FRIDAY, JAN 27, 2023: NOTE TO FILE
Module 3-27
Slow food movement
5.8. Slow Food Movement and Agri-Tourism
The Slow Food movement had a humble beginning in 1986 as a protest action against a global food player (McDonalds) in a popular tourist destination (Piazza di Spagna, Rome). Opposed to the “fast food” concept, the Slow Food protest instead preserved the local Italian cuisine of quality, taste and experience. This protest action soon grew into a worldwide movement which supports local- farmers, agri-business, small markets, restaurateurs, etc. An important principle of Slow Food is to reduce the “food miles” from “farm to fork”, thereby reducing the ecological footprint of Slow Food. Although not strictly defined, the criteria for Slow Food is the sourcing of food within 30 miles or 50 kms from source but double this distance has also been deemed acceptable given specific geographical considerations. The Slow Food movement is therefore an important contributor to the local circular economy.
The Slow Food philosophy is based on a concept of food that is defined by three interconnected principles, as described in the Slow Food Manifesto below.
Good, Clean and Fair: the Slow Food Manifesto for Quality
The food production and consumption systems most common today are harmful to the earth, to its ecosystems and to the peoples that inhabit it.
Taste, biodiversity, the health of humans and animals, well-being and nature are coming under continuous attack. This jeopardizes the very urge to eat and produce food as gastronomes and exercise the right to pleasure without harming the existence of others or the environmental equilibria of the planet we live on.
If, as the farmer poet Wendell Berry says, “it follows that producing food must be considered a “gastronomic act".
The orients the market and production with his or her choices and, growing aware of these processes, he or she assumes a new role. Consumption becomes part of the productive act and the consumer thus becomes a co-producer.
The plays a key role in this process, working to achieve quality, making his or her experience available and welcoming the knowledge and knowhow of others.
The effort must be a common one and must be made in the same aware, shared and interdisciplinary spirit as the science of gastronomy.
Each of us is called upon to practice and disseminate a new, more precise and, at the same time, broader concept of food quality based on three basic, interconnected prerequisites. Quality food must be:
1) . A food’s flavour and aroma, recognizable to educated, well-trained senses, is the fruit of the competence of the producer and of choice of raw materials and production methods, which should in no way alter its naturalness.
2) . The environment has to be respected and sustainable practices of farming, animal husbandry, processing, marketing and consumption should be taken into serious consideration. Every stage in the agro-industrial production chain, consumption included, should protect ecosystems and biodiversity, safeguarding the health of the consumer and the producer.
3) . Social justice should be pursued through the creation of conditions of labour respectful of man and his rights and capable of generating adequate rewards; through the pursuit of balanced global economies; through the practice of sympathy and solidarity; through respect for cultural diversities and traditions.
Good, Clean and Fair is a pledge for a better future. Good, Clean and Fair is an act of civilization and a tool to improve the food system as it is today. Everyone can contribute to Good, Clean and Fair quality through their choices and individual behaviour.
The consumer boom to experience the Slow Food gastronomy, has also promoted the tourist boom for agri-tourism, or “farm-stay” experiences, which are known under various names in many countries around the world, for example, Agriturismo Italy. To acquire planning approval for an agritorismo project in Italy, there are strict planning and operational requirements which uphold the specific traditional characteristics of a region, such as, serving a significant portion of local food grown and/or produced on site, or from the autonomous region, anywhere up to 60%, depending on the regional regulations.
Like the Slow Food movement, people have become more interested in how their food is produced and want to meet farmers and agri-value adding producers in order to talk to them about what goes into food production. This has also led to the rediscovery of traditional artisanal trades in food production and rural craftwork, in other words, a rekindling of cultural landscapes. Agri-Tourism offers various activities, such as:
· Farmgate-to-consumer sales (eg. farmstalls, veggie-box pick-ups, seed exchanges, seedlings sales).
· Education and cultural awareness (eg. school visits to a farm, animal touch farms, various training courses and internships (sustainable agriculture, cooking classes, craftwork, hospitality training), and WWOOFing experiences).
· Hospitality (eg. overnight farm stays, AirBnB).
· Recreation (eg. hunting, horseback treks, sporting activities, pilgrimage stopovers).
· Entertainment (eg. Slow Food restaurant, seasonal events, harvest festivals and custom events).
Farmers use the above activities to attract tourism traffic to their farm, thereby establishing fully fledged agri-tourism facilities, which are often promoted by the local municipality or local tourism agency. In turn, these agri-tourism facilities, as well as, certified organic farms, ecovillages, local farmers’ markets, slow food restaurants, etc., all contribute towards creating the essential stepping stones towards the next level of sustainable regional development, as in a BioDistrict.
Module 3, lesson 28
