Mary Stanley

Pastry Chef, The Turtle Restaurant

Mary Stanley, co-owner and gelato / pastry chef of The Turtle Restaurant and Gelateria in Brownwood, encourages diners to slow down and enjoy the tradition and culture of eating fresh, locally grown foods.

The Slow Food Movement was started in Italy. It is a "nonprofit, eco-gastronomic member-supported organization that was founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life. The concern was 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. To foster a reconnection, the Slow Food Movement brings together pleasure and responsibility, and makes them inseparable.

Today, Slow Food has more than 100,000 members in 132 countries." I have been a member for six years. The philosophy believes that everyone has a fundamental right to pleasure and, consequently, the responsibility to protect the heritage of food and the tradition and culture that make this pleasure possible. The movement is founded upon this concept of eco-gastronomy - recognition of the strong connections between plate and planet.

I am against utility eating. Eating should be pleasurable and a communal endeavor. We do not have a TV in the restaurant or wine bar. We want patrons to pay attention to the food, the wine and their friends. I find it offensive to eat while watching the images one normally sees on TV.

We do not rush people in and out. We make our breads and our sauces from scratch so they are unique to us and fresh, and so we have control over what goes into them. "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."