Well, can you blame them? There are all these fat wallets running around, looking for something they aren't even sure what it is. So these resourceful locals come up with things that seem to be well received: cooking classes, and picturesque settings with straw hats and water buffaloes. Actual, real sustainability? Of course that's something everyone tweaks and adjusts to whatever works for them. Because, after all, we're all in the same deadly game of profit and survival. But please don't take my sarcasm literally, I'm just as disillusioned as you about how something wonderful can get completely turned around, while keeping a wholesome appearance on the surface.
The first time I remember this kinda notion hitting me like a load of bricks was in Germany, at one of those highly popular operations of "farmstead holidays". It was all the rage among younger kids, though I was probably around 13 when I visited, an age when you are much harder to impress. The place looked a lot like a farm, but actually it was petting-zoo / hotel with a rustic-luxury flair to it. I chatted with one of the guys working there about the farm products, and he told me (not even sure if he was supposed to) that the farm doesn't actually sell any products at all! Even the milk - in the morning a traditionally dressed lady would hand-milk a cow, earning a big round of applause - wouldn't make it to the guests' breakfast table, due to regulations!
Since then I've seen various farms (mostly in Mexico and Central America) that had a similar objective: to "milk whitey", as one of the farm owners put it so bluntly. Even though he is a knowledgeable permaculturist, growing perennial food forests, and very much involved in the local community, when it comes to international visitors he treats them just like that: fat wallets running around. Back when I worked there ten years ago, it was wwoofing in every sense but the name. Today you'd have to pay (a substantial fee) for the privilege of "working" on his farm.
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STOPWell, can you blame them? There are all these fat wallets running around, looking for something they aren't even sure what it is. So these resourceful locals come up with things that seem to be well received: cooking classes, and picturesque settings with straw hats and water buffaloes. Actual, real sustainability? Of course that's something everyone tweaks and adjusts to whatever works for them. Because, after all, we're all in the same deadly game of profit and survival. But please don't take my sarcasm literally, I'm just as disillusioned as you about how something wonderful can get completely turned around, while keeping a wholesome appearance on the surface.
The first time I remember this kinda notion hitting me like a load of bricks was in Germany, at one of those highly popular operations of "farmstead holidays". It was all the rage among younger kids, though I was probably around 13 when I visited, an age when you are much harder to impress. The place looked a lot like a farm, but actually it was petting-zoo / hotel with a rustic-luxury flair to it. I chatted with one of the guys working there about the farm products, and he told me (not even sure if he was supposed to) that the farm doesn't actually sell any products at all! Even the milk - in the morning a traditionally dressed lady would hand-milk a cow, earning a big round of applause - wouldn't make it to the guests' breakfast table, due to regulations!
Since then I've seen various farms (mostly in Mexico and Central America) that had a similar objective: to "milk whitey", as one of the farm owners put it so bluntly. Even though he is a knowledgeable permaculturist, growing perennial food forests, and very much involved in the local community, when it comes to international visitors he treats them just like that: fat wallets running around. Back when I worked there ten years ago, it was wwoofing in every sense but the name. Today you'd have to pay (a substantial fee) for the privilege of "working" on his farm.