New Delhi, May 24 -- Carlo Petrini, the founder of the Slow Food global grassroots movement promoting sustainable food production and local, traditional cuisine, died Friday at the age of 76 in his hometown in Italy's northwestern Piedmont region, the organization announced.

Slow Food called him "a visionary leader and a public intellectual with a profound commitment to the common good, human relationships and the natural world."

Slow Food, initially called Arcigola, grew out of opposition to the arrival of fast food in Italy, with a 1986 protest on the steps of the newly opened McDonald's at Rome's Spanish Steps announcing their mission.

Petrini was elected president on Dec. 9, 1989, in Paris, when more than 20 delegations from around...