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Let the co-producers meet the organic producer
Munich, Germany
Munich Convivium leader : Johannes Bucej
muenchen@slowfood.de

One of the goals of Slow Food is to provide events where consumers or “co-producers”, as we call them, can join with producers to learn directly from them about food production and support them by buying their products.

The Munich convivium was founded in 1992, more or less together with the foundation of Slow Food Germany. The convivium has one convivium leader and five vice leaders. Furthermore there are working groups regarding the different projects of the convivium (e.g. taste education for kids, Ark project, the “Genussführer” – a kind of German “Osteria” guide) and about 20-30 volunteers, helping e.g. when Slow Food is presented in public places.

The convivium is placed in the city of Munich that has about 1.300.000 citizens. Also the towns Ingolstadt and Garmisch Partenkirchen belong to the action area of the convivium.
There are over 500 members.
The trend is going upwards, plus there are sponsors and about 200 subscribers of the national “Slow Food” magazine. Members normally come from the city of Munich, but also from the nearby county.

We have both individual and couple memberships in our convivium, but more individuals. There are also some young memberships. The average age is 45+. Mostly these are private persons, but there are also some producers, where sometimes events are organized.

Visiting an organic farm
We organized a day trip to the organic producer “Hermannsdorfer” near Munich. The production of Hermannsdorfer contains among others e.g. a brewery, a dairy, the breed of oxen and pigs, a market-garden and a butchery. The event began late in the morning and the last three of the before mentioned production facilities were visited during the day trip, using handcarts and tractors, driven by staff of Hermannsdorfer. The about 30 participants, members and non-members, of the event were guided by professionals. After the trip that took the whole day, a menu was presented for dinner in the tavern of Hermannsdorfer, where an organic menu included all the products presented that day.

The event gave an insight into various types of the organic production, which was interesting for the participants, since people joining this kind of events want to be informed. So the major goals here were three. The first was to take people to visit a producer, to let them experience directly how good food is produced. The second was to let them have qualified information on organic food production by experts. And finally the third was to have the products prepared in a dinner to taste them when they are cooked as dishes. The participants liked this approach very much.

There was no feedback, if the producer increased his client-base after the event, but probably yes, since the event was seen like a kind of sponsoring of the producer by Slow Food Munich. Some new members were recruited, but there are other and better kind of events to recruit new members. Since Munich has a big variety of events, especially regarding the gastronomic sector, quite often our events are passed unheeded – this is a bit easier for convivia in the countryside.

Preparing the organic experience
The preparation of the event took 2-3 month, from the first contact with the producer regarding e.g. the date and what should be presented during the day trip, to the agreement with the chef regarding the preparation and the costs of the menu in the evening.

The owner of Hermannsdorfer was involved and one member of the convivium team, who knowing the producer personally, negotiated also the costs. There is one person in charge of publishing events on the national web site. Further communication, e.g. to the members, was done by the convivium leader himself. There is no fixed group of organizers, each time when an event is planned, the decision is made who takes the responsibility.

The tour during the day was free (except the tip given to the drivers), only the menu for dinner was paid.
There was no particular material prepared for this event, only Slow Food flyers, subscription forms and the publication of the news on the national magazine “Slow Food”.

The communication to the members was done via a circular letter by post (2 years ago most members did not have an email address and still today some have to be contacted by mailing or fax). Further the information was published on the web site of Slow Food Germany. There was no communication to the local press.

Outcomes and lessons to be learned
The lesson learned from this event is the value of a good organization and a successful menu with good explanations by the chef regarding the products. Indeed people that attended this event appreciated it. And we achieved the goal to bring co-producers and a producer together.
Based on the longstanding experience, all events made have to be cost covering, participation always against prepayment and an event only take place, when at least a certain number of people take part, otherwise the event is cancelled. Apart from the events costs, also a little contribution for the convivium is calculated – so at no time there is a financial loss.
Since we want to take members and interested people to producers, we also try to achieve this in collaboration with other convivia. One time, together with the nearby convivium of Augsburg we organized an event regarding asparagus, where a producer was visited. And we want to pursue other events like this in collaboration with convivia.



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