In the process, the meanings and functions of cities have been constantly changed/transformed for various reasons. The political, economic and cultural structure of the current period has been effective in the change/transformation process of the cities. The events occurring in these..
What is Slow Food
Slow Food and Cittaslow Movement in Returning from Globalization to Traditional
Gulhan SAGIR-1
SUMMARY
Globalization is changing cities today and is increasingly affecting life at the local level. While the cities are moving towards uniformization, the lifestyles of the individuals are similar to each other and the differences disappear. In the global system, site-specific differences and features are less pronounced; life is faster.
The fast eating and drinking habits that come with this change harm human health, while places become unidentified. In response to the negative impact of globalization on human life, social movements advocating new lifestyles such as Slow Food and Cittaslow (Slow City) have emerged by some local groups. This study proposes to reflect on the negative impact of globalization on the vital fabric of cities; It aims to evaluate the impact of slow food and cittaslow movements on cities and individuals' lifestyles.
LOGIN
The city is a relatively large, densely populated and continuous settlement, which is formed by individuals who are socially dissimilar (Gürpınar, 1996: 13).
In the process, the meanings and functions of cities have been constantly changed/transformed for various reasons. The political, economic and cultural structure of the current period has been effective in the change/transformation process of the cities. The events occurring in these areas affect the urban management style, the way of using the urban space, and the relations of the people in the city with each other.
In particular, globalization and the homogenizing effect of globalization accelerated this change/transformation process; This situation has led to the observance of the requirements of a standardized consumption culture in the economic framework and the seemingly uniformity of every place (Tomlinson, 2004: 141). This sameness manifests itself as uniformization in cities. Similar structuring trends in most of the cities in the world are making cities more and more similar to each other.
While globalization brings world cities closer together with similar structures, it destroys urban identities determined by local uniqueness. This situation causes the formation of heterogeneous communities with multicultural and identity in cities; on the other hand, it causes communities to move away from their essence (Coşkun, 2002: 43). Thus, while the world shrinks, it also becomes disidentified (Kiper, 2004: 17; Radstorm, 2011: 91).
On the other hand, the process of globalization can lead to the disappearance of traditional lifestyles and culture, thus causing difficulties in the lives of local groups. These emerging obstacles allow some social movements to emerge. So; In this way, the Slow Food movement is an opportunity that emerged against globalization that threatens the traditional lifestyle, and organizations that include social planning such as Cittaslow (slow city) are the movements that provide holistic, place-oriented solutions and benefits as an answer to the problem of maintaining local identity. comes out.
This study aims to evaluate the effects of these new trend applications, which have emerged as a response to the negative effects of globalization on cities and lives, on urban space and urban life. The study proposes to reflect on the negative impact of globalization on the vital fabric of cities rather than opposing it. The effects of Slow Food and Slow City, which can be described as a return to traditional values, on urban life are evaluated.
1. Slow Movement from Globalization to Traditional
The fast world is the chief product of the global expansion of capitalism. In the global economic system, time is valuable and an increase in the pace of life is inevitable (Knox, 2005: 3). In life, which has become more complicated with the development of technology, many people seek a slower pace of life.
Its proponents see the "slow motion" as a response to the negative impact of speed on everyday life. Slow living is not a return to the past, the good old days, laziness or the slow motion of life. On the contrary, slow life is a process in which daily life - at its own pace, complexity, excitement and routine - is approached with interest and attention. Slow life, above all, is the art of living in the “now” in a meaningful, sustainable, thoughtful and enjoyable way (Gallagher, 2013: 99).
Honore (2004: 16) expresses “slowness” as follows: slowness is not a simple rejection of fast life or a Luddite (anti-technology) response to the developing technological world; on the contrary, it is a state that makes the world attractive. Slowness is about thinking about the pace at which we live, which means “controlling the rhythm of one's own life”.
slowness for Petrini (2001: 26); It requires devoting one's energies to creating the world they most want to live in. “If you want to revive a tradition and breathe new life into it,” he argues, “often all you need is a new toolbox and some innovative ideas.”
Parkins and Craig (2006: 67) argue that slow life can be perceived as an attempt at "individuation" and as challenging the normative trajectory of global capitalism; They advance this discussion, which is in line with the foundation of the Slow Food ideology, so that any effort to slow it down means it will slow down all obstacles.
Today, the situation in which cities are dragged into and the changes in the lifestyles of individuals push cities to social movements such as Slow Food and Slow City.
