Lentius, Profundius, Soavius: A New Paradigm for Gastronomy, Where Austerity Replaces Hedonism
Alexander Langer continues to teach us a new austerity, as a desirable alternative
When I started living part-time in Lisbon in 2016, I recall vividly the sensation of Portugal being a country whose gastronomy was advancing rapidly.
Few people were looking “back”, and those who did so were mourning the loss of a particular kind of restaurants (tascos, tascas, tabernas), giving space to international chains and avocado and latte places.
I thought they were foolish, forgetting their past so quickly and being only interested in everything new and refreshing, just looking at what the worldwide gastronomy scene was cooking up.
Soon, the Portuguese gastronomic landscape began to spin out of control, with every space being consumed by investment groups, new “concepts,” and fusion everywhere, resulting in a general lack of meaning that makes dining out in Lisbon today as unremarkable as it was in Amsterdam in 2015.
A world-cuisine with a lot of “ethnic” but well-polished flavours, everything “curated” and palatable for the growing crowd of white expats trying to live the life they see portrayed in endless variations of the same flavour via their tiny screens, reels and videos.
Is it the end?
Perhaps this is the end of something, as more people are reclaiming meaning in various areas of their lives, including food, which is one of them.
And while I was making parallels with the current Italian gastronomic system and the generalised lack of meaning, I remembered that someone, many years ago, had told us how to live a better life.
That person was Alexander Langer, and I extrapolated his ideas to propose a new gastronomic paradigm.
Alexander Langer
Alexander Langer was a South Tyrolean politician, born in Sterzing in 1946 and he died in Florence in 1995 - too early. He was among the founders of the Italian Green Party and a leader of the European Green movement. He promoted numerous initiatives for peace, coexistence, human rights, and environmental defence.
I was too young to have ever met him, politically.
Still, my political upbringing was under the auspices of the foundation in his honour, where I attended summer schools and political schools, and his way of thinking has had a lasting influence on my political thinking.
He left a lasting mark on cultural, political, and critical thinking across Europe. Even the late Pope Francis drew inspiration from Langer in formulating his “Laudato si'“ letter.
Some significant points:
Exposure to atmospheric pollutants produces a broad spectrum of health hazards, especially for the poor, and causes millions of premature deaths. Account must also be taken of the pollution created by residue, including dangerous waste present in different areas. These problems are closely linked to a throwaway culture, which affects the excluded just as it quickly reduces things to rubbish.
The climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all. Climate change is a global problem with grave implications: environmental, social, economic, political and for the distribution of goods. It represents one of the principal challenges facing humanity today. Developing countries are likely to bear the worst impact in the coming decades.
The Earth’s resources are also being plundered due to short-sighted approaches to the economy, commerce, and production. Caring for ecosystems requires far-sightedness, as no one seeking quick and easy profit is truly interested in their preservation.
Nowadays, we are aware of the disproportionate and unruly growth of many cities, which have become unhealthy places to live, not only because of pollution caused by toxic emissions but also due to urban chaos, inadequate transportation, and visual and noise pollution.
Alexander Langer’s lessons
Alex explored "our troubled world," as he called it, aiming to manifest the teachings of St. Francis of Assisi through the motto "lentius, profundius, soavius" (slower, deeper, gentler).
This phrase has since emerged as a compelling counter to the Olympic motto "Citius, Altius, Fortius" (faster, higher, stronger).
“Up to now we have acted under the banner of the Olympic motto "citius, altius, fortius" (faster, higher, stronger), which better than any other synthesis represents the quintessence of the spirit of our civilization, where agonism and competition are not the sporting ennoblement of festive occasions, but rather the daily and all-pervading norm.
If an alternative conception is not rooted, which we could perhaps summarize, on the contrary, in "lentius, profundius, suavius" (slower, deeper, sweeter"), and if the new well-being is not sought in that perspective, no single measure, however rational, will be safe from being obstinately opposed, evaded or ignored.
This is why an ecological policy can only be based on new (perhaps ancient) cultural and civil convictions, elaborated - as is obvious - largely outside of politics, founded instead on religious, ethical, social, aesthetic, traditional, perhaps even ethnic bases (rooted, that is, in the history and identity of peoples). Politics can be expected to implement practical ideas for a course correction and at the same time support and perhaps encourage the will to change: a punitive ecological policy that presupposes a widespread pauperistic ideal will not have much chance in democratic competition.”
Source: Alexander Langer Foundation
The first thing we need to understand is that we cannot cope alone. And alone, we cannot make any change. We need to collectively rethink our actions and let go of at least half a century of growing egoism as a primary driver for our actions.
You see, climate deniers and rightwing capitalists were right in mocking all of us for the paper straws. Because our action of drinking out of a paper straw means nothing when 90 jets vomit a crowd of billionaires in a dying city, to celebrate two individuals who, if removed from Earth and their wealth redistributed, could plug several holes.
Our individual actions mean nothing when our elected governments decide to support bombings and genocidal governments.
All those capitalists yelling “keep politics out of” (art, agriculture, school, gastronomy, science…you name it) have obnubilated our senses, thinking that politics is something only an elected crowd of middle-aged individuals do in a room in the capital of our countries.
