Comments on: Slow Food Needs Reality Check, Not Makeover

by: Just in from The Grist… Slow Food USA’s Future | Slow Food Buffalo

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 19:25:30 +0000

[…] He also vowed that Slow Food USA would work to avoid doing something it has been accused of doing in the past: suck the air out the sustainable-food movement by hoarding resources and media attention at the expense of social-justice activists. […]

by: verucaamish

Thu, 18 Sep 2008 21:52:08 +0000

Lucy, I think the answer to your question is more Questions for Slow Food to answer for itself. Those include:

1. What practices and structures are in place that make your work inaccessible?
2. Who is at the table when decisions are made and how much power do they have to affect decisions?

The answer to your question is in the post - be an ally to groups who are run by and serve underrepresented communities. This means using your voices and resources to support their work. One real example of this is the folks at the Restaurant Opportunities Coalition in New York spoke during Changemakers Day, but it wasn’t highlighted anywhere. You should have to dig deep to find workshops with people who are doing social justice work. It should be front and center. yes, the $65 price tag for the pavilions screams exclusionary and the decision to put that price tag should have been made with underrepresented people not just in the room but with the power to say “Hell no” and have that stick.

Here’s the thing, if you want to be a society for people who can afford $100 artisanal cheese, that’s fine. You’re doing a lot to support producers and traditional foodways. But if you are talking about making dramatic change, then the change starts with your own organization.

by: Lucy Norris

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:57:17 +0000

As a leader of the Slow Food Seattle chapter, I attended the Food Justice panel at Changemakers Day last Friday and wanted to let you know that I appreciated your remarks. I left SFO with many questions regarding our organization’s limitations and our grand mission- locally and nation-wide.

Slow Food USA seeks to create dramatic and lasting change in the food system. We reconnect Americans with the people, traditions, plants, animals, fertile soils and waters that produce our food. We seek to inspire a transformation in food policy, production practices and market forces so that they ensure equity, sustainability and pleasure in the food we eat.

That’s a tall order. How do we –as a slow food nation– make an impact - be true to our mission without silencing others in the process? I have a lot to learn, and I am sure many more questions will emerge in the process. Thanks again for your perspective and look forward to future posts.

by: Wolfram Alderson

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 00:22:24 +0000

Thanks for this commentary. I have been walking around irritated for the last few days, trying to find the right words to convey what has been upsetting me about the Slow Food Nation event. The work of Collective Roots is based in East Palo Alto where people don’t have a lot of patience for gourmet food experts telling them to slow down to eat. Rent control is under attack here, we have the highest density households in the Bay Area, the highest unemployment in San Mateo County, and no major grocery store has been located here for decades. We just started a farmers’ market, but face the challenge that wealthy communities have driven up prices at farmers’ markets so high that farmers selling their produce directly to consumers is no longer a bargain–rather, one must pay a premium for fresh food from the farm. How can we slow down when we are running as fast as we can to survive? There are two McDonalds a mile apart in EPA, but if you need to visit a grocery store, you need to travel 5 miles outside of the community. Honestly, I don’t think we will get much healthy or affordable food and justice until we start the “Real Food Nation” or “Affordable Food Nation”. I applaud your critique here, but don’t have much hope in food justice trickling down from the Slow Food Nation movement…it will need to come up from the grass roots. I believe we can start by bringing together some of the food justice groups in Bay Area. We are past due for this next phase of the movement.

by: Tana

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:57:14 +0000

Thanks, Brahm: I am working on my own post about why I will not be attending Slow Food Nation, and I am going to link to your piece and quote you. So clear and so succinct.

Thank you again,
Tana Butler

by: Rebecca T. of HonestMeat

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:39:21 +0000

If Slow Food wanted to remove the stereotype of elitism for this event, they could have done the following:
1) Make the “Changemakers Day” workshops open to whoever wants to attend and learn. If that means bigger venues, maybe having those workshops around the entire Bay Area instead of just S.F. If you want to broaden a movement, the last thing you want to do is invite who you think is worthy of attending.
2) Make all the events free except for maybe the tours and dinners.
3) Have keynote speakers that are not just older, white men.
4) Focus on California and American food traditions, not imported European food traditions. Why is there not a Traditional Mexican Food taste pavillion or one that focuses on the food of coastal California tribes?

Excellent post Brahm. I completely agree that people of color do not need the organization of Slow Food. They have their own amazing food traditions that should be revered and recognized and passed down to future generations.

by: Allen Gunderson

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 17:46:04 +0000

Well said Brahm. The dynamics definately need to change within the entire environmental and sustainability realm. I think you hit the nail on its head about the power issue. You can’t have a successful movement without inclusivity and a sharing of power. I also think Konstantin makes a very good point about the problems of holding environmental events in SF. While places like Detroit are a good idea, let’s see if we can get them to just cross over to the other side of the Bay first.

BTW, congratulations on the growth of People’s Grocery with your retail store.

by: Lauren

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 18:26:06 +0000

“…to address the perception that Slow Food is elitist and inaccessible to many people.”

Since when is a $65 Tasting Booth “accessible”?
Thanks for speaking out and for becoming a presenter.

I make school gardens in East Oakland and the families are rapidly producing lots of their own slow food.
Agreed! Their organization COULD be assisting these grassroots efforts.

by: Karen Kane

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 04:03:02 +0000

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by: Chia

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 01:12:41 +0000

Brahm
Thanks for this article. I agree with you.
And an fyi, which I hope Konstantin will see also,

https://www.growingfoodandjustice.org/
Growing Food and Justice for All Initiative (GFJI)
First Annual Gathering
September 18-21, 2008