1.1. The Emergence of Slow Food
Italian gourmet, Carlo Petrini, started the Slow Food movement in the Langhe region of the Italian province of Cuneo in 1986 as a reaction to the opening of a McDonald's restaurant in Rome's Piazza di Spagna. A group of political and cultural Italian activists prepared the Slow Food manifesto, which inspired the founding of the international movement Slow Food (Jones et al., 2003: 298). The Slow Food Manifesto focuses on the negative effects of fast living on our lives.
The purpose of the manifesto is not just to protest McDonalds, but to offer an alternative to mass-produced globalizing food. This manifesto is considered the starting point for the Slow Food movement, which today has around 100,000 members in more than 130 countries. The Association has over 100,000 members who have joined 1,500 groups (local chapters that support its philosophy), as well as 2000 networked food groups (which engage in the small-scale and sustainable production of quality food). Currently, there are 24 groups promoting the Slow Food philosophy in Turkey (slowfood.com, 2015b)
According to the Slow Food Manifesto; Standardization of taste, threat to biodiversity, environmental destruction (associated with the industrialization of agriculture), extinction of small producers, extinction of low-profit species, vegetables, fruits and cereals, and loss of cultural identity are negative consequences of globalization. Therefore, this movement adopts anti-capitalism as its main aim. He emphasizes that the fast life fed by globalization disrupts every aspect of the traditional, especially the food system and consumption behavior (slowfood.com, 2012a).
The movement aims to preserve the "right to taste" taste education and traditional farming methods and techniques, by preserving the nearly extinct traditional tastes, raising awareness of the pleasure of eating (including the social aspects of sharing a meal). Taste education is also seen as a slow way to resist McDonaldization (Petrini, 2001: 69). This movement aims to reduce the homogenizing effect of fast food, preserve food pleasures and life, develop gastronomic culture, experience agricultural diversity and education, protect foods at risk and have its own university (Pink, 2008: 97; Pink, 2009: 454). Slow Food is an international non-profit, democratic association; it is voluntary to advance social and cultural causes (slowfood.com, 2012b).
Individual members of Slow Food meet in local groups called “convivials”. Members are encouraged to integrate the principles of the movement into daily practice and are expected to promote the values of the movement (Pink, 2008: 98). Today, Slow Food, which includes a wide cultural diversity due to its global spread, continues to support locally produced traditional foods that are enjoyed in a pleasant way (Carp, 2012:133; Furze et al., 2010: 450).
1.1.1. Human-Earth-Plate (People-Planet-Plate)
Slow Food founder Carlo Petrini, while explaining
Gastronomy Tourism , defines food as a purely cultural product related to quality, sustainability, biodiversity and social justice. He positions Slow Food as a new social movement that increasingly focuses on cultural and symbolic strategies as a tool to ensure independence or democratization of social and cultural spaces (Schneider, 2008: 390). At the same time, according to Petrini, food should be associated from plate to planet, be good, just and clean.
Because the main purpose of Slow Food is not only to 'defend good food and gastronomic pleasure and thus support a slower pace of life', but also to 'defend biodiversity by preserving traditional dishes, main ingredients, growing and processing methods' (slowfood.com, 2013). Slow Food has given itself an eco-gastronomic mission (Sassatelli and Davolio, 2010:205).
Beginning with the attention paid to the pleasure that depends on the palate, this innovative gastronomic approach, which is not only related to taste but also multi-sensory and complex, raises a stronger and broader awareness of the cultural, historical, natural, social, ecological, institutional, productive conditions and mechanisms behind food quality. (slowfood.com, 2015a; Tencati and Zsolnai 2012:348). In fact, the pleasure of food must be shared, and eating is the main form of socialization. Therefore, Slow Food promotes food culture by protecting and defending the cultural heritage of local communities, their craftsmanship, social relationships and associated biodiversity. Local and sustainable food, to feed people and at the same time respect the carrying capacity of the Earth, It is the only way to provide better living conditions for farmers and consumers (Tencati and Zsolnai, 2012: 348-349). Because there is an inevitable connection between the plate and the planet (suejackson.com, 2007).
1.1.2. Good, Clean and Fair
Since the early 1980s, genetically modified products have been on our table. The concern of environmentalists and Slow Food is that there is not enough information about how these genetically modified products affect the environment and human health. At the same time, the patenting of genetically modified crops by large agricultural companies forces farmers to purchase seeds and products at higher prices from a small number of suppliers later on. Thus, industrial agriculture threatens both biodiversity and local agricultural economies.
