Quiz #3- Example of an Imagined Community

The Slow Food Movement has trickled down as an environmental campaign for cleaner food in our agricultural industry. According to the Slow Food Movement, “clean” food aims to promote sustainability for the earth. The definition of sustainability focuses on respect for the environment at all levels of the food industry, from production to distribution. “In order to be able to judge the sustainability of food products, we need to know the ecological consequences of the actions carried out from the land to the table” (Petrini 115). “Good” food is not always “clean” food. A crate of organic tomatoes from Mexico are less environmentally sustainable than a loaf of bread made at a local bakery down the road. With the inclusion of transportation and distance between point A (production) and point B (distribution), “clean” food must have the shortest journey and use minimal amounts of resources to get to it’s final destination.

As seen through the lens in Toxic Tourism, the Slow Food Movement does a successful job of establishing imagined communities. Through membership in Slow Food “clubs”, which are found in every major city and most countries around the world, participates “reshape at the macropolitical (global) and mircropolitical (cultural) levels of everyday existence” (Pezzullo 143). In utilizing the political sphere of imagined communities, the Slow Food Movement has used modern technology (websites, videos, books on Kindles, etc.) to parlay the movement forwards. Slow Food “clubs” coordinate online and meet up for social events at environmentally friendly restaurants and farmers’ markets. The “identity” of someone who supports “clean” food is that of someone who takes interest in the earth, their health, and limiting harm from their everyday life. The created stereotype of a Slow Food follower is the cultural thread that ties together this imagined community around the world.

According to the Slow Food Movement theory, environmental sustainability is the ultimate goal. This goal cannot be reached when food around the world is still being left to unsustainable models of production and distribution. While the Slow Food Movement works to connect the consumer to the product, the theory cannot leave out the most important element of food production; the farmers who produce the world’s food. Unfortunately, there has become a disconnect between the farmer and their products. To ensure our food is “good” and “clean”, we must support food that is also “fair" for the environment.

Sources:
Pezzullo, Phaedra C. Toxic Tourism: Rhetorics of Pollution, Travel, and Environmental Justice. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama, 2007. Print.

Petrini, Carlo. Slow Food Nation: Why Our Food Should Be Good, Clean, and Fair. New York: Rizzoli Ex Libris, 2007. Print.