Ever since 1978, when he burst onto the international scene with the magnificent Tree of Wooden Clogs, Ermanno Olmi has been known as the enraptured cinematic poet of peasant life — life lived close to, and in harmony with, the earth. In this new documentary centred on the international Slow Food movement, which began in Italy, Olmi shows that he has lost none of his passion or poetry.

The film is loosely structured around two gigantic events hosted by the Slow Food movement in 2006 and 2008. Most of the first half of the film covers the various speeches and local ethnic performances given during the two events. The second part of the film is the strongest. Here, after having established the economic and political context of food, Olmi leaves behind all dialogue in a lengthy and gorgeous paean to the earth and its potential plenty, as he wordlessly follows the days of a peasant from the preparation of the earth to the lusty enjoyment of what he has grown himself.