This is a CTP of initiative: Slow Food Mexico
The interviewee points out the appointment of Alfonso Rocha as a member of the Slow Food International Board and as coordinator of Slow Food in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean as one of the most relevant moments in Slow Food Mexico's history. This appointment takes place in the Italian city of Turin, during the celebration of the VI International Slow Food Congress, in October 2012.
One of the turning points for the network is when, during a congress in Italy, Slow Food decides to include Alfonso Rocha in its International Board. And it is not only about him, at that moment is considered a priority to attract young people to the network. I believe that the network was ageing, and at that moment, they decide to include young people, the network of young people is born at the international level, they decided to transfer command to the new generation, and in my opinion they are pressing ahead, Slow Food 2.0 is the one pressing ahead. I believe that this is a turning point at the international and national levels. Alfonso Rocha who knows the network very well, has a lot of experience
The election of Alfonso Rocha as coordinator of Slow Food for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean involved a renewal in the structure and leadership of the Mexican network, as well as an expansion of the territorial context in which Slow Food Mexico had been working. Rocha, as leader of the local convivium in the city of Puebla, is part of a new generation of members of Slow Food, which has promoted a renewal within the network that goes beyond a generational renewal:
The arrival of Alfonso has meant an obvious change of direction within the organization. He came with the intention of joining forces, incorporating all the protagonists into the network, gathering experts, chefs, producers... giving voice to all, reaching agreements, even though voting is not needed often
Now we are re-establishing contact with Yucatan, a very inaccessible territory. It is also growing in the Caribbean, Cancun, Chiapas, Oaxaca, with higher indigenous participation. In the centre of the country we have grown a lot, it is also because we are here ourselves. You take a bus, a car and you get in 4 hours there
Slow Food Mexico leaves, little by little, to be an association formed predominantly by middle–aged chefs and gastronomic experts, residing mainly in the surroundings of Mexico City and with a high purchasing power. Since 2012, the organization has oriented its efforts to increase its base of associates in other territories, promoting the creation of coexistence throughout the Mexican territory, opening the Network to the peasantry and indigenous communities, and promoting activities related with biodiversity conservation, like the Slow Food’s Ark of Taste and Presidia projects, in these territories:
The network begins to grow. The message starts to be clearer; the network begins to move throughout the territory, because before it was more focused in Mexico DF. The leaders would go home, make dinner, have a good time. Alfonso is restless after travelling, to know how convivia are in other localities, and if he sees that any local chapter is not working, which does not exist in practice, then he closes it. And if there is a group of peasants who want to participate in the movement, he engage them to the network
The renewal of the organisational structures of Slow Food Mexico is favored by an evolution in the Slow Food international network, which in this decade decides to increase its international projection, providing a new discourse (included in the "centrality of food" document), which will address the issue of food from a systemic and global view, claiming the "right to food" for all citizens. This new vision will motivate Alfonso Rocha and the group of young people who take over the leadership of Slow Food Mejico, to claim their space and protagonism within the network.
These young people began to work - a few years earlier - in the city of Puebla, reactivating the local convivium, increasing the number of members of the convivium in a significant way. In recognition of this work, Alfonso Rocha will be chosen as the new Slow Food representative for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean:
Slow Food Mexico was led by several people, some of them very well known here, but until Alfonso came this was a little gone ... Before it was not open to more groups, for example, there was no peasant convivium, led by young people, it was not usual. The network was based more on chefs who bought local products for their restaurants. But they would not invite producers to participate in the events, give to know his face
The interviewee also relates this turning point with the Mexican context and the increasingly visible feeding problems suffered by the Mexican society, especially young people. At the beginning of the decade, the social and institutional alarm raised by the increase of malnutrition, childhood obesity or eating disorders. It will also be in this decade when the Slow Food movement becomes aware of its capacity to exert influence in nutritional health issues:
The turning point is not just Slow Food’s, it's Mexican. Slow Food even arrives a little late, I would say. Because the turning point in Mexico are the problems of malnutrition, obesity and loss of food sovereignty. It is a very complex problem they see. It is something that we have discussed with our Italian colleagues when they come, but what is happening in Mexico is also happening globally. It is such a diverse territory, racially speaking, in social terms, with many indigenous communities, their customs, visions. There is a great diversity. And all that happens: contamination by GMO’s, eating disorders and malnutrition, with over 50% malnutrition among our population. 70% of the population is either overweight or obese and malnourished. And 30% of those who are healthy, are those who generally hold the 80% of the total wealth
There is a certain group of the population that suffers the ravages of the industrialized food industry. Hormones, children who begin to develop breasts by drinking milk with hormones, several things. Girls get bigger. There is a concern to have a better product and there are two models: organic production led by companies or local production on a small scale. When we organize the Labs of Taste, the first question is where you can buy these products. This need must be satisfied by us
This turning point is preceded by a series of events that occurred in Mexico, such as the celebration in 2007 of the International Congress of Slow Food in the city of Puebla, which increased the recognition of the network across the country and encouraged a number of young people to approach the network and gradually renew their structures. Secondly, the interviewee mentions the holding of two consecutive events, held in Turin (Italy) in October 2012: the celebration of the Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre 2012 and the celebration of the VI International Congress of Slow Food, in which Alfonso Rocha is elected international director (as explained in the previous sections). From this turning point on, a radical change inside the organization, which they call "Slow Food 2.0", begins.
