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Slow Food Founder Carlo Petrini Dies at 76

5/23/2026

Summary

Carlo Petrini Dies

Carlo Petrini, Slow Food founder, died at 76 on May 22, 2026, in Bra, Piedmont.
He had prostate cancer and stepped down as Slow Food president in 2022 for health reasons.
He launched Slow Food in 1986 after protesting a McDonald’s opening in Rome, expanded it to over 160 countries, co-founded the University of Gastronomic Sciences, and addressed UN climate summits on sustainable food.

Summary

Slow Food Safeguards

The Ark of Taste, launched in 1996, catalogs thousands of endangered heirloom foods worldwide.
Eco-gastronomy, coined by Petrini, links culinary pleasure to environmental responsibility as a Slow Food principle.
The Presidia project assists small producers, helping cheesemakers, grain growers and artisanal fishermen sustain livelihoods.
Since 2004, Terra Madre gatherings in Turin have convened thousands of farmers, fishers, chefs and researchers from over 150 countries.

Summary

Petrini Honored

The UN Environment Programme named Petrini co-winner of the 2013 Champion of the Earth award in the ‘Inspiration and Action’ category.
After becoming a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Special Ambassador for the Zero Hunger Programme in Europe in 2016, he joined the 2019 Vatican Synod on the Amazon at Pope Francis’s invitation.
He wrote the preface to the Edizioni San Paolo edition of Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Sì, the first lay-authored introduction.

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Carlo Petrini Dies

Carlo Petrini, Slow Food founder, died at 76 on May 22, 2026, in Bra, Piedmont.
He had prostate cancer and stepped down as Slow Food president in 2022 for health reasons.
He launched Slow Food in 1986 after protesting a McDonald’s opening in Rome, expanded it to over 160 countries, co-founded the University of Gastronomic Sciences, and addressed UN climate summits on sustainable food.

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