Slow Food

[Guest guest]

Published on Monday, February 20, 2006 by the Improper

Slow Food

by Peter Bové

 

Unlike other Latin based languages, in French the “J” is hard.

Pronounced more like the “J” in Josie and the Pussycats… Which brings

to mind the love-hate phenomenon France has for “American Culture”.

American Culture? American Culture. Not far from another oxymoron:

American Cuisine. Which is what anyway? A “Big Mac”?

 

I bring up “J” for the name José, as in José Bové. José Bové has all

but split our family in half. A family spread over four countries on

two continents: France, Switzerland, Italy and America. Those members

who are a bit more provincial and right of center insist he is no

relative, is crazy and that the authorities should put him in jail once

and for all and throw away the key. Those of us a bit left of center

insist that we should be proud if he is in fact our cousin and do what

we can to further his noble cause.

 

If you have yet to hear of José Bové, he is the French farmer who made

international headlines in 1999 for “vandalizing” a McDonald’s as a

political protest to its opening in the tiny town of Millau,

Montpellier (in the South of France). At the time, the United States

slapped a 100 percent duty on Roquefort cheese in response to a

European decision to ban importation of hormone-treated U.S. beef. “The

Americans took Roquefort hostage, so we had to act beyond the law to

defend ourselves,” José told the London Times.

 

Uncle José is a somewhat ubiquitous international figure turning up at

Zapatista marches in Mexico and anti-trade conferences from Seattle to

Brazil. Part of this ubiquity is that he is not really a

farmer-turned-activist at all. Instead, he is an

activist-turned-farmer. You see, it happened back in 1987, when Uncle

José helped found and became a leading spokesperson for the

Confédération Paysanne, a radical farmer’s union designed to champion

small producers.

 

It was José’s antics with the McDonald’s episode in Millau in ‘99 that

first caused me to smile so wide I almost hurt my face. His statement

to the French court: “I defend this action not because it was legal,

but because it was legitimate.” Didn’t we base an entire country on

this premise? (In turn, I previously used the term “vandalize” not

because it was legitimate, but because it is included in the official

legal charge.)

 

This was a protest that occurred in broad daylight with women and

children participants. José drove up the street towards the half-built

McDonald’s on a 1960’s turquoise blue Ford tractor wearing a straw hat

and smoking a corncob pipe. I am not sure but I will imagine for the

moment he was smiling. Together the protesters did some serious damage:

removing doors, roofing, and electrical plates using a tractor, axes,

and chainsaws. McDonald’s closed its doors during the two days of the

trial, “as if to excuse itself for still remaining there,” as Le Figaro

put it. And though the French penal code asks for a maximum sentence of

five years in jail and a 500,000-Franc fine, the prosecutors

recommended suspended sentences for the 10 cohorts and an 18-month

probation for Mr. Bové. At least one prosecutor, Alain Durand, was

honest about the public’s opinion prior to the trial: How will we be

able to judge if thousands of people are screaming (outside) the name

“Bové”? Apparently during the trial for this crime half of Paris was

outside the courthouse cheering for Uncle José. Not even Mark Twain

could have invented a finer folk hero.

 

The Wall Street Journal describes Uncle José as, “The Bakunin-quoting

former hippie who only became a farmer in 1975 as a political act.” But

he is so dedicated to his cause that his book with François Dufour, The

World Is Not For Sale, outlines an alternative vision of sustainable

farming respectful of the long-term and global context; proving this is

not some radical publicity junkie.

 

On a far smaller scale I have been engaged in the same battle my entire

life, however poetic, by supporting shops that market what is now

produce abiding by the USDA Organic Food Standards. This is food that

is produced by farmers who emphasize the use of renewable resources and

the conservation of soil and water to enhance environmental quality for

future generations. Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products

come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones.

Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides,

fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge,

bioengineering, or ionizing radiation. Before a product can be labeled

“organic,” a government-approved and certified agent inspects the farm

where the food is grown to make sure the farmer is following all the

rules necessary to meet USDA Organic Standards. Companies that handle

or process organic food before it gets to your local supermarket or

restaurant must be certified, too.

 

At one time finding such foods was an adventure all its own. Now, all

one needs to do is go down to the local supermarket (like King Kullen)

to find shelves full of organic or at least, natural food. Not all of

it is genuine since technically words like “natural” and “organic” are

broad terms defining many altered foods, but they’re on the right

track. In most of Europe, the food—everything from planning to plate—is

part of the lifestyle. In the US, we rush through so much of life we

need McDonald’s to get by, as there is no time or energy left to

prepare and eat proper meals. So, in a sense, much of the phenomenon

that exists regarding the food issues in the US has to do with our lack

of lifestyle, which is why the increased availability of “organic”

foods makes for optimism.

 

Uncle José affirms that the free-market philosophy is anything but a

project for the liberation of the men and women who live on this

planet. Pushed to extremes, free-market society is the privatization

and transformation into commodities of everything that makes up the

daily life of humankind, including elements essential to life itself:

water, the earth, seeds; the genetic heritage of humanity.

