Why does one person choose Wal-Mart and another Whole Foods?
Why does one person choose an artisan producer and another a factory style producer?
Recently I have had interesting discussions with friends about Slow Food. I have been working to start a Slow Food Convivium in West Virginia, the first in our state. In light of that, I have been trying to enroll people in the mission of Slow Food.
Slow Food is an international organization whose mission is to educate people about food, to promote food biodiversity, and tradition and conviviality at the table. Slow Food supports school gardens, community gardens, and small farmers. Several large gatherings are hosted each year as well, from Italy to San Francisco! For a complete education about Slow Food, check out their website.
In the US, Slow Food has unfortunately garnered a reputation for being “elitist” in the pejorative sense of the word. How very unfortunate. But how has that reputation come to pass? And what does it have to do with Wal-Mart and Whole Foods Stores?
Well, it seems that the people who feel that Slow Food is elitist are the same ones who support Wal-Mart and abhor Whole Foods. I know these people on both sides of the argument are intelligent and thoughtful people who have made a conscious decision of value.
Why do some folks go one way, and others, another? Some of the arguments for Wal-Mart and factory foods are: inexpensive, so the disadvantaged people can eat: single parent families and others on limited budgets really have to work hard to survive, and these foods are the only option. Convenience; all the variety at the huge store in one place.
What is bad about Whole Foods and artisan foods? Expensive. Known by some as “Whole Paycheck Foods”. Possibly some economic pressures against small businesses in the Whole Foods neighborhoods. Practices large business techniques, such as accepting deliveries only during certain hours, and formal periodic product reviews of their product line in detached ways. And artisan produced foods are expensive. What in the world makes these foods so expensive and out of reach of so many?
On the flip side, why are some folks anti Wal-Mart? Heinous labor relations. Economic bullying against communities and neighbors. High costs to community infrastructure. Predatory procurement practices. Ugly, ugly buildings. Local community support in name alone.
And, why support small, artisan producers? For every dollar spent with a local business, you get four times the return to the local community than if you spend that dollar at a giant out of town store like Whole Foods or Wal-Mart. (Though a study needs to be done to see the relationship of profits going out of town versus real dollars being spent by the big store on local products.) Small local producers are your neighbors and they hire your neighbors if not some of your own family. You know where your food is coming from. You have a complaint? Just call your neighbor and complain! You need to know the ingredients or how a food was produced? Just call your neighbor.
I am a small producer. I would like everyone to feel that there is something that I can offer them. But the fact is, nothing I make is mass produced, and a lot of the ingredients that I purchase are made by small producers. Thus, my costs are significantly higher, thus I have to charge more. Does that make me and my products worth any less? Should the people who can afford my products feel guilty or feel that they should eat only mass produced foods? Of course not. But small producers should not be made wrong because less privileged people can’t afford their products.
Folks of means should support the local artisans and the organic foods to support those endeavors because the more consumers there are for artisan foods, the more people will be drawn to that line of work and eventually the price will come down. Look at the drop in price of organic foods already! Thanks in large part to Wal-Mart and Whole Foods.
Back to Slow Food. What in the world is wrong with a group of people trying to educate a world about the pleasures of food? The nutritive values of techno- raised foods vs. small farmed foods? The traditions of food and food cultures? Saving the biodiversity of food stocks? Sustainability of our food system so that we have a quality food source available to all of us? Of celebration of food and it’s life giving dependability.
We have had many discussions about that word, elitist, and all the meanings associated with it. But let’s say that it represents exclusion. Then, who is slow Food excluding?
¾ We are supporting very basic farmers through the Presidia project. We are excluding the giant monoculture corporate farmers.
¾ We are supporting school education with mini grants. We are excluding the soda companies and giant food producers that are selling unhealthy foods to the school systems.
¾ We are supporting breed and plant diversity through the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity. We are excluding the huge seed producers who are patenting seeds for their own profit and are genetically modifying plants without adequate testing.
¾ We are supporting taste education through taste workshops, farm and kitchen visits, and school gardens. We are not supporting the producers of industrial foods who generate tons of food that has been produced for traveling huge distances and are standardizing tastes.
¾ We are supporting food traditions by protecting those that are at risk of extinction through RAFT, a Collaboration between 7 of our country’s most prominent education, conservation, and food organizations. We are excluding the fast food and factory food producers.
Is this all wrong? Is this not to be supported? Is Wal-Mart the way to go to the exclusion of artisan producers and Whole Foods? Of course all the answers are correct and right. We all make choices that resonate with our core values. But I know who I support and would like to work with.
Don’t you?