Therefore, Petrini, for more than three decades, has insisted on the role of taste and pleasure as mediators to protect different local cultures from the homogenizing effects of industrialization and globalization (Schneider, 2008: 390-397). “25 years ago, my friends and I started the Slow Food movement because we believed we were on the verge of losing something essential, clean and good for life, the diversity of food, the richness of our traditions, the connection between what we eat and how it is produced. Since then, Slow Food has been the only movement that connects food pleasure with social responsibility, fighting for the fundamental right of access to good, clean and fair food for all” (cittaslow.org, 2015d).
The idea of quality developed by Yavaş Yemek covers the following three principles (slowfood.com, 2010):
• The food must be good. This means that the food that every person eats tastes good and gives pleasure, according to the criteria of reality and naturalness applied in a certain moment, place and culture, without needing to change its naturalness in any way.
• Food must be clean. Food must be produced sustainably that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or human health. It is necessary to protect the health of consumers and producers at every stage of the agro-industrial chain, including consumption, and to protect the ecosystem and biodiversity.
• Food should be fair. Food producers must receive fair compensation for the work they do in humane conditions while their dignity, knowledge and talents are protected and valued.
These three conditions help create a dialogue between scientific and traditional knowledge, rather than favoring one over the other. Slow Food advocates emphasize that both science and tradition have the right to preserve food that is good for eating and thinking (Schneider, 2008:390-397).
1.1.3. University of Gastronomy Sciences
Slow Food is an educational and rhetorical act. The educational model of the movement is lifelong education as a means of developing social knowledge about food and higher education in gastronomy as a way to improve the position of gastronomy as a scientific field. Slow Food's other educational programs strive to develop gastronomy as a democratic and social practice. To this end, the movement emphasizes the importance of sensory education as a way of recognizing good food through school and community-oriented programs (Schneider, 2008: 390-397).
The efforts of Slow Food to shape gastronomy and to give an academic stance to nutritional knowledge resulted in the opening of the University of Gastronomy Sciences in Italy. Its aim is to be an international research and education center for people working on renewing agricultural methods, protecting biodiversity and creating an organic relationship between gastronomy and agricultural science (unisig.it, 2015).
The Slow City movement is a formation that started with the participation of the mayors of the cities of Bra (Francesco Guida), Orvieto (Stefano Cimicchi) and Positano (Domenico Marrone) in Italy.
The movement seeks to promote trade with ecologically sensitive, regionally authentic and gastronomy -oriented tourism (Mayer and Knox, 2010: 1555). The Slow City movement offers an alternative approach to the negative effects of globalization, uniformity, standardization and institutionalization that affect daily life for sustainable urban development (Mayer and Knox, 2006: 322; Pink, 2009: 453; Grzelak-Kostulska et al., 2011: 187).
In response to its founders' perception of living time as "fast" and "homogeneous", Slow City emphasizes local difference in the context of globalization and tries to improve the quality of life locally (Pink, 2008b: 97; Mayer and Knox, 2006: 327). On the other hand, Slow City launches an “alternative philosophy” as a form of “mobilization against globalization” that defines development as radical, sustainable, fair and genuine. Slow City cities oppose perpetual economic growth and consumption by rediscovering their “culture of space” and embracing their own identity, roots and values (Knox, 2005: 5; Pink, 2008a: 174).
The Slow City movement is a clear and radical response to globalization; it is also closely associated with the
Slow Food movement. It meets the real demands of post-modern societies living in the globalizing world and tired of constant competition. While the Slow Food movement focuses on countering the loss of local distinctiveness in relation to food, local groups, sense of place and hospitality; The slow city or Citt`a Lente movement aims to preserve and increase urban livability and quality of life. Slow Cities are places where citizens and local leaders value historical heritage and use the diverse local context to enhance it in better and sustainable ways. The aims of the two movements are different but complementary.
The Slow City and Slow Food movement is to support sustainability and local groups. More generally, both movements focus on local diversity, and the underlying assumptions of the movement point to the interdependence between the three E's of sustainable urban development (environment, equity and economy/economics) (Mayer and Knox, 2006: 322; Mayer and Knox). , 2010:1554). Both are against big corporations and globalization, although they are not as much a political entity as they are ecological and humanistic. Therefore, the Slow Food movement was initially perceived as a direct counter-attack to globalization – a cultural barrier in resistance to the brutal domination of McDonald's, Walmart and other symbols of globalization (Knox, 2005: 6; Grzelak-Kostulska et al., 2011:189; Nilsson et al., 2011: 376).
