Slow food, slow progress: experiencing slow food in Australia

The Slow Food movement promotes ethical modes of food production and consumption. This paper reports on three related empirical studies that investigated: the representations of the movement in the Australian print media, participant experiences of a Slow Food festival, and the views of members of a Slow Food group. The first study used a content and discourse analysis of articles on Slow Food over a three-month in the Australian press. The second study reports on 33 semi-structured interviews with food producers and lay public attending a Slow Food event. The findings illuminate the changing nature of consumer culture, particularly the notion of ethical consumption and sketch out the different levels of commitment between participants and the varying perceptions of Slow Food. The third study involved a focus group with members of a Slow Food convivia (local group) to understand the reasons why people join the movement, their views on Slow Food, and their experiences of the movement. Together, the studies uncover a number of recurring themes: the central importance of ‘conviviality’ (the social pleasures of sharing ‘good food’), a focus on ‘localism’ (the alleged social, health, and environmental benefits of local produce), an underlying ideology of ‘romanticism’ (for idyllic rural lifestyles as an antidote to the time-poverty of urban life), and an ‘implementation gap’ between the philosophy and practice of Slow Food.