Deifying Diet: The Slow Food Movement as an Emergent Religion

Abstract

This thesis investigates the food movement, in particular the incipient Slow Food movement, and puts forth that the creation and development of this trend exhibits many characteristics of an emerging religion and has arguably begun to function as such. Since the early 1990s, many critics have claimed that the dominance of malbouffe (bad food) has resulted in numerous negative consequences. The Slow Food movement emerged as an answer to the public’s growing concern and desire to address this problem. Today a sizable number of people across the globe are embracing the Slow Food movement with the same fervor typically seen in adherents of a conventional religion. Its many ardent devotees choose a way of life that is substantially different from that of the mainstream, reciting the mantra “Good, Clean and Fair.” Among their strongest-held principles is the belief that the Slow Food ethos presents a viable path to liberation of mind, body, and spirit. This study first espouses a definition of religion that is broad-reaching in approach, drawing from academic investigations by scholars such as Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, Ernst Troeltsch, Clifford Geertz, Paul Tillich, and Peter Berger. Upon this foundation, this study approaches the Slow Food movement as embodying numerous elements of a religion using Robert S. Ellwood’s description of the four important features that characterize an “emergent religion.” First, it appears at a time of uncertainty; second, tradition becomes “new” by taking on some new focus making it unique; third, it involves a charismatic leader who is central in the development of the religion; and fourth, it emphasizes the future—looking ahead to better times (Ellwood 133-134). In examining how this four-fold process has played out during the establishment and extension of the Slow Food movement, this study will illustrate how followers are being attracted and mobilized towards establishing a solid collective identity that fosters the movement’s progress. In addition, to underscore this study’s significance, I will conclude by highlighting the multiple ways that the food movement, in particular the Slow Food movement, is infiltrating traditional religions across a broad and varied spectrum of faiths.