The number of partners in the network grows and expands throughout the Mexican territory, reaching more rural or isolated communities. New leaders are particularly sensitive because women and young people occupy leadership positions within the national network. Slow Food Mexico begins to integrate all the sectors involved in the production and consumption of food, adding allies and placing them at the same level of importance. An example of this is the constitution of several indigenous convivia led by women. This motivates more young people to join the movement, but also younger people with more diverse profiles, such as the interviewee, who had worked for years in the rural context and who find Slow Food a place where they can realize their aspirations:
I was fascinated by this way of working, because for many years I had tried to find a place where this was possible: respecting, valuing people in the countryside, whether indigenous or not, and a place in which people from the city could contribute to; making a healthy, transparent link. This is how I understand the network and that's how we handle it. And until they do not kick me out, I am going to be here
In 2013, the Slow Food Youth Network is created in Mexico. This is an informal network that becomes an effective tool for spreading Slow Food's new speech. Finally, the consolidation of Slow Food in Mexico has forced a greater formalization of the network, which has resulted in the creation (2014) of a non-profit civil association called "Comida Lenta" and which the interviewee considers a new turning point within Slow Food, but directly linked to the first, since the person who leads both structures is the same, and has given them the opportunity to establish collaboration agreements with other organizations:
Another turning point is the creation of the civil association Comida Lenta, legally constituted in August 2014 with the aim of having legal status ... After that, we have signed agreements with the Ford Foundation, the Kellogg Foundation, the Mexican Fund For the Conservation of Biodiversity. And we are about to start working with the Gulf of Mexico Foundation. This is very interesting because it is a mixture of private foundation and government structure to enhance projects in protected natural areas. We are about to start something with GIZ, the German Agency for Cooperation
According to the interviewees, this turning point and the motivations that justify it provokes a great response within the structure of Slow Food Mexico. As explained above, at the beginning of this decade there was a gradual process of generational renewal in the national network, also encouraged by Slow Food International, which since 2007 had been promoting the opening of the movement to the young, mainly cooks and food producers.
This generational change inevitably led to a change in the leadership of the formal structures of Slow Food Mexico. New faces (under 30 years old) positioned themselves in front of the local convivium (still located in Mexico City and the city of Puebla) and after a few years working in the local context, tried to promote new ideas, projects and ways of doing things at the national level. However, this renewal of the Slow Food project met the strong resistance of people who until then had led Slow Food Mexico, who felt relegated to the background and were reluctant to give up the command of the organization to the new generations:
It's a new way of working that I think faced some resistance among those who were before. But that is also part of the work, designing strategies, projects, taking into account both lines, both generations, and young people, who have many concerns and ideas. A young person wants this topic of eating healthy, responsibly, to be fun, not a sort of ritual, something without too much protocol, more creative.
It should also be noted that new proposals and projects were made from a critical approach with previous positions. The new Slow Food partners felt that, Slow Food was not doing its job properly so far. Slow Food had become an elitist and closed organization. As a result, people with the longer experience within Slow Food left the organization or stopped participating in the structures, and many of these people did not get back to the project. To counter this criticism, the new leaders focused their efforts on promoting new "convivia" in new territories, creating an informal network of young cooks, and encouraging the participation of all sectors of the population in Slow Food. The ones who left Slow Food were replaced by new members and partners with a more transformative ambition:
As far as I know, the previous generation was more focused on forms, on recognition. Chefs differed between them, between those who studied and those who did not. There are cooks who are creative and others whose interests run in their families. And there are those who come to school and have their degree. It is a very curious world for me, because I am not a chef, I do not know the scene, but it has a lot to do with recognition, with the academic field, sometimes with egos. My secret recipe, just me ... Things we had also in Slow Food, of course. There are chefs that are even grouped by interests. But Slow Food's important thing is to give producers, food-producing communities an opportunity to gain recognition and shorten the circuit by offering Slow Food products, local products to cooks. If chefs would return to rearguard, to the towns near the city, these communities would be in danger. Because the market can provide you with everything, but these products may come from Arizona, or from further away. But if you do not have communities nearby that can provide the product, then market provides it. You can find everything. Some chefs have taken it literally and do it very well, others are just beginning
According to the respondent, many of the people associated with Slow Food Mexico (especially the younger and newcomers) understood at the time that a generational renewal was necessary within the Mexican network. It was also perceived and promoted from the international Slow Food network, which took advantage of its 2012 Congress to propose to Alfonso Rocha as national coordinator and member of the Slow Food International Council. This change in the leadership of the network was aimed at increasing the social impact of Slow Food, scaling up its speech to the whole country, increasing the diversity of its members and creating alliances with other Mexican organizations, as well as promoting the network in Central America and the Caribbean.
