Eat to Change the World

Februrary 24th was our network's release of the "Eat to Change the World" campaign. After attending Terra Madre last October, sustainable agriculture organizations in our network were inspired to campaign for more sustainable consumption in Thailand. Slow Food provides a distinct way to approach the flavors of Thai cuisine and the importance of biodiversity, seed saving and small-scale production.

The release day featured samples from the quisines of Songkhla, Yasothon and Surin. Songkhla made several sweet deserts and preserved fruit dishes, Yasothon mixed up an herbal salad, with starfruit, eggplant, black peper, garlic and a number of other fresh ingredients, and Surin stir-fried some Black Jasmine, Red Jasmine and Whole-grained Jasmine in our organic rice bran oil, along with some local potatoes, sesame and egg. All the dishes were fresh and delicious, prepared by the same women who produced their ingredients,

The day featured a discussion on the meaning of Slow Food in Thailand and the possibilities for our movement. Witoon Lianchamroon of Biothai started things off by asking, "why create something like this? For what reasons? Well, it's about the culture around the food system and it's process. Slow Food evokes a feeling of 'non-fast food.'" Local food, produced by small-scale farmers or indigenous plants sold at local markets - ostensibly "slow foods" - have been in Thailand for a long time, but Slow Food aims to revive knowledge about production and taste and make it accessible to consumers. Further, Thailand's food culture has changed a lot over a short period of time. Traditionally, meat was rarely eaten, mostly for holidays - but the rapid increase in consumption (of a number of unhealthy foods) has led to high cholesterol and diabetes among many Thais. Witoon pointed to an informal survey of 100 youth at a recent ActionAid event that found that of those who eat fermented fish paste, it was only eaten 4-5 times a month. Fermented fish paste is eaten daily by most rural people in northeastern Thailand.

Given Thailand's growing affection for fast food, I'd say that Slow Food could be an important response to our changing food landscape. People in Bangkok are eaters. Though someone might be genuinely interested in conscious consumption, it all begins at the market. If consumers can change their way of thinking about consumption, and about speed or convenience, and feel satisfied with food diversity (given the lack of diversity and quality in Thailand's supermarkets), Slow Food could make a difference here. And the next step would be to establish a new connection with producers. Eating is empowering and systems of consumption have influence on our markets. When we know how our food is produced, we are able to support alternative systems. Slow Food in the U.S. is a good example - Alice Waters was featured recently on 60 minutes and The New York Times just ran an article on the coming "Food Revolution." Despite slow growth in the organic food market in the U.S. right now, the growth of small farmers and Obama's move to plant a White House garden proves the point that farming and consuming sustainably is economically and socially viable.

So what does this recent event have to do with us here in Isaan? March 9th brought our regional meeting to talk about our "local foodways" approach, where representatives from Yasothon, Mahasarakam and Surin discussed ways to show the connections between producers and consumers. In each of these three provinces, we have organized Green Markets that bring organic-certified food to consumers several times a week. By highlighting these markets we can show consumers the benefits of informed consumption, or supporting local alternatives. These markets are also a kind of "new foodway" because agro-industry has begun to designate certain provinces for certain mono-cropped grains, vegetables and livestock. A vendor at a conventional public market can most likely tell you where their produce was delivered from, but not where it was grown or how it was produced. Below, cabbages, tomatoes, cucumbers, limes and papayas delivered to the Yasothon city market from Ubon Ratchatani.

Above, fermented fish sauce, tomatoes, pumpkins, mangoes, various gourds, bale fruit, chili, galangal, rice, yard-long beans, jujube, tamarind and kaffir lime leaves, all produced locally by an organic farmer/vendor at the Mahasarakam Green Market. We can prove that the foods we eat - and the culture around them - can be supported by small farmers producing a diversity of organic crops. The Bangkok event pointed out that foods often follow us - the range of ethnic communities throughout the city has generated different types of public markets carrying a range of products. For Isaan's provinces - be they Lao or Khmer - the fruits and vegetables, pork and fish that we eat, are all central to our culture. A diversified, regional food network supports consumer health, the environment and in the words of P' Ubon Yuwa, creates "new communities." Slow Food enables producers and consumers to reconnect with clear information about the food they share.