This is a CTP of initiative: Slow Food Mexico
The CTP consist on the organization of a competition open to general public to attend “Terra Madre - Salone del Gusto”, an international event that gathers thousands of food activists, chefs, producers and food experts. Terra Madre - Salone del Gusto is organized by the Slow Food Network International office in Turin (Italy). The network usually supports the cost of travelling to Italy to those people who aim to attend from Latin America, Africa, Asia or any developed country.
However, only few people will be funded, and national branches are in charge of the selection of the projects and members that will participate in the event. These selection processes are usually oriented to practitioners and producers of any Ark of Taste products, Presidia projects, etc. However, in 2013, Slow Food Mexico, in collaboration with the Slow Food Youth Network, launched a competition, open to any person (member or not) interested in attending Terra Madre - Salone del Gusto 2014. The process, which took almost a year, aimed to increase the acknowledgement and public support of Slow Food Mexico, reaching to young people and producers that used not to be involved in this kind of events. The New leaders in Slow Food Mexico established the following criteria to be involved in the contest:
Our first priority was to give the opportunity to participate in the contest to those practitioners and food producers that have always collaborated with Slow Food. Secondly, we chose a sample of young people related to the Slow Food movement. Finally, a public announcement was made in order to open the competition to any person, involved or not in the movement. We signed some agreements with public institutions, to organize this public competition at national level, that allowed young people, not directly involved in the movement, to participate in the event. They only need to present an endemic endangered product and paying our membership fee
Competition was organized by the new leaders of the Mexican branch of Slow Food. Most of them were volunteering young people:
we have only few products in the Ark of Taste and none Presidia. We also needed to increase our numbers and associates as well
The opportunity to participate in the Salone del Gusto became an attractive way to engage more young people and motivate young food activists to enrol in the movement:
As a result of this process, youth people, local initiatives and convivia leaders, gained certain sense of empowerment. Also, it was the first time I could participate in this event. I really thought it was a fantastic event; it is like the Olympics of good food. It is spectacular to know so many flavours, so many cultures, and so many foods in one space. It is a movement of people that gives support to all volunteers worldwide. Despite being organized in the city of Turin, I think that is something that must be replicated elsewhere in the world
This critical turning point was co-produced by a reduced number of members of the Mexican Slow Food Youth network with the support of the international movement (at the same time, in Europe, the Slow Food Youth Network aimed to upscale the net to the global context). Initially, only few volunteers were involved in the project, such as Eduardo Correa or Alfonso Rocha, who were strongly committed with the slow food movement, and invested time and resources to renovate and modernize the organization. As far as we know, most of them are very well educated people, (with university degrees), who reside in localities near to the Mexico DF. Besides, they are supported by the international network and the Italian staff, which oriented them, travelling to Mexico in some occasions and help them to meet some public and private institutions that might fund some Slow Food projects.
People who drive these national projects are members involved in the national structure. People who have been collaborating with the movement from the beginning, or those who joined later but believed in the slow food movement. Besides, they are people who really think that Slow Food could has a very relevant role in Mexico, that this movement would have a visible impact in the future. At the beginning, all of us were volunteers but we think that this opportunity could be capitalized one day and hiring staff would be crucial
The mentioned critical event occurs in the national context. Mexico is a big country, with many differences within each territory and big rates of poverty and discrimination to indigenous populations, which are related to traditional food production in natural areas. However, until 2012, Slow Food Mexico seems to ignore the relevant role of food producers, farmers, and peasants, indigenous communities within the “good, fair and clean” food chain. In 2012, a change in the structure and leadership of Slow Food Mexico permitted those communities to participate within the organization. Some of their representants attended Terra Madre - Salone del Gusto and got involved in the Ark of Taste and Presidia projects, becoming, later, leaders of some "convivia".
Co-production (of knowledge, activities, projects, etc.) in Slow Food Mexico starts to be more representative of Mexican society. The critical turning point occurs in a period of time that takes one year (2013 -2014), when Slow Food Mexico tries to gain acknowledgement and reaching to young people through the national competition. However, the goal was more ambitious in terms of facing societal challenges such as poverty, healthy issues, food sovereignty, environmental/biodiversity protection.
This Critical Turning Point is directly related to a change within the structure and leadership of the Slow Food Movement in Mexico. This organizational shift brings new faces and new ideas and “ways of doing” to the Mexican branch that were also supported by the International network. In 2012, the Slow Food International Conference elected Alfonso Rocha as International Counsellor, and put him in charge of the Mexican and Central America area.
Few months later (2013), a representation of Slow Food and the Youth Network travelled to Mexico to give support to the new leader, creating the Slow Food Youth Network in Mexico, with the aim of engage young people through this more informal network of young food activists. The participation of Mexican producers and chefs in Terra Madre - Salone del Gusto (2014) had a positive impact to the general acknowledgement of the movement in Mexico.
Besides, attending to 2014 Terra Madre - Salone del Gusto networking events meant a significant experience, a personal turning point for all participants. They felt part of a global movement, they perceive that their effort was very valuable, that they share frustrations and ambitious with thousands of like-minded people. Slow Food members and invited food producers come back from Italy with new inspiring ideas and methodologies to put in practice in Slow Food Mexico. Later events relate to agreements and projects that Slow Food Mexico will conduct in the following years, with the support of the International Network.
In 2015, the Slow Food General Secretary (Paolo di Croce) travelled to Mexico to meet with governmental and private organizations that have been interested in reinforcing the Slow Food Movement. As a consequence, Slow Food signs in 2015 an agreement with the Ford Foundation to develop four projects -connected to the Ark of Taste and Presidia projects- in Mexican rural communities.
