“After closely following campaigns in favor of cucumber consumption, conducted by different media, government, etc., we conclude that a crisis of this magnitude can lead to a sense of “patriotic pride,” which in this case transformed a simple vegetable into a national symbol. Our analysis, added to interviews with experts on the subject, indicates that these campaigns not only minimized the effects of the crises but actually had a positive impact on the agriculture in Andaluz.”
This is one of the main conclusions of the research article, “Media and food crises. The 2011 E. coli outbreak: The cucumber crises,” conducted by five students for a course in Expert in Gastronomic and Nutritional Journalism.
Read the full story on Barfblog. This story is a translation from a Spanish article :
« El E. coli eleva el pepino almeriense a la categoría de “símbolo nacional” » (en español)