Yuppie Foodies and Hungry Children

categories: Activism, Federal, Government, Guest Bloggers, Hunger, News, Nonprofits, Policy

Published September 10, 2009 @ 06:00AM PT

On Labor Day this past Monday, Slow Food USA kicked off its new Time for Lunch campaign by staging "eat-ins" in various cities across the United States.

The purpose of these events, as well as the campaign in general, is to raise awareness about the need to increase healthy food in schools by reauthorizing the Child Nutrition Act before the legislation expires at the end of September.

The message of this campaign is right, but the image and the branding are completely wrong.

Slow Food--although being an organization whose mission I support--is the epitome of the yuppie-foodie groups, a pay-to-play network of gazpacho sipping gastro-enthusiasts.

To me, there's just something painfully ironic about a group dining on organic goat meat tacos while advocating for increasing the amount of healthy foods available to some of the nation's poorest children (who probably have no idea what organic means, nor what a goat meat taco is).

From an outsider's perspective, it looks like wealthy intellectuals projecting their values onto a population they could not fathom being a part of. In this case, the goal of these efforts is an extremely noble and necessary one.

However, I worry that it also helps to blur the line between what is actually needed on the ground, and what is perceived to be needed by those looking down from above.

As in the majority of advocacy work, the vehicle for disseminating your message is just as, if not more, important than the message itself.

This was proven true in the recent PETA "Save the Whales" debacle. Although the message of the groups campaign--stop eating meat in order to live a healthier life--is one that can be supported, the manner in which it was delivered undermined their effort completely.

Slow Food's Time for Lunch campaign could have added some credibility by partnering with the School Nutrition Association or another organization that has worked on the school lunch issue for quite some time.

I just hope that people can see that reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act is about feeding kids healthy food, and not about promoting a yuppie-foodie agenda.

(Photo credit: Orin Zebest on Flickr)

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Comments (4)

I hate the virtuous foodies, and I say this as both a poor person and a foodie.

First, I find the whole slow food movement regressive. Women, who still do a majority of the day to day cooking, are supposed to feel bad because they don't have an extra 20 hours a week to spend shopping for and cooking meals that meat the virtuous standards of who-gives-a-rats...

2nd -if on a poverty budget you could eat enough calories in just organic produce & meat and minimally processed foods and still have time to work two jobs and take care of the children, then we would. But it's not a possibility.

So the virtuous foodies just hve one more impossible standard to hold the us poor people to. And I think it kinda blows.

Posted by Elizabeth Stillson on 09/10/2009 @ 06:23AM PT
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Slow Food USA is no longer an elitist fancy food club. Their motto is food that is good, clean and fair. Not so sure that the SNA would fall into alignment with that motto.

This month, Slow Food has a membership drive that encourages folks to join with a pay what you can incentive. What does it cost to join SNA or attend their conferences? Big bucks!

The School Nutrition Association has often been part of the problem and not the solution! Big funders of SNA such as the Corn Refiners Association and Tyson have a significant say in their platform. Last year, the SNA held a teleconference for school lunch ladies to explain how HFCS is the same as sugar. Sorry, but the integrity of the SNA has to be brought into question.

Before you bash Slow Food's Time for Lunch campaign, take a good look at their platform. Investing in children's health and protecting kids from food products that put their health at risk. Where do you get off calling that "yuppie"?

Meaningful school food reform needs to include fresh fruits and veggies that come from local and regional farmers, not a better chicken nugget.

Posted by Dr. Susan Rubin on 09/10/2009 @ 09:36AM PT
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The mission of the campaign is great, something I support completely. There's nothing yuppie about wanting kids to eat healthy food, and I agree that we need more fresh fruits and veggies instead of "Smart Choice" chicken nuggets and pizza.

I'm happy to hear that Slow Food is moving away from its elitist roots, but don't think the orgs public image is quite there yet.

Posted by Greg Plotkin on 09/10/2009 @ 09:55AM PT
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if supporting slow food can get fresh nutritious meals to the schools cafeterias who would argue.

before school and lunch programs is all that more kids than you can imagine have to eat. many teachers keep food in their classrooms to feed their students.

Slow Food may be moving away from elitist roots - groovey - as long as those financial roots are firmly planted then they may improve school nutrition.

any food program agenda must include reaching more children through all years of schooling

Posted by Jennifer Perugini on 09/10/2009 @ 12:33PM PT
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Author

Greg Plotkin is currently a grant-writer living in Washington, DC. As a two-year AmeriCorps member teaching in DC Public Schools, he saw families struggling with poverty on a daily basis and has become particularly interested in hunger, nutrition and food access issues. He has also viewed poverty through the lens of his work with Habitat for Humanity and Charlie's Place--a DC soup kitchen and homeless support center.