This is a CTP of initiative: Slow Food Mexico
This critical turning point consist on the foundation, in August 2014, of the civil association “Comida Lenta” (meaning "Slow Food" in Spanish) that Slow Food Mexico legally constituted with the object of gaining legal capacity to sign agreements with external institutions as well as receiving support (donations, public funds) from governments, public and private institutions etc. The constitution of this association means also a critical moment for Slow Food Mexico in terms of strengthen and maturity of the project, described by the interviewee as "a big step for the slow food movement in Centre America".
Another critical turning point is the creation of “Comida Lenta”, our civil association legally constituted in August 2014. We wanted to create a legal association in order to have a formal structure; to own an organization capable to sign agreements with governments as well as receiving government support or private donations. It is an ongoing project. In those days, if someone wanted to donate money to the movement, people had to give us the money by hand. It was weird. There was not any kind of control. All depended on the good faith of each person. Now, we have the moral and legal obligation to receive the resources, there is a treasure legally in charge of finances
“Comida Lenta” is the legal and financial instrument to support the work of the slow food movement in Mexico. Thus, Slow Food Mexico enhances the autonomy of the regional branch, which is more capable now to fundraising and develop projects on the ground, without the intervention or assistance from the international network.
This gives us more opportunities, opens new doors and facilitates me to contact to people and institutions on my own. Now, I do not need the support of our Italian colleagues. I am able to approach to an organization like Banamex, one of the largest banks in Mexico, and present our projects without the presence of one of the network spokespersons. In Mexico, a number of organizations could be interested in collaborating with us but they are not willing to transfer their money to an organization abroad. In this case, we would be project managers
The constitution of “Comida Lenta” increases the possibilities to conduct local and regional projects as well as professionalizing the structure of Slow Food Mexico. However, according to the interview “much work has to be done and outcomes will be perceived in the following years, not now”. Otherwise, being asked about what would have happened in the absence of this CTP, the interviewee mentioned the risk of stabilization of the movement, due to the fact that Slow Food is mainly supported by volunteering work and volunteers who cannot assume the same responsibilities that a normal employee:
We designed our strategic planning. We proposed it to the international network and they agree. We really can move forward in terms of funds and investment but eventually you will need a formal structure. A movement based on volunteers can reach to certain level, if no other resources are available
The constitution of the association “Comida lenta” is co-produced by a small group of volunteers that leaded the Slow Food Mexico. The board of directors is formed by only four people with little experience in running (formal) social organizations. The head of the association (the president) is the leader of Slow Food Mexico. Also, they have opened a slow food office in Puebla, with 4 workers, oriented to give support to local chapters and volunteers, as well as to design new projects, with the assistance of the Slow Food international network. Besides, few external institutions have financially support the activities of the association in the last two years.
I was elected a member of the Slow Food International Board in 2012 and Carlo Petrini visited us in 2013. I was the director but I was almost alone, with half of the people against me. I was supported by younger members and other people, but we needed new alliances. In order to formalize the projects, we need a formal space, an office, not my own home, as used to be. I explained this to Andrea Mato and Carlo Petrini. We needed to move on, to be bigger and to be more formal, being able to get fundraising in Mexico. I was very sincere with them. We could not only be supported by volunteers, including myself. I was a full-time volunteer since 2012 and, or I had a job or I would resign because I couldn’t afford it
Slow Food Mexico leaders are educated people with university studies in Mexico and USA (e.g. the president has superior studies in communication, gastronomy and anthropology). The association also counts with one experienced member - the treasurer- with expertise in project management. Besides, the international network gives permanent support to the national network, which was highly significant in the first stage of the project. The General Secretary, Paolo Di Croce, and the project manager, Andrea Mato, (both Italian partners) travelled several times to Mexico to meet with the Slow Food leaders as well as to maintain reunions with local and national governments and private foundations searching for fundraising
On the other hand, this critical turning point coincides also with changes within the Slow Food International Network which perceives that national branches should be more autonomous and independent, which means to increase their capacity to obtain and manage their own resources:
Then, the Slow Food International Association also began a process of decentralizing some of the responsibilities that the network used to have, for example, leading the economic control of any project. They were aware that more autonomy is required in order to be more efficient, not everything has to be financially monitored from Italy. It is very difficult, almost impossible, to handle a global network from a small office in the city of Bra. That was the first step to gain more autonomy
During the current decade, an increasing concern on food safety issues has enabled that the slow food discourse and proposals reach to wide people. Some public institutions and non-profit organizations approached to Slow Food Mexico persuaded by the educative projects that Slow Food put in practice to counteract this trend. It should be mentioned that Mexican authorities have alerted about the increasing rates of diabetes or obesity among young people. Poverty is another social issue in Mexico, and Slow Food provides some resources to rural and indigenous communities that aim to contribute to social transformation.
