The Slow Food Movement

Defined as the opposite of fast food (because everything is binaries and opposition!), slow food is a lifestyle of eating real, wholesome, natural foods, with an emphasis on getting involved in the preparation and production of the food so that when we eat, it is a shared communal experience and something to really enjoy. As you likely are fully aware, this coincides perfectly with my personal philosophy on healthy living*.

I would really love to take part in the Slow Food Movement and be an active participant in promoting this cause. And I think that to some extent I achieve that with my blog. Even so, I would like to become more involved. That is how I began searching “slow food” on the Internet, looking for information.

I discovered Slow Food International and was pumped to join and lend my voice to the cause. But I was stopped in my tracks when I noticed that there is a membership fee. That’s right: to be a part of the Slow Food Movement, you’ve got to pay up. Essentially, Slow Food International is saying that it costs dollars to eat well. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, because all organizations seem to cost something to be able to be a part of it, but one of the main values of Slow Food is that it’s this community of sharing with an emphasis on a familial, unified group!

I love the idea of Slow Food. It is the way that I live my life. But I do not approve of how blatantly middle and upper class the Slow Food Movement continues to be geared towards. That is not right. Slow Food is something that we should all be doing, no matter where we live in the world or what kind of background we have. We all have a right to the access of healthy, pure food. It is wrong that only those of us who can afford luxury are consuming healthy meals and able to learn about the Slow Food way of life.

As a student with bills and classes to pay, I really object. In the Slow Food Companion, it is stated that “Slow Food is a grassroots association open to all, and the diversity of it’s members is one of it’s greatest strengths” (11). If your definition of “diversity” is “white middle-class middle-aged career-driven married men and women with families”, then yes, I believe that this statement is accurate. But unfortunately, that sure isn’t my definition of diversity. It seems to me that in trying to be inclusive, Slow Food has resulted in really ostracizing a large group of people. In their exclusion they have lost one of the principle values which should be fundamental to the notion of slow food: involve everyone so that we can all reap the benefits and lead happier, healthier lives. Is that not the point of so much of what we do?

I was really troubled with the breakdown of the membership fee, too: 30-40% goes toward membership materials, postage etc; 20-30% goes toward local event planning; 15-20% goes toward newsletters and meetings; 10-15% goes toward publications; and 10% goes toward development of projects worldwide.

My opinion is that the development of projects worldwide should be getting about 80% of the membership fee. Ten percent is ridiculously low and quite frankly that’s shameful. With a movement as important as this, I expect to be seeing some real progress. Basically, it looks as though there’s just a membership fee so that it can be an elite program for the privileged.

If you want to learn more about the key concepts of Slow Food, Adrian Peace has written a really fantastic article entitled Barossa Slow The Representation and Rhetoric of Slow Food’s Regional Cooking, which discusses this very issue of the problems inherent to the Slow Food Movement.

I believe very strongly in the Slow Food Movement. However I think that some changes are needed within the organization to accommodate for a wider group of people. We should actively be working towards increased awareness about the problems of fast food and the importance of engaging in a slow food lifestyle. Through the inclusion of everyone and really doing something about cutting back on fast food- particularly the availability of fast food- as well as focusing on how we can restructure our busy lifestyles to incorporate Slow Food, I think that we can move forward to improving the health of people everywhere. We need to address the issues of the expense of healthy foods; we need to address the issues of the amount of time and effort needed to eat healthy in relation to our work schedules. A reorganization of our priorities is required.

What do you think? Is this as serious an issue as I think it is? I will acknowledge that I do not know very much about Slow Food International, nor am I an expert in the Slow Food Movement. Perhaps I have read into it completely wrong- I would love it if someone could help me out by pointing me in the right direction. Does anyone know if a lot more progress has been made with the Slow Food Movement than I think? Am I just making assumptions here? Share any info you’ve got!

*I have been playing around a bit with this site and have recently updated my Challenges page and the My Health Philosophy page. I have also added a new page on the sidebar: Healthy Recommendations! Check it out to see some of my favorite health-related books and products.

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway– you’ve got until Thursday night! Winners to be announced this Friday.