Slow Food Quebec recently held a conference about the ins and outs of artisanal food production in Quebec. More a chance to meet and exchange with other producers than a stuffy academic gathering, the event touched on a number of themes of importance:

At what level of production does a producer stop being an "artisan?"
What are the links between local, authentic food production and restaurants?
And how and what is distinctive about indigenous food producers and their products?

Slow Food Quebec was founded in 2001 to, in the words of Slow Food International, "protect the pleasures of the table from the homogenization of modern fast food and life," and "promotes gastronomic culture, develops taste education, conserves agricultural biodiversity and protects traditional foods at risk of extinction."

Simultaneously resisting the fads of no-fat everything and over-processed superfoods from the global farm lab, the idea of Slow Food is one whose time has come in Quebec. And we are in a position to lead North America in de-industrializing food production.

Sure, our agribusiness is guilty of some of the worst excesses of industrial agriculture. We've got massive farms consisting of one type of plant or animal, and we produce food that is bland and unhealthy right along side the other massive monocroppers that aren't concerned with the health and wellbeing of the environment, people and animals that surround them.

So how can artisanal production move us forward?

The emerging consensus is that there are a couple of essential factors needed to produce artisanal foods. The first is that most if not all of the processing and transformation of food must be done by hand, and that the core ingredients must be either made on-site or at least locally sourced. All recipes and additives must be the authentic, original work of the artisans.

At the Slow Food conference, farmers from the Gaspé spoke about the production and marketing of their food, and of the creative ways artisanal producers earn a living income from their work. For example, eliminating built-in government and market subsidies to agribusiness would help de-industrialize food production and re-energize health, taste, and the ecology of agriculture, and make it possible for artisanal producers to sustain their operations.

While artisanal products cost more, they are the newest and some say the best example of fair trade: the producers get to make their livelihood and consumers get unique, delicious, and healthy foods that are locally produced and sustainable. A recent article in La Presse observed that Quebecers spend more money on food than the North American average, and are more strongly inclined to support artisanal producers for staple fruits and vegetables as well as for processed foods. Quebec restaurants and food media also promote and support artisanal production.

The distinctiveness of Quebec foods is increasingly being recognized across Canada and around the world. By putting a premium on the sensuality of the food experience as well as the environmental, political and economic benefits of artisanal food production, a whole new food politics is being promoted in Quebec. In our production and marketing of local artisanal food we have a good start, but there is still a long way to go.

—Roger