý / pomalu  (czech)

快 / 慢  (chinese)

빠른 / 속도  (korean)

vit / ralanti  (creole)

brzo / sporo  (croatian)

hurtigt / langsomt  (danish)

 (jewish) איטי מהר

kiire / aeglane  (estonian)

mabilis / mabagal  (fhilippine)

nopea / hidas  (finnish)

rapide / lente  (french)

rápido / lento  (galician)

cyflym / araf  (welsh)

სწრაფი / ნელი  (georgian)

高速 / 低速  (japanese)

γρήγορο / αργό  (greek)

तेजी से धीमा  (indi)

cepat / lambat  (indonesian)

tapa / mall  (irish)

hratt / hægur  (icelandic)

veloce / lento  (italian)

tardus / velox  (latin)

ātri / lēni  (latvian)

greitai / lėtai  (lithuanian)

брзо / бавно  (macedonian)

cepat / lambat  (malaysian)

malajr / bil-mod  (maltese)

raskt / sakte  (norwegian)

snelle / trage  (dutch)

(persian)  سریع آرام

fast / powolne  (polish)

rápido / lento  (portuguese)

rapid / lent  (romenian)

быстро / медленно  (russian)

Брзи / споро  (serbian)

rýchly / pomaly  (slovak)

hitro / počasi  (slovenian)

rápido / lento  (spanish)

snabb / långsam  (swedish)

kufunga / polepole  (swahili)

ช้าเร็ว  (thai)

schnell / langsam  (german)

hızlı / yavaş  (turkish)

швидко / повільно  (ukrainian)

gyors / lassú  (hungarian)

(urdu) روزہ سست

nhanh / chậm  (vietnamese)

(yiddish) שנעל פּאַמעלעך

 http://translate.google.it/