We are now starting a new project aiming to endorse the Terra Madre network in Mexico and combating rural poverty through the promotion of our gastronomic heritage and food local production. We are supporting new food communities and increasing the number of “co-producers” (responsible consumers). We aim to strengthen our network, collaborating with food producers to strengthen their market relations, “business to business” models, approaching potential customers in the United States
A number of events or previous experiences in the international context facilitated or directly enhanced the constitution of the civil association “Comida Lenta”. First, the interviewee briefly mentioned the internal organizational change happened within Slow Food Mexico since October 2012, under the coordination of the new elected leader, Alfonso Rocha. This internal process was named “Slow Food 2.0” and involved the enlargement of the Mexican branch in terms of the number of associates and local chapters. Hundreds of young people joined and contributed to the modernization of the Slow Food movement with new ideas, skills and commitment to defend “good, clean and fair” production and consumption practices in Mexican and Centre America context:
We are now starting a new project aiming to endorse the Terra Madre network in Mexico and combating rural poverty through the promotion of our gastronomic heritage and food local production. We are supporting new food communities and increasing the number of “co-producers” (responsible consumers). We aim to strengthen our network, collaborating with food producers to strengthen their market relations, “business to business” models, approaching potential customers in the United States
As a consequence of the critical turning point, Slow Food has signed a number of agreements, in the last two years, with several private Foundations and public institutions to conduct Slow Food projects (related to the Ark of Taste or Presidia projects coordinated by the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity). The previous positive experiences that the Slow Food International Network carried out in other Latin America countries (in collaboration with private institutions) make them easier to reach them and reach to agreements with some of them. Concretely, in October 2015 Slow Food Mexico and the Ford Foundation signed an agreement to develop Slow Food projects in four Mexican regions during the period 2015-2016.
Slow Food has been working with the Ford Foundation in Colombia or Chile or starting several farmers' markets in Amazon region. As Slow Food has a long-term relation with the Ford Foundation in Latin America, we asked Paulo di Croce to come here and taking advantage of all those previous contacts. We meet them here, in Mexico, and explained them our willingness to collaborate with Ford Foundation. Their feedback was very positive
Besides, the initiative approached also to International Organizations, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and, as result of this networking activity Slow Food Mexico collaborates with FAO conducting training activities:
We are now developing a workshop on short food supply chains in collaboration with FAO Mexico. In 2012, I approached FAO, considering that, as Slow Food has an agreement with FAO at international scale, we could collaborate in Mexico as well. We finally had a reunion with the Latin American representation of FAO, and now we are going to participate in an international workshop that they are organizing here but with international scope. It is the first time that we work together. We are now growing up
The interviewee does not report any contestation regarding the creation of the association “Comida Lenta”. On the contrary, this seems to be an expected step in the process of consolidation of the Slow Food movement in Mexico. However, the absence of critical positions might be related to the fact that –due to previous internal issues- many contestant voices have left the organization in the last period.
Becoming more institutionalized enables Slow Food Mexico to sign agreements with a diversity of institutions, public and private. The respondent does not report any opposition to that, but he thinks that some contestation or critics could arise if they would reach any agreement with a controversial entity:
For example, Slow Food collaborates with Kellogg’s foundation. Even Ford is a company highly pollutant, as you know… It is struggling, I think that foundations are different that the commercial branch. Most of them, like Kellogg Foundation, do not have any similarity with the for-profit company. Their activity is not propaganda. Indeed, they are doing a good work. I could see the extent and impact of several projects that Kellogg Foundation is funding in the Yucatán, working with the Maya communities. It is amazing. I realized that, sometimes, you cannot be as utopic as you would like, but at least, you try to do as best as you can. Obviously, with limits, I'd never consider to sign an agreement with Coca Cola or Monsanto
Slow food leaders anticipated the outcomes which this critical turning point could produce in the short-term. They have foreseen the potential benefit and social impact that Slow Food could gain in Mexico, but also perceived the necessity to consolidate the movement through a formal national association.
