Slow Food and the Social Economy & Environment

Class Agenda 1.  Presentations & video 2. Social Economy - Slow Food

has been considered an example of one of the largest Social Economy experiments globally – what do you think?

•  Exercise: CED & scale, sustainable livelihoods , etc

3. The apple & environment 4. Agriculture and Farm Plans

The story is now iconic…. To protest fast food --

the celebration of slow food….. Italian Journalist Carlo Petrini was so incensed in 1986 when a McDonald's outlet opened next to the Spanish Steps in Rome, an "epicurean revolt” was launched.

The problem: Fast Food •  Corporate food •  Capitalist Food •  Processed Food •  Cheap Labour Food •  Kid Food •  Salty, sweet Food •  Chemical Food •  Unhealthy food

“Fast Food Nation has lifted the polystyrene lid on the global fast food industry … it could even change the way we eat” Observer.

The Solution: Slow Food Manifesto

The Slow Food international movement officially began when delegates from 15 countries endorsed this manifesto, written by founding member Folco Portinari, on November 9, 1989. Our century, which began and has developed under the insignia of industrial civilization, first invented the machine and then took it as its life model.We are enslaved by speed and have all succumbed to the same insidious virus: Fast Life, which disrupts our habits, pervades the privacy of our homes and forces us to eat Fast Foods. To be worthy of the name, Homo Sapiens should rid himself of speed before it reduces him to a species in danger of extinction. A firm defense of quiet material pleasure is the only way to oppose the universal folly of Fast Life. May suitable doses of guaranteed sensual pleasure and slow, long-lasting enjoyment preserve us from the contagion of the multitude who mistake frenzy for efficiency. Our defense should begin at the table with Slow Food. Let us rediscover the flavors and savors of regional cooking and banish the degrading effects of Fast Food. In the name of productivity, Fast Life has changed our way of being and threatens our environment and our landscapes. So Slow Food is now the only truly progressive answer. That is what real culture is all about: developing taste rather than demeaning it. And what better way to set about this than an international exchange of experiences, knowledge, projects? Slow Food guarantees a better future.

Slow Food is an idea that needs plenty of qualified supporters who can help turn this

(slow) motion into an international movement, with the little snail as its symbol.

Slow Food Movement “A tantalizing mix of politics, environmentalism and the pursuit of pleasure.” -CBC

Slow Food Principles •  the product tastes good; •  the product is produced in a clean way that

is sustainable and does not harm the environment, animal welfare or human health;

•  producers receive fair compensation, no discrimination of any kind is practiced in the community and there is no exploitation of minors.

Slow Food Canada— http://www.slowfood.ca/slow-canada/ 18

Convivium in Canada

Carlo Petrini: in the Independent 10 December 2006

•  "These chefs should get out of their golden cages, let loose their media chains," he says. "They have to become more a part of society. They should cook for a village, teach children, feed old people in [care] homes, prepare food in hospitals. The cook is a social being. ….

•  The network of small local economies is stronger than the multinationals because it has its feet in the soil," he says. "The global market economy is destroying the Earth. We give more strength to local economies and we have better sustainability, better human relations and no need to fly food halfway around the world."

What would happen if Chefs participated in schools and transferred knowledge to kids. If private sector chef became social economy cooks?

Vanadana Shiva-- the Manifesto on the future of Seeds

•  “Every year in my country 120,000 farmers, indebted to Monsanto and other agricultural holdings, commit suicide. No one cares, because profit has become more important than human life. Agriculture lacks free distribution of seeds.

•  There is fear of small, decentralized producers, who are being destroyed by absurd regulations.

•  Terra Madre is a tool for escaping from these food prisons, through valuing biodiversity and respecting all countries; and here begins the agricultural revolution, without hybrids, that will respect nature and labor.”

Slow Fish -- a movement to save the fisheries

http://www.slowfood.com/slowfish/

Avoid endangered species such as bluefin tuna, Atlantic salmon, tropical shrimps, swordfish, etc. Choose a local fish, i.e. caught in seas or rivers near to you. Ensure the fish are of the minimum size necessary to reproduce (there are fish such as Orange Roughy which only

reach the age of reproduction at 20 years!)

Can Slow Food be a voice of global hunger?

•  War •  Poverty •  Drought •  Mismanagement of

Soil •  Trade •  Lack of Sustainable

Agriculture •  Putting Food Last

Global Hunger 1.1 billion go to sleep hungry due to:

Should Slow Food become the voice of the global crises of unhealthy food?

1.1 billion go to sleep malnourished from too much food

Red Fife wheat, Canada's first Presidium, •  Canada's first Presidium, seeks to bring

Red Fife wheat back into commercial circulation for use in artisan bread baking.

•  Red Fife wheat is a heritage wheat of notable flavour, the foundation of the entire Canadian wheat industry, and the genetic parent to virtually all bread wheat grown in North America today. Its near-extinction made it a successful nominee to Canada’s Slow Food Ark of Taste in 2003.

•  The Presidium has petitioned the Canadian Wheat Board for legal recognition of the variety, a campaign that could lead to more widespread cultivation of Red Fife Wheat in the

Canadian Prairies.

•  .

Focus on Food

Field To Table Catering

FoodLink Hotline The Good Food Box

Urban Agriculture

Community Gardens

Student Nutrition

Toronto Kitchen Incubator

FoodShare’s Festival

FoodShare’s Programs

Healthy Babies Eat Home Cooked Food

FoodShare buys food directly from farmers and sells it at affordable, wholesale prices through 120 community drop offs

Photocredit: http://www.foodshare.net/

Focus on Food

Field To Table Catering

FoodLink Hotline

The Good Food Box Urban Agriculture

Community Gardens

Student Nutrition

Toronto Kitchen Incubator

FoodShare’s Field To Table Festival & Campaign

FoodShare’s Programs

Healthy Babies Eat Home Cooked Food

• Since 1992 FoodShare has sold produce at wholesale prices to schools; • In 2007 distributed to over 80 schools weekly. •  In 2010 FoodShare works with Toronto Public Health and other community agencies to sponsor the Toronto Partners for Student Nutrition, which supports over 300 student nutrition programs in Toronto, as well as helping new programs to start up

• Photocredit: http://www.foodshare.net.

Successful Salad Bars in action Photocredit: http://www.foodshare.net

Can slow food help us build the social economy?

•  Do slow food businesses have more of a social conscious?

•  Can the social economy movement learn from the multi-class food movement that seems to unite politics and profit?

Photocredit: http://www.foodshare.net

…and farmer’s markets also enhanced farmer’s market share …

The social economy The social economy is a grass-roots

entrepreneurial, not-for-profit sector, based on democratic values that seeks to enhance the

social, economic, and environmental conditions of communities, often with a focus on their

disadvantaged members.

What could happen for the goals of the food movement as Slow Food Canada increasingly takes on these goals and works with the social

economy to build these goals?