Difference between revisions of "Social food movements"

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The examples of social food movements mentioned above combine aspects of sustainability and justice, with a limited focus on urban contexts. The introduction of a Veggie Thursday in Ghent for example complies with the city’s health policy on lowering meat consumption, as well as with the city’s ambition to become climate-neutral by 2050.<ref>https://stad.gent/ghent-international/city-policy/food-strategy-ghent/thursday-veggie-day</ref> Hence, the campaign is used as a tool to promote vegetarianism, more food awareness and the reduction of one's ecological footprint.
The examples of social food movements mentioned above combine aspects of sustainability and justice, with a limited focus on urban contexts. The introduction of a Veggie Thursday in Ghent for example complies with the city’s health policy on lowering meat consumption, as well as with the city’s ambition to become climate-neutral by 2050.<ref>https://stad.gent/ghent-international/city-policy/food-strategy-ghent/thursday-veggie-day</ref> Hence, the campaign is used as a tool to promote vegetarianism, more food awareness and the reduction of one's ecological footprint.


The Slow Food movement links food to a commitment to a just and sustainable local and global development. People involved in the movement for example save endangered foods, defend gastronomic traditions and indigenous knowledge on food practices, share concerns about biodiversity and strengthen the legitimacy of cultural identities in relation to food. The movement raises awareness, connects people who are passionate about transforming the food system and teach about how to make good, clean and fair choices through food. By doing that Slow Food enables and empowers people to make fair and sustainable food choices. They are dealing with themes like animal welfare, land grabbing, climate change or food waste and build more direct links between consumer and producer.
The Slow Food movement links food to a commitment to a just and sustainable local and global development. People involved in the movement for example save endangered foods, defend gastronomic traditions and indigenous knowledge on food practices, share concerns about biodiversity and strengthen the legitimacy of cultural identities in relation to food. The movement raises awareness, connects people who are passionate about transforming the food system and teach about how to make good, clean and fair choices through food. By doing so Slow Food enables and empowers people to make fair and sustainable food choices. They are dealing with themes like animal welfare, land grabbing, climate change or food waste and build more direct links between consumer and producer.


==Narrative of change==
==Narrative of change==

Revision as of 16:18, 23 July 2019

Social food movements aspire to make food production and consumption more sustainable, strengthen the local food sector, connect people through food and create more awareness about the food we eat but also revive the joy of it. Examples of initiatives that try to tackle unsustainability and injustice through a social food movement are the Slow Food movement and Veggie Thursdays, which are outlined below.

General introduction to approach

With regard to cultural aspects, food movements can trigger the (renewed) acknowledgement of specific food practices and traditions. They can give legitimacy to certain groups to exercise food practices that are part of their cultural identity, connected to the aim of defending the diversity of food heritage around the globe. Food movements might also include aspects of health, such as the wish to improve one’s personal health through a certain diet by eating ‘healthy’, or present a broader movement towards public health. This can be connected to the desire of building a supportive community, managing stress or doing physical exercise. Some social food movements might evolve with the ambition of changing certain habits concerning practices of eating on the individual, organisational or broader community level. Concerning aspects of leisure, the development of certain practices can be part of food movements, such as having fun with cooking, developing new recipes, enjoying the quality and flavour of food, hence developing a new appreciation and awareness of the food we eat.

The development of or participation in a social food movement can also involve environmental aspects. Changing one’s habits, taking up specific food choices or questioning certain food practices can be triggered by the motivation of contributing to an ecologically more sustainable environment (and food system). People might have the aim of fighting uniformity and raising awareness about the variety of animal and plant breeds (biodiversity). Political aspects are part of social food movements in the sense of creating awareness about power asymmetries in the food system, transforming people’s agency in food choices and pointing out the exploitation of people, the environment and animals in the global food system. A variety of actors is involved in food movements, such as citizens, consumers, farmers and local producers, people in the gastronomic sector, but also government officials, municipalities, associations and researchers.

Shapes, sizes and applications

Slow Food

Slow Food is a global grassroots organisation, founded by the Italian journalist Carlo Petrini and a group of activists in Bra (Italy) in 1986. The movement grew with the development of several national branches in Germany, Switzerland, the United States, Japan, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Brazil, Kenya and South Korea. Originally, Slow Food started as a countercultural movement to fast food (such as McDonald’s). The movement builds on a shared vision and common identity. Slow Food is based on the idea of connecting the cultivation of taste with local traditional gastronomy and regional biodiversity, criticising the globalised and delocalised food production and fighting the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions. The Slow Food movement seeks to refresh people’s interest in the food they eat. It is based on the three principles of good (relating to pleasure, quality, flavour and healthiness of food), clean (referring to a production which does not harm the environment) and fair (about accessible prices for consumers and fair conditions and salary for producers).[1] With the introduction of the good, clean and fair model during the celebration of Terra Madre in 2004, the movement gained worldwide popularity. Since its foundation, the movement’s discourse broadened to issues such as global warming, animal welfare, food waste or indigenous rights. The aims, values and activities of the movement have evolved enormously over time and reach from community activities of the local organisations to national organisations and the establishment of an international network. Hence, informally the Slow Food movement might be described as “instrumental branch of a more diffused movement.”[2]