1.2.1. Slow City Destinations
The main goal of Slow City is to spread the Slow Food philosophy to local communities and municipal governments, and to introduce the concept of eco gastronomy into daily life. It is also to preserve and develop cultural heritage, architecture and other traditional values in towns. It strives to reduce the effect of homogenization, which poses a threat with globalization (Nilsson et al., 2011: 375).
In the slow city, it is aimed to create a human-friendly city where life is calmer, with ample opportunities to rest and where its inhabitants live in harmony with nature. Most importantly, Slow City encourages small cities to use new technologies to turn them into the perfect place to live and relax. According to the founders of Slow City, Slow City fulfills the real demands of post-modern societies that live in a globalizing world and are tired of constantly competing (Grzelak-Kostulska et al., 2011:189).
1.2.2. Slow City Conditions of Excellence
Slow City membership is open to city government units with a population of less than 50,000. Each city applying to join the network has over 70 different criteria to be addressed under the titles of environmental principles, infrastructure principles, improving the quality of the urban fabric, promoting local production and products, hospitality, understanding the Slow City and raising awareness.
These conditions of excellence, Energy and Environmental Policies (12 Items), Infrastructure Policies (9 Items), Urban Quality of Life Policies (17 Items), Agricultural, Touristic and Artisanal Policies (10 Items), Policies for Hospitality, Awareness and Education ( It consists of 7 main headings and 72 items in total, including 10 Items), Social Cohesion (11 Items) and Partnerships (3 Items) (cittaslow.org, 2015a, Annex: C). These criteria that a candidate city must fulfill are based on the principle of “Festina Lente” (speed up slowly), which expresses the search for the best achievements of the past for their present counterparts (Miele, 2008:139).
Slow City principles include practices that go further than the "slow" philosophy by providing efficient ways to emphasize individuality and creativity at the local level as opposed to the uniformity that is the result of global culture (Parkins and Craig, 2006: 31). Various measures implemented include reducing traffic, increasing pedestrian areas and bike lanes, improving parks and green spaces, restoring historic structures, promoting eco-friendly architecture, and eliminating noise, light and air pollution, neon lights, billboards, car alarms and base stations. It aims to reduce it by prohibiting it (Knox, 2005: 7). At the same time, the Slow City promotes environmental protection, hospitality, sociability and cooperation, and technology that promotes networks for the local producer, supports gastronomic traditions and local aesthetics (Pink, 2008a:
Slow City principles give cities their own identity, past and spirit; It also offers individuals an alternative way to return to their own essence.
Currently, a total of 236 cities in 30 countries are included in the Slow City network. In Turkey, a total of 14 districts, namely Akyaka, Eğirdir, Gerze, Gökçeada, Göynük, Halfeti, Persembe, Savsat, Seferihisar, Vize, Taraklı, Uzundere, Yalvaç and Yenipazar, are included in the network.
CONCLUSION
It can be said that the Slow Food and Slow City movement, which is the continuation of the Slow Movement, are the movements whose principles have begun to be applied by large masses in the world. With the applied principles, people reduce the speed of life and interact socially with each other. In addition, while protecting the environment with these practices, cities are rediscovering their unique values and cultures.
However, slow food practices will not be enough to feed more than 10 billion people struggling with hunger in the world. Because, although slow food is an alternative to existing industrialized agricultural practices, it has viable results only in developed countries. It does not seem like an application that will make it possible for everyone in the world to reach healthy food.
When we look at the Slow City applications, giving memberships only to settlements with a population of 50,000 gives this opportunity to settlements with a large population. Since the formation is based in Italy, it does not seem fair to concentrate the memberships in Italy. On the other hand, the attractiveness of the cities chosen as Slow City may be damaged by touristic visits.
In general, although these new trends claim to offer a radical solution to the effects of globalization; This claim does not seem very realistic. However, all these trends can be a start to reduce the effects of globalization on the vital texture of cities and to return to traditional lifestyles. At the same time, such formations that have emerged against the negative effects of globalization are good examples to show us to what extent individual lives and cities are in the grip of globalization.
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Author's Note: In this study, the thesis titled "Assessment of Urban Life Quality in the Scope of Slow City Municipal Services: The Case of Seferihisar" was taken as reference.
As the head chef Ahmet ÖZDEMİR, I see the source:
Mr. Mr. I sincerely thank Gülhan SAĞIR for her academic studies titled "Slow Food and Cittaslow Movement in Returning from Globalization to Traditionalism- What is Slow Food" and wish her success in her professional life. It will definitely be considered as an example by those who need it in professional kitchens, related research and in the world of gastronomy.
Note:
The original text, which is accepted as a source, is as follows. Google translation was used for the necessary language change.