Slow Food against Coldiretti: do they support Italian agriculture by making agreements with McDonald’s?
“The work that McDonald’s and Coldiretti they are promoting is to give correct and timely information to consumers and citizens, with respect to the sustainability that has led the country to be a point of reference at a global level – says the president of Coldiretti, Ettore Prandinion the sidelines of the “Giving value to Italy” initiative held in Rome – All this was possible also thanks to the collaboration with McDonald’s and its work done in Italy, because Mc Donald’s represents the Italian spirit, our excellence, our biodiversity”.
Words that do not fall on deaf ears, indeed. A few hours later Slow Food intervenes with a note in which it explains why “words are important and we cannot share them. Not only because Slow Food was born in opposition to fast food and fast life but because meaning itself is at stake here some words”.
“The agreement between the main national agricultural organization and the world’s largest chain of fast food restaurants it can have an important commercial value and can give economic answers to productive realities going through moments of crisis – write the leaders of Slow Food – but it cannot be presented as a cultural and social operation that leads towards excellence, the valorisation of biodiversity and the made in Italy, sustainability, animal welfare… The excellence of Italian food is the result of artisan knowledge, cultures, widespread skills, healthy soils, beauty and diversity of landscapes, producers who have stories to tell, who defend and improve their territories”.
The topic of biodiversity is delicate: “Biodiversity is the diversity of plant species and varieties, of animal breeds; of pollinating insects, of the microorganisms that make the soil alive, of the knowledge that underlies thousands of breads, cheeses, cured meats… It is the diversity of life , probably the only wealth that will allow us to face the environmental and climate crisis. It must therefore be taken very seriously. It has nothing to do with marketing operations to Italianize, with the addition of local ingredients, a gastronomic formula that represents the most standardized the global food industry has ever conceived”, writes the association founded by Carlo Petrini in 1986. Which, on the theme of Italianness, sinks: “Italianness must be defended when it is virtuous. in fourth place in Europe for childhood obesity, surpassed only by Cyprus, Greece and Spain, and this is also the result of an unbalanced diet based on sugary drinks and hyperprocessed foods, rich in salt, preservatives, additives. A diet very far from the Mediterranean diet, a UNESCO intangible heritage, a guarantee of health and longevity taken as a model all over the world. When the food system compromises the health of people, soils and waters, if we really want to deal with food sovereignty, we must associate the concept of “Made in Italy” with truly virtuous models, and not reduce it to a mere slogan”.
And so, it is the reasoning of Slow Food“sustainability is achieved through different paths, through the courage to reverse a food model that is generating environmental and social disasters, which is pushing small quality producers back to the margins of the market and undermining the foundations of food security for present generations and future. A narrative that distorts the meaning of words risks confusing citizens even more, rather than helping them to make choices based on awareness of the effects on health and the environment. Words give shape to thought and give life to things. So what today we want to act as custodians of words and their most authentic meaning”, concludes Slow Food.
