"In Slow Food's assessment, it is territory .... that is most immediately threatened by industrial agriculture and the monocultures it encourages." In Stephen Schneider's article Good, Clean, Fair: The Rhetoric of the Slow Food Movement, territory is defined as a combination of factors, both natural and human. For example, lobster is popular in the gastronomic culture of Maine because of it's availability, a natural factor. In a weird combination of regional culture and industrial monoculture, I remember stopping at a rest stop on an interstate in New England to find lobster rolls on the menu at the McDonald's. I don't know if they still offer the specialty among their otherwise homogeneous options; this was over a decade ago on a Boy Scout trip. But it made such an impression on me that I still remember. Like, who drives all the way to Maine only to try the lobster at a McDonald's?
Another memory from my travels is the prevalence of Greek and Turkish restaurants in the Nashville area. I would liken it to the presence of an Italian place in every strip mall in South Jersey (right next to the Wawa). This is an example of a territory defined not by natural factors, but by human ones. I'm not familiar with the history of Nashville, but I imagine it saw a great number of Greek and Turkish immigrants at one time.
I also wanted to comment on the idea of school vegetable gardens. I really can't think of a better use of school time than to plant and maintain a garden. Aside from demonstrating the value of hard work in a tangible product, it promotes teamwork and provides limitless opportunities for science and nutrition instruction. Even art classes could utilize the garden to teach the importance of close observation. If my oral history research group hadn't already decided on a topic, I would have loved to explore school vegetable gardens in action.
That said, after reading this article I thought of another research question for our project on the opening of a new farmers market: How do you see the farmers market as helping to preserve the local food culture of South Jersey and Medford specifically?
Another memory from my travels is the prevalence of Greek and Turkish restaurants in the Nashville area. I would liken it to the presence of an Italian place in every strip mall in South Jersey (right next to the Wawa). This is an example of a territory defined not by natural factors, but by human ones. I'm not familiar with the history of Nashville, but I imagine it saw a great number of Greek and Turkish immigrants at one time.
I also wanted to comment on the idea of school vegetable gardens. I really can't think of a better use of school time than to plant and maintain a garden. Aside from demonstrating the value of hard work in a tangible product, it promotes teamwork and provides limitless opportunities for science and nutrition instruction. Even art classes could utilize the garden to teach the importance of close observation. If my oral history research group hadn't already decided on a topic, I would have loved to explore school vegetable gardens in action.
That said, after reading this article I thought of another research question for our project on the opening of a new farmers market: How do you see the farmers market as helping to preserve the local food culture of South Jersey and Medford specifically?
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