In a world of drive-throughs, mystery meats and super-size fries, some people resist the lure of the quick and easy in their meals. They opt instead to slow down, enjoy their food and form a connection with the place it came from and the people who produced it.

In Chattanooga, this way of approaching food started about eight years ago, just a few years after the Italian-born Slow Food movement hit the United States.

Tricia King, leader of the local chapter of Slow Food USA, said the concept is really catching on and turning up in some of the most unexpected places, with more people wanting to know how their food was produced and where and who made it.

“People are starting to make that connection and say, ‘It’s costing an awful lot of money to transport this food all over the world,’” she said. “All of these things are coming to the surface at the same time, and I think that the energy issues we’re seeing right now have really got people thinking more and more about slowing that down.”

Mrs. King is one of six delegates from Chattanooga who will head to Turin, Italy, in October for Terra Madre, a biannual conference hosted by Slow Food International. The delegates represent facets of the local food community and include a nutritionist from Greenlife Grocery, the manager of Crabtree Farms and a representative from Sequatchie Cove Farms.

The local group is working to help raise money for airfare to send the delegates, who for the most part would not have the opportunity to make such a trip on their own, she said.

The mantra behind Slow Food is “good, clean and fair.” The concept ensures that food is of good quality, was produced in an environmentally sustainable way and produced by people who were treated fairly.

Slow Food Chattanooga started near the end of 2000 as a meeting of friends and has grown to a membership of about 75 people locally, said Tom Montague, founder of Slow Food Chattanooga. Mr. Montague, who serves as a governor of the Southeast region of Slow Food USA, didn’t intend to be this involved, he said. It was an interest in the environment, particularly in a celebration of local areas, he said.

“Food is a wonderful way of experiencing a place and there aren’t enough places around that actively do that,” Mr. Montague said. “There’s so much sameness out there, it’s fun to discover unique pockets.”

The local group was one of the early chapters formed in the United States, he said, and was born out of a desire to preserve the land.

Mr. Montague spent the Labor Day Weekend in San Francisco, where the national organization held its first conference, a four-day event that the New York Times reported was attended by about 60,000 people.

Another Chattanoogan, Niedlov’s Breadworks owner John Sweet, also attended the conference in San Francisco. Forum discusson ranged from the world’s food crisis to preserving traditional food preparation methods such as charcuterie, a type of cooking devoted to prepared meat products such as bacon, ham and sausage.

Similar discussions led Trae Moore to want to learn more about charcuterie and even plan — along with Mr. Montague — to open a shop here making its own sausage, bacon, salami and other meats.

Mr. Moore, a Slow Food Chattanooga member, attended Terra Madre in 2006. Representatives came from more than 140 countries and wore their traditional garb to the conference.

“The world was really gathered there, and that was really powerful — feeling connected in that sense, and then throughout the conference connecting with people from different countries and hearing other people’s stories,” Mr. Moore said.

While there, he listened to the stories of bee harvesters from Africa and nomadic herdsmen from Siberia. The experience, he said, showed him that the Slow Food movement is more than learning about gourmet cheeses and pairing wines with different foods.

“The Slow Food movement is not just about food,” he said.

Instead, people are talking about preserving their identities and traditions. The conversation is less about how good the food tastes and more about knowledge and human identity, he said.

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