Good, clean, and fair food for allSlow food role in safeguarding food heritage in Brazil and Germany

Abstract

This thesis examines the role played by civil society movements in safeguarding food heritage. For this, it starts from the Brazilian context, where the process of registering these heritages is difficult and slow. The object of this research is Slow Food, an international movement, present in more than 160 countries, which advocates good, clean and fair food for all. The movement has diverse histories in each locality, with different social, cultural, economic and political contexts. What is presented here is the result of a five-year ethnography, comparing Brazil and Germany, and allowing a broader perspective of the movement's actions and agendas. It has involved fieldwork in the two countries between 2019 and 2021, with participant observation, in-depth interviews and documentary analysis. The research relies on a postcolonial, feminist and intersectional framework of analysis in order to delve into the debate of food patrimonialization and its incongruities, and relate it to the articulation of Slow Food in these two countries. By examining the movement in different localities and comparing how it is organized in these contexts, it is possible to see the difficulties and solutions, the internal disputes and conflicts, and how it adapts in space and time. From this analysis, it is possible to point out the roles it plays, or not, in safeguarding the food heritage.