Hur maten blev begriplig : En analys av matens diskursiva formationen bland Slow Foodmedlemmar i Göteborg

Abstract

The aim of this essay is to analyze the discursive production of Food, within the Slow food movement, by its members. Through a discourse analysis inspired, theoretically and methodically, by Michel Foucault, this essay examines how the idea of food – that is “what should be eaten” – in opposite to what can be eaten, is constructed within by Slow Food members in the Gothenburg area. The essay analysis how Slow Food’s food discourse is structured and what results this formation has on food within this discourse. In the analysis of the interview the Slow Food motto of food as: “good, clean and fair” stood out as key concepts within the discourse. Good, which is given precedence within the discourse was produced through an emphasis on taste, science and culture. The formation of good as a concept within the discourse is largely formulated against a critic of modernity and it’s Mcdonaldization of food. The critic also largely governs the formation of clean and fair. These concepts, in turn, curb the cognitive perception of good. The food discourse was ordered through a range of dichotomies such as: false – genuine, inauthentic – authentic, global – local, industry – artisan, which produced a sense of food that is highly bound by tradition, which in turn creates a strong bond between region and culture. The Slow Food members create a highly ordered and disciplined food discourse that regulates food.