However, it should be noted that most of the people who currently participate in the organization were not at that time part of the organization. For this reason, many of them do not speak of anticipation but they do establish a comparative between the situation of Slow Food Mexico before and after the change of leadership in October 2012. Specifically, it refers to the great ignorance that existed between the Mexican society of the movement Slow Food, the compartmentalization of the network (mainly composed by chefs and critics or culinary experts) and the low number of associates.
This situation is reversed from the election of Alfonso Rocha as national coordinator, as it seems that the partners perceived in a short time. Likewise, the new counselor knew how to surround himself with young people who share his transforming vision. The average profile of the newcomers stands out for its youth, creativity and potential:
I think their ability is to attract people who can have some capacities and give them the opportunity to work on the network. I think Alfonso is a very creative, restless person. Suddenly, he proposes the first contest to go to the Salone del Gusto and many people participated because they wanted to go to Italy, and that helped to boost the Network. For example, one of the young participants, Neli, she won the contest, went to Italy, met the international movement and now she has opened a convivium in her town, after going to Italy. And so it happened in several regions of the country
The evolution of the movement in Mexico is also perceived by public institutions and organizations such as FAO, which find in Slow Food a new partner with which to collaborate and develop projects to promote local crops or healthy eating. On the other hand, the turning point is still recent. Many of the objectives have not yet materialized, such as the incorporation (still only a minority) of rural communities and indigenous groups into the Slow Food movement.
According to the interviewee, Slow Food has been pioneer in claiming the right of producers and peasants to sit in equal conditions in decision-making processes, incorporating a discourse of class struggle. Slow Food now has the ambition to have political and social impact and to modify the structures of power that discriminate against certain social groups, mainly on account of race.
In Mexico there is a deeply rooted racism in our idiosyncrasy. It is very complex. Obviously, whether we do not take a critical look, we may think that's the way things are, but there is racism. There is a professor at the University of Mexico who says that in Mexico exists “pigmentocracy”, according to which those who hold power are those who have clearer skin. The more conservative the city, the more racist it is
The first lesson learned by the interviewee is related to the need for renewal of the organizations, not only generational renewal, of their leaders, but also a renewal of projects, objectives and work methodologies. However, this turning point had as a consequence that part of the partners left the network, some because they were no longer at ease with it and others because they had been relegated. This response meant also a learning process for the new leaders, who understood that changes must be introduced through dialogue, negotiation and the inclusion of all sensitivities within the same project. Second, Slow Food has learned to convey an alternative speech to Mexican society. An inclusive and attractive speech, accompanied by a new work methodology that has attracted new partners who demanded a space where to work food issues integrally. Slow Food Mexico has become that plural space capable of bringing together different aspirations and demands.
What captivated me about the work, the network itself, is that at the same table we were development promoters sitting, together with food producers, researchers, chefs and people who simply like to eat. Slow Food is especially clear in that we had to sit at the same table and talk, from a egalitarian position, about food. It was a very close meeting, where I was able to know about the talents of chefs, the concerns producer haves, the interests for researchers
Slow Food Mexico also learns how to improve its communication strategies and how to "give producers a face", such as teaching citizens the relevant role of peasants, farmers, rural communities, the national food system and the conservation of biodiversity:
We cannot be intermediaries. We have to do activities in which producers gain visibility. Much work is being done on video production consequently. In every event now there is a producer, so people get to see who is behind the product, its history
A very captivating moment for me was this Laboratory of Taste, where a chef was doing a demonstration on how the chalupín (grasshoppers) can be cooked and it was very nice because they also invited the producer. And as the chef knew nothing about chapulines, only how to cook them, the producer raised his hand to explain what the chef did not know, how to hunt them, how they lived, etc. And the producer at the end sat at the table with the diners, sold their chapulines and presented her product. A network of consumption is created thereafter. People who participated in the taste lab will have the option to buy directly from her
However, Slow Food partners are aware that the introduction of changes in consumption habits is complex and faces many resistance, both external - the food production system itself - and internal, individual:
As long as we continue to work like this there are options to change habits, even the habit of thinking that the food of who knows where and who knows who made it ... is something of postmodern life. We are contributing to change that image, and to give producers a face (...). We are also aware that our network could only cover 20% of the demand, because of the invasion of industrialized food and also because of the consumption habits, which are very deeply rooted in society
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