He Protested a McDonald's, Launched a Food Movement

Carlo Petrini, who turned a protest against a Rome McDonald's into a worldwide rethink of how we eat, has died at 76. The Slow Food organization said he passed away on Thursday in his hometown of Bra in northern Italy, per Reuters. No cause of death was given, though Petrini had previously disclosed a prostate cancer diagnosis. "He brought to life a global movement rooted in the values of good, clean, and fair food for all," the group said.

Launched in 1986, Slow Food grew from a small Italian circle into a network spanning more than 160 countries, pushing back against industrialized food with an emphasis on quality, sustainability, and fair pay for producers. Petrini, known as "Carlin," treated food as cultural, social, and political matters, championing small farmers, traditional methods, and biodiversity. He also founded the University of Gastronomic Sciences, created the Ark of Taste catalog of at-risk foods, and launched Terra Madre, a global gathering of food communities.

Petrini, who counted King Charles III and Pope Francis among his friends, once joked that without McDonald's, "there would be no Slow Food." The phrase that epitomized his life, per a Slow Food release: "Those who sow utopia reap reality." Italian President Sergio Mattarella said Petrini's death leaves a "huge void" in Italy and beyond. In a statement cited by the AP, the Slow Food organization called Petrini "a visionary leader and a public intellectual with a profound commitment to the common good, human relationships, and the natural world." Check out a full biography here.