Gourmandizing Poverty Food: The Serpa Cheese Slow Food Presidium

Abstract

This paper examines a Slow Food–sponsored project to recreate and promote Serpa Velho, a hard aged cheese historically produced in the Alentejo region of Portugal. The authors examine the historical forces behind three changes that the project sought to reverse, namely the abandonment by cheese makers of the Merino breed, the move away from aging the cheese on straw mats in the cheese room rafters to aging in refrigerated stores, and the sale of younger, softer cheeses. The authors contend that the pursuit of these aims by the project ironically contradicts Slow Food's stated aims of fostering the production of food that is ‘good, clean and fair’. The paper concludes not only that more rigorous historical analysis exposes Slow Food's romanticism and elitism, but also that such analysis is necessary to the improvement of the food we eat.