The financial support of the Ford Foundation permits Slow Food Mexico to hire some of these young activists as employees. Besides, the network opens its first office in city of Puebla:
This has an economic factor now. We can provide remuneration for the staff and have a reduced structure. The national office is formed by the group of people who most believed in the movement. Now other people are coming on board, but we are only a couple of people yet
As it was explained before, this critical turning point occurs parallel to a wider transformative process within the internal structure of Slow Food Mexico. This CTP also involved a new way of decision-making regarding who people would participate in the international event, Terra Madre - Salone del Gusto. However, contestation was not specifically reported against this CTP, but contestation happened against the mentioned change of direction and leadership in the Mexican branch.
Contestation started in 2012, after the international network proposed the young chef and food activist, Alfonso Rocha, to be a member of Slow Food´s International Board, in charge of the Mexican and Central American areas. Rocha started a renovation of internal organization, "involving more young people and closing some local chapters that, in fact, have not been working appropriately".
However, the intended renovation of the movement, as well as several decisions taken by new leaders, was not accepted by many senior practitioners. Experienced members internally opposed to these changes, which were perceived as an attempt to ignore or disregard their long experience within the movement. In addition, they were afraid of “losing power” or privileges in favour of people who just arrived to the movement. Indeed, a relevant number of members left the organization and others remain as a challenging minority.
The increasing number of associates – and the manifested support of the Slow Food International Network to the new leaders- seem to be essential to the normalization of this situation. Little opposition still exists within the movement, which gradually decreases over time. Furthermore, young members have learned to negotiate and formulate a common framework that gathers all aspirations and inner visions, which makes Slow Food Mexico a suitable place to work in.
According to the interviewee, most of the practitioners – at least those who were more active in the movement- understood, at the same time that the CTP happened (2013-29014), that the competition to participate in Terra Madre - Salone del Gusto will certainly have a positive impact in terms of gaining acknowledgement and increasing the number of associates. The contest was considered an “experiment”, a new attractive way to reach to food activists who were not involved in the movement or who even didn´t know the movement.
Moreover, this event gave an opportunity for food producers –in special, indigenous communities- to participate in a forum organized by an international network that really aims to defend their rights and promote their role in biodiversity conservation. For this reason, the new Slow Food leaders shared the intuition that providing local food producers and young food activists the opportunity to attend the 2014 Terra Madre - Salone del Gusto events would increase their commitment to the network and contribute to the expansion of the Slow Food movement over the Mexican Territory.
This happened in the last month of 2013 and for the most part of 2014, until October, when we went to Turin. Attending Terra Madre - Salone del Gusto was a highly motivating experience. Participants felt highly motivated, involved, empowered. The participatory mechanism to involve the candidates was very challenging, but the reward was very exciting to them
Learning outcomes from the mentioned experience are related to the comprehension of distinct motivations that motivate people to enrol in the Slow Food movement and how these motivations and aspirations change over time. First, when new associates join Slow Food, they are more interested in “the pleasure of eating, tasting good food. They also are proud of our regional products, because Mexican food is really good”. Also, they show curiosity and willingness in learning about specific topics such as the “defence of quality food”, in special if they are chefs or students.
However, being involved in the activities promoted by Slow Food, contributes to the evolution of member´s interests and ambitions, in terms of how new associates conceive the mission and role of the movement. Due to these social learning processes, Slow Food practitioners are more committed to disseminate the slow food philosophy and they invest more time and effort in food education and communication tasks.
They learn, they have more information and knowledge regarding the food system, the losses of biodiversity in Mexican territory, etc. People are more socially and environmentally concerned. Their vision has changed
Collective learning has been also mentioned by the interviewee. The learning opportunities facilitated by this critical turning point augmented the comprehension of the Slow Food Movement transformative discourse. As a result, practitioners reflected on their own performance and the role that Slow Food Mexico should have in terms of social impact or political influence :
Now, Slow Food tries to be a platform that aims to achieve true change, and societal transformation. Although we are focused on the communities where we work, we believe that we will have a greater social impact in future scenarios. We try to achieve this goal through several local development projects that are put into practice, following Slow Food methodologies
Attending international networking events enhances individual and social learning. Slow Food activist who participate in such events (e.g. Terra Madre – Salone Del Gusto etc.) come back more motivated to continue their volunteer work in Slow Food Mexico
I think it's an added value that Alfonso brings. He has the ability to aggregate people who have potential. He gives them the opportunity to work on the network. I think he is very creative and restless. We came up with the idea for the contest to participate in Terra Madre - Salone del Gusto and many people participated because all wanted an opportunity to assist. This reinforced and boosted the network. For example, Nellyssa Sánchez was the winner of the contest, and she has now started a convivium back in her hometown after traveling to Italy. This happened as well in several regions of the country
The interviewee identifies in this critical turning point another learning outcome, which is related to the processes of engaging and upscaling the initiative within the Mexican territory. New ways of approaching people have been described regarding this. First, Slow Food Mexico discourse starts to be more direct, more attractive to the people.
Although the use of technologies is relevant (Website, social media), the most effective strategy seems to be “face-to-face” meetings with slow food associates and local leaders. A national meeting was organized (in Puebla) but, after that, leaders decide to travel across the country in order to know how local convivia were organized and knowing local projects in each region. Besides, new Slow Food leaders have the ability to engage new members with new ideas, creativity, capacity and willingness to start up a new convivium and perform slow food projects in their territories.
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