Lynne Irons stood in the kitchen, plate in hand and eyes wide. It was dinner time on Lambert’s Cove Road, but the Vineyard Haven gardener stood still, starstruck by the bowls heaped high with root vegetables, the pots of various sizes simmering on the stove and, the crowning glory, the roast pig nestled by backyard potatoes and sprigs upon sprigs of rosemary. Ms. Irons’s was the hand that slaughtered it.

People who merely have heard about Slow Food — the “eco-gastronomic” movement aimed at counteracting the effects of fast food on American diet, farming and lifestyle — might associate it with the rarified, elite world of famous chefs, expensive foods and politically correct eating that tends to be too dear for regular folk.

Terra Madre Day is here today. Are you ready? And do you even know what it is?

Well, it’s a global mother earth celebration created by the slow food movement. This year’s focus is on the thousand days initiative that aims to develop community and school food gardens across Africa.

Here on the Island the day is being celebrated with a slow food potluck tonight from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Chilmark Community Center. The event is a gastronomical coming together as well as a benefit. All proceeds go to the Thousand Days initiative.

Mermaid Farm meatballs, stuffed scallops with garlic, local beef pot roast, fresh vegetable lasagna, Morning Glory Farm corn and tomato salad, roasted beets, berry crisp, apple pie. Those were just a few of the mouthwatering dishes that filled the tables of the sixth annual Slow Food Martha’s Vineyard potluck dinner Tuesday night.

The Slow Food movement and Martha’s Vineyard have a lot in common, and not just in our delight in eating locally grown plants and animals.

In the 1970s McDonald’s set its sights on the Island, targeting an area along the Vineyard Haven harbor. But the people said no. A grass roots campaign sent fast food packing.

Similarly, in Italy in 1986 the voracious appetite of McDonald’s spurred another movement that harkened back to a simpler and healthier time.

Slow Food Martha’s Vineyard is combining its philosophy with the ancient traditions of the Aquinnah Wampanoag Indian Tribe with a celebratory harvest dinner beginning at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 22, at the Chilmark Community Center. Traditional native Wampanoag dishes including journey cakes with cranberries, venison stew, and sea bass with sage stuffing will be served. Corn meal from the Sandwich Grist Mill will be used for the authentic journey cakes to be cooked in Juli Vanderhoop’s clay oven.

Slow Food Martha’s Vineyard and the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival present a January Film and Feast at the Chilmark Community Center on Saturday, Jan. 8.