Slow Food Singapore -- How to enjoy a 4-hour meal with gusto

How long do you take to finish a meal? Ten, twenty minutes? Maybe an hour if you're lingering over a nice meal? The members of the Slow Food Convivium Society of Singapore (SFCSS) take at least four hours to complete their meals, and they want to bring back the days of old when a good meal was a social affair with good company and great food. The Society's small -- there's only 70-plus members to date -- but this is a devoted movement, with regular gatherings in restaurants "where there are a superb blending of cuisines and wines, is also to have a great ambiance where members and guests are able to have fantastic conviviality" according to the SFCSS manifesto.

But what's Slow Food? In a nutshell, the slow food movement is the opposite of fast food. It was founded by Carlo Petrini in Italy as an initiative to preserve local, cultural cuisine, and fight the rampant growth of unhealthy fast food. It wants nothing more than to teach people to appreciate the taste, presentation, and preparation of food and drink, while taking time to enjoy life with family and friends.

The SFCSS has been kicking around for quite some time now, having been registered in late 1999. It's cheeky, but founding chairman Jen Shek Voon's opening remarks at the inaugural dinner at Ristorante Bologna in the Marina Mandarin hotel had a ring of truth about it -- "without any sexual intercourse, there is no life, and without convivial intercourse, there is no fun in life!"

In Singapore, the Slow Food chapter meets every last Saturday of the month for lunch, which typically begins at 12.30pm, and can end as late as 5 or 6pm. Now that's what we call linger over lunch! What's more interesting is that not all lunches are held in fine-dining establishments -- the focus is on creating the dining experience and jovial atmosphere, so SFCSS can be held almost anywhere. However, the food's always good and the company's thrown in for free.

While other Slow Food chapters around the world focus a lot more on eating locally sourced and seasonal ingredients, Singapore has little or no agricultural or aqua-culture to speak of, so the emphasis is more on the whole dining experience and appreciation. Given the country's reputation for being a foodie haven, it's even more important for "Singaporeans to truly love to eat their food," says Jen.

The lunches are priced around S$120-140, and for members, there's an annual subscription fee of S$120 per year, most of which goes to the International Office in Italy. However, membership does have its privileges, as it includes a magazine subscription for Slow, the official publication which comes out 4 times a year.

There are no real secrets to surviving a 4-5 hour meal -- clear your schedule for the day, have a light breakfast so you don't gorge later, and prepare lots of conversation topics to keep that chit-chat lively. it's not just about filling your stomach but savoring the experience. The idea of a super-long meal might seem pointless to some, but once you get into the rhythm, the hours fly by quickly. Most importantly, you need to have to consciously slow down and learn to appreciate a slower pace of life.

Now for the burning question -- if lunch ends at 5pm, when's dinner and how long does that last?

For more details, head down to the SFCSS website at www.slowfood.org.sg.