Slow Food como um Consumo Alimentar Alternativo: abordagens, princípios e atributos de produto

Resumo

The objective of this conceptual essay is to discuss Slow Food as an alternative food consumption. Slow Food has been presented over the years under different approaches and connotations. We consider that difficulties in interpreting Slow Food as an object of research in the consumption field can be overcome through this essay. We propose that Slow Food is a phenomenon of multiple approaches and an alternative food consumption that is also related with relational, sensory, temporal, sustainable, cultural and political aspects. Furthermore, the definitions of Slow Food principles are expanded and its product attributes as food consumption are mapped. Within this proposal, Slow Food involves concerns with food acquisition, preparation and consumption, with the environment and the various actors involved in the search for good, clean and fair food, that is, official principles of the movement. The attributes of Slow Food's products can be summarized as healthy, nutritious, natural, fresh, seasonal, regional, environmentally friendly and socially fair foods, produced by small local producers, for whom reducing damage to the environment is important, avoiding and condemning the use of production methods that impoverish or pollute land and water resources. Such producers, in turn, are valued and remunerated fairly.