Petrini, who began his slow food crusade in the mid-1980s after rallying (unsuccessfully) against the opening of a McDonald's in Rome's Piazza di Spagna, seems noticeably buoyed by the thought of, as he calls its, a "revolution" not just among the producers, but among the "co-producers" (his term for "consumers", a word he detests). Indeed, his far-left heritage is never far from the surface throughout our conversation.