Learning about your organizations has been an extremely interesting and educational experience. Not only have I been able to learn about and “introduce” you to fellow business owners and professionals, this month I’d like you to meet Slow Food, a remarkable non-profit organization with a fascinating mission.

Slow Food is a non-profit, eco- gastronomic association founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and 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’s concept of good, clean and fair food underlies all of its initiatives; including catalogues of products in danger of extinction, projects that offer direct support to small-scale producers, and international events like Salone del Gusto that bring outstanding foods to discerning consumers.

From the original manifesto: We are enslaved by speed and have all succumbed to the same insidious virus: Fast Life, which disrupts our habits, pervades the privacy of our homes and forces us to eat Fast Foods. To be worthy of the name, Homo Sapiens should rid himself of speed before it reduces him to a species in danger of extinction.

You know, the more I learn about the world, the more I know all things are possible with vision, action and community. ---and the more there is to learn. Slow Food is headquartered in Italy and there are over 850 chapters with 80,000 members around the world.

Interest - a feeling of curiosity, concern; a state of desire for something.

• I’m interested in improving my sales close ratio.