I think we need to be honest with ourselves; it IS an elitist movement so far. To eat slow requires at least one of two things that many Americans just don’t have: enough money to support the higher prices, and enough time to actually cook slow food. (I live in a working class community, where folks are scraping together a living from shift jobs. The farmer’s market is so far from being at the top of their priority list).

That said, the backlash against slow food simply because it’s elitist is really misguided. First, because we’re at a critical moment in history, where we can either save small farms, and save land that can be used for agriculture, or we can lose them. Right now, those with the most resources are most engaged in saving them. Not everyone can do it right now; that doesn’t mean that it’s not a good thing.

Second, because if we can change policies, we can help make good food more accessible to more people - thereby making it un-elitist.

Lastly, because many of the greatest, most powerful social movements, from women’s suffrage to the abolition of slavery, started as elitist movements.

But I think that we need to reframe the discussion, from “it’s not elitist,” to “sure it is, but it doesn’t have to be.”