farming in the early 197042s. The labour intensity of some organic methods also emerged as a barrier to success. Even within the farming community, organic farming did not become mainstream. Many farmers still cite the overall more expensive inputs and lack of stable outputs to this day. It seems that the urge to retain good food against the backdrop of the global food system was not only part of American and British counter culturalism but also on the European continent. In 1983, Carlo Petrini and Italian activists started the Slow Food Movement. The values that underpinned the movement were 'preserving regional traditions, good food, gastronomic pleasure and a slow pace of life'43. As suggested by 'Food Activism' writer Carole Counihan, 'Democracy is expressed, through consumer choice, regulation of food production, control of food distribution, and goals for universal access to resources'44. Like the counterculture movements in America and Britain, the slow food movement enables a democracy through food. The above movements show the desire to use food for social, political and economic change throughout history. They are all rooted in the counterculture movements of the past. These ideas about food and the food system are still present in food system change today. This dissertation will evaluate the similarities and differences of modern-day food systems’ change to these movements in future chapters. However, this chapter only shows a one-sided story about food; Organic, Vegetarian, and Coop culture, which are still not the mainstream and were not even during the counterculture movements. The next chapter will explore the other side of the food story, one of mainstream food culture, taste and consumer choices. Arguably this is still the most predominant ‘foodie’ type today.
42 Warren James Belasco (2006). Appetite for change: how the counterculture took on the food industry. 2nd ed. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. 43 https://www.slowfood.org.uk/about/about/what-we-do/ 44 Counihan, C. and Siniscalchi, V. (2014). Food activism: agency, democracy and economy. London, Uk ; New York, Ny: Bloomsbury Academic. Chapter 1. pg 6
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