Salone del Gusto versus Good, Clean, and Fair: Part 1

Published by Wednesday, December 12, 2012 Permalink 0

 

Salone del Gusto versus Good, Clean, and Fair: Part 1

by Diana Zahuranec

Salone del Gusto, an event held biannually in Turin, Italy by the organization Slow Food, gathers artisanal producers from around the world in five days of selling organic or biodynamic, high quality, artisanal, innovative and traditional products; tasting workshops; and conferences about the state of the world’s food system and what can be done to promote sustainable growth. It’s an amalgamation of the green movement and everything it could possibly stand for before such a thing as “green washing” existed.

So what were the Italian supermarket COOP, the internationally famous Italian espresso company Lavazza, and the ubiquitous road-side Italian convenience store Autogrill doing at the Salone?

A supermarket is the antithesis of Slow Food’s “good, clean, and fair” motto. Products are available at any quality, starting at “low” and often not reaching above “decent;” produce and packaged goods come from all over the world, with little thought as to what other countries deem as “safe” pesticides, and with less thought about the energy used to transport everything; and finally, it’s anyone’s guess as to how many products lining the shelves were made under unpleasant or dangerous working conditions with low wages as poor compensation.

Coffee beans are notorious for their high demand pitted against their low cost, possible only through unfair working conditions and wages. Coffee plants are harvested using mono-cropping methods, which is environmentally friendly only in the interests of that particular crop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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