Barossa Slow: The Representation and Rhetoric of Slow Food's Regional Cooking

Abstract

The concept of regional cooking plays a prominent part in the rhetoric of the Slow Food movement. But how is the notion of a regional cuisine translated into practice by the organizers of events which must satisfy the expectations of an informed and a discerning membership? This essay examines one such Australian event from an anthropological perspective. It is argued that ideas about region and community, heritage and tradition, the authentic and the original, were as carefully attended to by the organizers of Barossa Slow as the rich foods and fine wines that were put on the table. Particular attention is accorded to the part played by organized tours in which prominent artisans detailed the local materials, the well-tried technologies and the social relations which were brought together in the production of regionally specific foods and wines. In order to satisfy the cultural expectations of Slow Food's predominantly middle class membership, the manufacture of myth proved quite as significant as the consumption of cuisine in the success of this particular occasion.