Quote of the Day: Dan Barber on Slow Food "Elitism"
by Jasmin Malik Chua, Jersey City, USA on 09.16.07
At the checkout aisle, we're not paying the real cost of food. Whether you're an elitist or not, you're a human being and the real costs of your food are being paid in environmental costs and healthcare costs. And who pays when we have an obese nation? We all do. We just pay it under the radar. To call it elitist, I think, is really shortsighted.
I think that eventually what we're talking about is really rooted in peasantry, which is the ironic thing. To say that good food is for the elite is preposterous, like saying that Chinese peasants who talk about and revolve their day around food are elitist, or the Peruvian mountain farmers who grow dozens of different types of potatoes are elitist.
Most importantly, I'd say that in order to experience the pleasures of good food, leave the politics, leave the health issues and leave the ecological issues aside. Tasting good food is a pleasure that people will come back to. That's what this is: hedonism, a to z. And I think that's one angle that makes sense [in connection] to slow food. Let's look at this from a hedonistic, celebratory viewpoint and not a depressing one, and I think that has some legs for the future."
—Dan Barber, chef and co-owner of the Blue Hill restaurants in New York and a longtime advocate of sustainable farming, in a 2007 interview with Salon.
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So much of this debate about "elitism" is conveniently obscured by people's priorities.
Many of the same folks who charge slow foodies, organic fans and others who care about the quality of their food with "elitism" don't stop to think of the many ways they overspend.
What does it cost to have a cell phone? Cable television service? A flashy car? The latest clothes? Just compare the costs of these lifestyle choices to the cost of eating better.
I see people in my community who would not spend an extra $15 a week for better quality produce unthinkingly blowing hundreds and hundreds every month on luxuries they can't really afford.
So who's the elitist? The person who eats healthy, shops at thrift stores, and conserves energy -- who doesn't have a cell phone, or cable, or a muscle car? Or the person with all the gizmos and goodies, who saves a few dollars by eating junk?
Right on Hudson.
Good food is the first luxury anyone should afford themselves. Do it for yourself. You can tout the environmental benefits or not – good food is good food. The best food happens to be fresh. And the freshest food is local.
I don't see how eating well is elitism. One can be extravagant, like eating a condor egg omlet or panda kebab, but eating local fresh organic food is historically the staple of most of the world's population. It's called farming, and rarely seen as elite.
Now, eating out at a restaurant, that's elitist! ;-)
I don't have a car, I don't have cable, and I don't wear the latest clothes. I can't afford them any more than I can afford the slow food lifestyle. But I guess that makes me an awful self-centered consumerist.
There are tons of people out there who are much worse off than I am, some who can only afford only $30 per week (or less) to feed their family, and poverty in the US is growing. The slow food movement will nout succeed, at least to the level it wishes to unless it directly deals with class. Until then, it's mostly for people with money who can afford vehicles, cable, and the latest clothing.