Friday, October 17, 2008

Critique and Rebuttal on Slow Food Movement

Reported by California's East Bay Express:

Slow Food For All?

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/restaurants/slow_food_for_all_/Content?oid=839944

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm glad another person is trying to get people to become more aware of the movement... You got blogger and I'll cover wordpress.

Check my blog and tell me what you think:

http://theslowfoodmovement.wordpress.com

Take care and keep up the great work

Shane Stephens said...

Melissa,

Great story there as I have the same sentiments on how to get our message across to a broader range of individuals.

I believe the first step is membership and spreading the word the more people you can include in on the idea the better ability you have to make change. With that change especially in the way our supermarkets are run or the types of food products available we can lower the costs for artisnal producers.

I would love to hear some comments from yourself and other members regarding this issue. Also some ideas on how to overcome this problem would be appreciated!

Melissa Althen said...

Speaking as an individual, I grew up on 4 acres of land in Mississippi. My parents planted a garden every spring. I frequented the neighbor's to pick fresh blackberries from the rows of vines growing in their yard. I would take them home and my Mother would make fresh cobbler with them. My Grandparents had a chicken coop in their backyard, and us grandkids had fun hunting for eggs that were sold to neighbors. Our neighborhood met for potlucks several times a year.

These traditions have gotten lost in our fast paced, over worked lifestyle. Our children will not see how food is grown, harvested, and brought to the table unless we teach them.

I am a little surprised that activist groups are speaking out against Slow Food.

Would a sewing guild be criticized for not clothing the homeless? Would a museum curator be chastised because not everyone can afford to hang those pretty pictures in their home?

Food is art. The history of food is just as relevant and worth preserving as any other facet of our culture. The enjoyment of food - slowing down to enjoy good food, community, and tradition - is arguably therapeutic.

Membership is key. Education is key. Helping one another as a community is key. Slow Food to me is far from being picky about which wine or cheese I choose. I wish the author of this article had slowed down long enough to responsibly report what Slow Food really means.

Anonymous said...

Slow Food is first and foremost an organization with culturally conservative or even reactionary goals. It's romantic and backward looking. Sometimes its mission jibes with goals of environmentalists and hunger activists, sometimes not so much. You can't always have your organic, unbleached, stoneground cake and eat it too. Melissa seems to recognize that. But many people--including within the Slow Food organization--don't.

Leslie said...

Meh, I looked into my local convivium and membership starts at $60 per person. At that price, or at any price really the Slow Food movement, at least in Kansas City, is automatically brushing aside exactly the people who are least informed about healthy food options and the most in need. If the Slow Food Movement doesn't want to be about social services, fine. But, there isn't going to be much of a "movement" if it is pricing out the poor. Most people are middle to lower income and aren't going to see the value in paying money for the opportunity to attend events they may or pay not be able to make it to. There needs to be a balance.