But politics is everything.
And politics feed on collective actions. Collective actions are needed to effect systemic changes, and these changes must be pursued altruistically and collectively, rather than waiting to become the front-runners of the revolution.
As long as every form of economy is channelled essentially through money, it will be very difficult to enforce ecological criteria, and there will be serious socio-ecological injustices: those who can pay can also pollute. A process of "renaturalization" - which distances itself from generalized commodification (where everything can be bought and sold) and instead valorizes the personal and non-fungible contribution - could help to discover a different and greater enjoyment of nature, work, social exchange. The "res communes omnium" (from the public fountain to the beach, from the mountain to the city of art) are not defended with a cash ticket, but by demanding a personal service, with a link to volunteering, etc.
We need to overcome the notion that income, money, and cash are the only parameters for value.
We must break free from the concept that only monetary exchanges are valuable and that only public displays of appreciation are desirable (such as likes, shares, and social media displays).
We need a new paradigm for life in general, and for gastronomy specifically.
In Search of a New Paradigm
Langer invited us to adhere to “the first and fundamental ecological message that can be given today: live a simple life, of a life that consumes little, of a life that has great respect for everything we deal with, including animals, including plants, including stones, including the landscape, that is, everything that has been lent to us and that we must give to others”.
This simple life is far from being simplistic, because it requires us to think before we act, to think outside the (commercial) box, to exit our convenience-filled comfort zone.
A "sustainable society", he says, “is built starting from the initiative and participation of groups, local communities and peoples. Valuing small experiences and solutions, and promoting them on a regional, national, and global scale, is an integral part of our work”.
If we start from the assumption that “in the industrialized world we produce too much, we consume too much, we pollute too much, we waste too much non-renewable energy, we leave too much waste that cannot be reabsorbed without wounds by nature, we move too much, we build too much, we destroy too much. And the dominant culture no less influences the poor, so they aspire, very often, to become as quickly as possible exactly like the richest. They often find unbearable the idea that happiness does not require a car, a video recorder and a holiday in Madagascar unbearable. We naturally conclude that something, perhaps everything, has to change”.
And where to start this change, and how? And who can start the change? Langer answers:
But someone will have to start, and point out and live a privilege different from that of wealth and consumption: the privilege of not depending too much on material and financial endowment, the privilege of preferring in life all the things that cannot be bought or sold, the privilege of using wisely and sparingly the inheritance common to all, without fences and undue privatizations.
The austerity of a more frugal life, less filled with disposable goods, richer in gifts, in mutual and reciprocal services, in free sharing and co-use, in recovery and recycling, in priceless satisfactions. Rehabilitating and making desirable this kind of austerity as a possible lifestyle, freely chosen and cultivated as wealth, will involve… a notable cultural revolution and a conspicuous rediscovery of the community dimension.
Because, with fewer goods and less money, one can live well only if one can go back to counting on the free help of others, on the shared use of many opportunities…, on the enjoyment of nature as a common good, not reducible to a commodity.
It is painfully honest, today, the need to reframe our values: the über rich like Bezos are shitting on evryone’s livelihood with their opulent lifestyle, and this lifestyle is a dissonance, it is striking, sounds like an evil laugh.
This “White Lotus” opulence is becoming less desirable because we see the monstruosity beneath it, the same monstruosity that brings people to pay whatever money to satisfy their perversions. Perhaps they did not serve real human meat at Bezos’ wedding, but how can we be certain, given the level of ruthlessness and moral depravity among their guests, businesses, and habits?
A New Austerity for Gastronomy
If we agree to this concept of austerity, we can then extrapolate it and juxtapose it with the idea of hedonism in gastronomy.
We need a new austerity in gastronomy that shifts the paradigm, and I have four axes to propose we work on:
From the spotlight on Chefs as stars to the diffused light on the entire kitchen, highlighting the importance of foreign workers, elevating the basic pay for kitchen staff, and embracing a holistic view of a restaurant as a place to enjoy food prepared collaboratively, rather than focusing on individuals. Restaurants such as Datil in Paris are already at the forefront of it.
From the elevation of specific and animal-based ingredients, resulting from animal cruelty (foie gras, caviar), to the rediscovery of lost and forgotten vegetables, and innovative culinary techniques.
and are luminaries in this field, their stars shining brighter every day.From the glorification of a particular gastronomic lifestyle of excess (visiting all Michelin restaurants, eating as much as possible, long lines of bottles at the end of a meal), to the manifestation of meaningful eating: connecting with meaningful projects, elevating local artisans, investing in regenerative innovations, Mas del Saro, Bar Rurale, and Forno Brisa.
The revitalisation of Durkheim’s Collective Effervescence: whilst we may be all embarked in everyday tasks, we need to find social occasions where we come together and express this communal bubbling with the participation to festive occasions: long tables, social tables, collective food preparations could be manners to reclaim our status as collective, communal beings, and thus rebuild our societies getting rid of the excess individualism, typical of capitalism. One example is Fontane Frizzanti, another Forno Vagabondo.
Absolutely loved everything about this article.
An absolute honour, thank you so much for the kind words ☺️