SLOW FOOD LESSONS IN THE FAST FOOD MIDWEST

During the latter half o f t he twentieth c entury, the A merican food system wa s tr ansformed by a technological revolution in American agriculture. While these changes provided benefits such as lower-cost food, it also generated concerns that the unconditional embrace of technology would harm rural communities and the environment. Additional concerns were raised about food quality and food safety. Through a case study of a rural Midwestern farming community, this paper examines how direct consumer to producer marketing strategies such as community supported agriculture (CSA) and the public's current fascination with the heritage of farming may offer a subset of producers and consumers a sustainable alternative to large-scale production agriculture and the "fast" foods resulting from such production.

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