I joined the Slow Food movement last year after reading a number of great articles about them. In essence they stand for all the things that Spy does - good food, individually prepared, local produce, family eating together, etc, etc - but I have to say that I am not sure I can face stumping up for the membership again.

You see, the one thing that got me when reading through their lavish "National Geographic" style quarterly magazine, was how unbearably pompous they all were. And yes, of course I would like to source my chillis direct from growers in Arizona, eat seasonal fruit and veg, drink only musty home steam brewed beers, but I have a life too.

And I suppose in amidst all of that we need to strike a balance. It really is alright to buy one of those packs of salad leaves from the supermarket, it is okay to buy budget beans (times are hard), but the balance is that, where and when you can its good to have that really good piece of beef from the butcher, get fresh warm bread from the local baker and get a couple of pieces of fish from the fish delivery van. Not that there's many of them anymore.

More on Slow Food at www.slowfood.com