Hello and welcome to this episode of the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World

Service with me, Matt Pintas. Today, when Rome tried to say no to MacDonald's.

In 1986, the American fast food chain opened its first restaurant in the heart of the Italian

capital, a move that was so offensive to the authentic food-loving natives that thousands

of them took to the streets to protest. This is the story of how the introduction of fast

food in Italy inadvertently brought about the creation of a worldwide slow food revolution.

So sit back, we're going to take our time on this one, and I'm going to tell you all about

how the slow food movement was born.

It's the 20th of April 1986, a crowd is forming in the picturesque Piazza di Spagna in Rome.

They're angry. Angry about the city's new and wanted American guest.

The news is coming soon.

It is one of the most beautiful squares in Italy. It has its own harmony and just thinking

aesthetically that inside this square there could be a big M that would call people to the

McDonald's restaurants. It would just be a punch in the stomach.

That's food journalist Carlo Petrini. He remembers the protest well. He hated the idea of McDonald's

and thousands of people like him came together to protest the opening of the first fast food

restaurant in the country. They had signs saying, we don't want fast food, we want slow food.

The reaction in Rome was so fast and strong, but to reduce our food to just energy,

like we are the machines that just need petrol. It's so wrong. Food is much more than just energy

for life. Food is a moment of sharing, an act of love. It's being part of society. It's so much

more than just providing energy. But here's the thing. Carlo wasn't actually there in Rome that day.

Carlo was reading about the protests from his home in Pia Monte in the northwest of Italy, 700

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