'Slowbalisation': Will the slowing global economy be a boon or bane?

Some economists worry the world has passed 'peak globalisation'. But that could be good for the planet

A group of Italians started the Slow Food movement back in the 1980s. Stay away from fast-food restaurants, they urged: eat local, focus on traditional recipes, relax, and enjoy your meal.  

The Slow Food movement began as a protest against McDonald’s, which opened a new franchise near the Spanish Steps in Rome. But it grew into much more than that. Slow Food was a finger in the eye of globalisation and its relentless transformation of culture into uniform McNuggets of experience from New York and New South Wales to Dakar and Dhaka.

Since that call to culinary arms, the movement has spread