Veggie Thursday

Veggie Thursday is a social movement on vegetarianism. With the idea of introducing a vegetarian day per week in 2009, the city of Ghent and the EVA association (Ethic Vegetarian Alternative) wanted to stimulate citizens to eat less meat and fish and fight climate change.[3] With that Ghent became the first city with an official veggie day. It has been adopted by many actors, including 30 schools in Ghent, established by many cities, such as Hasselt, Malines, Eupen and Sint-Niklaas and Brussels, and supported by several governments around the globe.

Relation to UrbanA themes: Cities, sustainability, and justice

The examples of social food movements mentioned above combine aspects of sustainability and justice, with a limited focus on urban contexts. The introduction of a Veggie Thursday in Ghent for example complies with the city’s health policy on lowering meat consumption, as well as with the city’s ambition to become climate-neutral by 2050.[4] Hence, the campaign is used as a tool to promote vegetarianism, more food awareness and the reduction of one's ecological footprint.

The Slow Food movement links food to a commitment to a just and sustainable local and global development. People involved in the movement for example save endangered foods, defend gastronomic traditions and indigenous knowledge on food practices, share concerns about biodiversity and strengthen the legitimacy of cultural identities in relation to food. The movement raises awareness, connects people who are passionate about transforming the food system and teach about how to make good, clean and fair choices through food. By doing so Slow Food enables and empowers people to make fair and sustainable food choices. They are dealing with themes like animal welfare, land grabbing, climate change or food waste and build more direct links between consumer and producer.

Narrative of change

As a counter movement which “represents an act of rebellion against a civilisation based on the sterile concepts of productivity, quantity and mass consumption, destroying habits, traditions and ways of life, and ultimately the environment”[5], the Slow Food movement calls for rethinking and restructuring ones everyday habits and concrete food life-style. Social food movements, such as Slow Food, address the problematic evolution of the global food system, which includes dynamics of injustice and unsustainability affecting people, the planet and the animals. In the Slow Food movement, such rethinking is triggered and promoted through the creation of a community of like-minded, as well as by critiquing the status quo, but also by presenting alternative ways of thinking and doing. The grassroots movement invites people to imagine a new economic and food system based on new social relations. Initiatives such as Veggie Thursday present a more top-down approach for creating awareness and activating people to change their habits.

Transformative potential

Summary of relevant approaches

Slow Food Convivium Freiburg (SFFR)

The Slow Food Convivium Freiburg (SFFR) was founded in 1997. It presents one of the first local organisations of the movement (so-called convivia) and counted 300 members in 2016. The range of SFFR includes urban and rural areas, with rivers, forests and mountains. It operates on a regional level in the south-west of Baden-Württemberg. The region is well suited for the establishment of the Slow Food activities due to its specific socio-cultural situation and Freiburg’s ‘green’ orientation. The SFFR is particularly interesting concerning this connection between urban and rural. As the convivium operates on a regional level but is located in the city, it seems to connect the people living in the cities with the natural environment surrounding it.

SFFR is active on a very small-scale, involving small events, so-called snail tables, private cooking activities and tastings, education for school kids and adults or donations to the national or international movements. Through its various activities SFFR wants to mirror the broader movement’s philosophy, inspire its members and attract new people. With food production becoming a value in itself, people become more aware about where their food originates from. Members want to improve practices on natural and local nutrition and get access to affordable products.

In one of their projects, called “Junior slow mobil”, SFFR educates children on natural and local food. With a mobile kitchen they travel between the elementary schools in Freiburg and surroundings to cook with children. Through this practical approach SFFR tries to trigger a responsible enjoyment or sustainable pleasure of food. Educational activities are highly significant for the convivium, with the clear intention of reaching poor children in marginalised schools through the Junior slow mobil project.

References

  1. https://www.slowfood.com/
  2. Dumitru, A., Lema-Blanco, I., Kunze, I. & García-Mira, R. (2016). Slow Food Movement. Case-study report. TRANSIT: EU SSH.2013.3.2-1 Grant agreement no: 613169
  3. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/belgium/5322315/Ghent-declares-every-Thursday-Veggie-day.html
  4. https://stad.gent/ghent-international/city-policy/food-strategy-ghent/thursday-veggie-day
  5. Dumitru, A., Lema-Blanco, I., Kunze, I. & García-Mira, R. (2016). Transformative Social Innovation: Slow Food Movement. A summary of the case study report on the Slow Food Movement. TRANSIT: EU SSH.2013.3.2-1 Grant agreement no: 613169