 

This destructive system, based on the law that might is right, offers

no future to billions of human beings, notably the peasants of Southern

France for whom daily life is nothing beyond the hoe or, at best,

animal-drawn implements they wield. France prides itself on a strict,

regionally based specialization in produce and cuisine that has evolved

over hundreds of years. McDonald’s, for Bové and his supporters, is a

symbol of a standardized industrial approach to food cultivation and

preparation, which they see as the antithesis of French culinary

culture.

 

As Americans we champion freedom. Especially freedom of choice on

everything from favorite snack to favorite presidential nominee—often

times confused. Doesn’t indirect manipulation through policy count when

it denies this freedom? Does this sound like free choice? Or is it a

slight of hand? Take the current state of affairs touted by the WTO,

“agribusiness”. Agribusiness uses genetic modification, hormones,

fertilizers and pesticides to force ever-increasing yields from the

land in vast monoculture farms. Such farms possibly cause health and

environmental problems, and certainly result in the excess of a bland

crop. This excess is then dumped onto the foreign markets where it

undercuts the price of local produce, not to mention bankrupting the

local farmer, proving that genetic modification is not the answer to

the problem of world hunger. In fact, one would be hard pressed to

believe that the problems of hunger and underdevelopment can be solved

by technological means; economic, social and political conditions must

be taken into account.

 

This type of culture also poses a threat to the future of farmers. For

some decades “productionism” has served to enslave farmers. No longer

an autonomous producer and entrepreneur, the farmer has become just

someone else who is exploited. As a result, thanks to bureaucratic

interference, farmers can no longer decide for themselves how to manage

their lands, nor can they freely choose their own techniques for it.

Confédération Paysanne made an attempt to put agriculture back into

action, which Uncle José put this way: “Why refuse something which is

presented as ‘progress’? It’s not because of nostalgia, or regret for

the ‘good old days.’ It’s because of concern for the future, and

because of a will to have say in future development…”

 

As for this side of the pond, the Confédération Paysanne is not totally

unlike some of our less radical local associations. Take East End-based

“Slow Foods”. Slow Foods, founded and run by Tom Morgan and Mary

Foster-Morgan, champions the use of local farm produce prior to

purchasing outside local markets, as well as other aspects of

pro-farmer and worthy natural causes. Even the name Slow Food comes

from a moment of poetry. In the mid-80’s, McDonald’s tried to open a

franchise near the Spanish Steps in Rome, and Carlo Petrini staged a

huge sit-in, saying Rome is about local, seasonal cuisine, about “slow

food” and not “fast food”. The idea of eating well from foods produced

by one’s farming neighbors and artisans swept Europe, came to the US

and is now 10,000 members strong.

 

Slow Food USA is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to

supporting and celebrating the food traditions of North America. From

the spice of Cajun cooking to the purity of the organic movement; from

animal breeds and heirloom varieties of fruits and vegetables to

handcrafted wine and beer, farmhouse cheeses and other artisan

products; these foods are a part of our cultural identity. They reflect

generations of commitment to the land and devotion to the processes

that yield the greatest achievements in taste. These foods, and the

communities that produce and depend on them, are constantly at risk of

succumbing to the effects of the fast life, which manifests itself

through the industrialization and standardization of our food supply

and degradation of our farmland. By reviving the pleasures of the

table, and using our taste buds as our guides, Slow Food USA believes

that our food heritage can be nurtured and saved. Slow Food USA

oversees Slow Food activities in North America, including the support

and promotion of the activities of more than 90 “convivia”.

 

As much as these may be international, or better, global human issues,

and, as much as most media concerns itself with the celebrity resort

aspect of the Hamptons, the East End is a farm community. True, in many

areas spuds have turned to grapes (not necessarily a bad turn), and in

many more areas spuds have turned to Cul de Sac’s of trophy houses. But

the farming tradition is still an inherent part of our local

complexion, that is, our local “culture”. Yet for some reason it is a

way of life, a philosophy of life, which people such as Uncle José and

Slow Foods must consciously pursue.

 

Decisions that each of us makes on a daily basis contribute, support

and further one approach or the other. But perhaps it is just a case of

altering and redefining the bottom line. God made it right the first

time. It is our responsibility to learn how to use it properly. Have we

become so full of ourselves (fearful) that we really believe we can

improve on millennia of evolution? Maybe not, but some of us have

become greedy enough to attempt to trick everyone into thinking we can

and should. The rest of us must rightly keep vigil.

 

I will keep you in my prayers Mon Oncle José.

 

Peter Bové was a producer of Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner, Oscar

Nominated, Capturing the Friedmans. He has also been:

director-cameraman on the Portuguese documentary Columbus, Portuguese

Spy?; film production instructor at SVA in NYC; writer/director of The

Cowboy Kid (a children’s pilot), Wisdom of the Tribe (a documentary on

American Indians), Ice Scream (a short film for CMEE featured at the

2004 Atlanta Underground and Rome International Film Festivals); and

has written music videos for artists ranging in style from Paul Shaffer

and Lenny Kravitz to Wynton Marsalis. One of his feature film scripts,

The Dupe of Wales, is currently under contract. He is presently writing

and pitching film scripts and television shows.

 

© 2006 The Improper

 

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