I engaged in Slow Food because I´ve certainly envisioned the potentiality of this movement. Indeed, for a year, I decided to invest my time, like a full-time dedication, and resources to the movement. It was a personal investment. In half a year, when the initiative started to do well, I invited our President, Carlo Petrini, to visit us. I had a straight conversation with him. I explained him that Slow Food meant a lot to me, that being involved in Slow Food was an extraordinary experience, but that I couldn´t continue as a volunteer. I needed a real job. And then, they decided to hire me part-time, which was enough to me. Then I could travel more, I made more contacts, strengthen links with my colleagues, and now we have created a civil association, which give us financial autonomy
Being asked about the perception of the associates, the interviewee is not sure about in what extend the creation of the civil association is perceived as a critical turning point. As it was created in 2014 and its activity started in 2015, people might need more time to comprehend the dimension of this event. The association is understood as a necessary legal instrument to expand the Slow Food movement as the following explains:
Social movements have their own limits and boundaries. If a social initiative aims to have social impact, eventually, it will require certain formal structure, with legal capacity. Slow Food Mexico has strengthened its internal structure. This helped us to create new strategic alliances within the Mexican context. It is just a starting point. However, the positive feedback that we obtain to our proposals comes from the reputation that the Slow Food International Association has worldwide. If we weren’t members of the Slow Food movement, our capacity to work here, to have impact, wouldn’t be the same
The challenge of starting a non-profit association has been a learning process from the beginning. Slow Food leader had to deal with legal responsibilities as well carrying out financial accounting and other duties which they have not done before. Besides, Slow Food activists have developed networking capacities I order to collaborate with other NGOs, create new platforms, or negotiate with potential fundraisers. Besides, practitioners have developed new frames to comprehend the role of Slow Food Mexico in promoting alternatives to current food system, adapting the Slow Food discourse to the Mexican context. For example, working with rural Slow Food convivia and indigenous communities changed certain values and attitudes in the interviewee. Idealism confronts with pragmatism and, sometimes, concessions should be done:
To be honest, when I joined the Slow Food movement, I was firmly against exportations. But, when I start to work on the ground, I realized the real cost of producing quality food. I realized that, in Mexico, most of the people are not willing to pay the real cost of some products. For example, people will not pay the real price of our Chili, which it is in our Ark of Taste. We can invest a lot in marketing, we do it. But with the same effort, time and resources, we can export it internationally, to the United States for example, and the young people who produce that Chili will triple their sales. Of course they can‘t reject this opportunity
Learning also relates with social issues and challenges that characterizes any region. In Mexico, discrimination and poverty are close related with food consumption and production. Since 2012, Slow Food leaders learned new methodologies and marketing strategies oriented to empower local rural communities, creating Slow Food convivia in new areas, food communities leaded by women, and helping them to take advantage of being members of an international network. The possibility to receive funds and increase the number of projects in rural areas has also involved a learning process within the organization. More local leaders and associates need to comprehend how slow food strategies and tools could help them and how can be implemented in their areas. Besides, succeed experiences are powerful examples to other pioneers, and Slow Food leaders try to disseminate these “good practices” across the territory, making films, documentary videos, etc.
There is a young woman which attended a course at a university here, about Slow Food and projects we have. She belongs to an indigenous community and she understood perfectly all tools that I explained them, regarding projects and instruments to protect local quality food. She learned, she felt empowered and now she is the leader of a slow food convivium in her community. I must say that her mother has started, many years ago, a community of indigenous women to preserve the chili in their region. They have started a little company to sell chilis, and they managed to get support and funds to develop their project. This example appears in a campaign that Lavazza is conducting in Latin America, telling “father to father” experiences; although, in this case, it should be called “mother to mother
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