I was skeptical and sighing heavily when I pressed play to view Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead. I immediately thought, “With such a negative title, this documentary will be a) depressing and b) preachy.”

I’m an optimistic person though–hence my dislike for the title–so I tried to toss out the judgmental thoughts and, as it turns out, my initial impression was pleasantly proven wrong.

The premise of the story is that Joe Cross, an affluent Australian businessman and director of the film, armed himself with a juicer and a video camera to wage a war against his weight in America. Predictably, Joe loses 100 pounds after a 60 day juice fast and eradicates his autoimmune disease that manifests itself as an annoying rash. (Admittedly, I scoffed at his complaining about taking a few pills a day while I watch my husband give himself six insulin shots daily along with a cocktail of pills, but, really, a disease is a disease whether a rash or a failed pancreas.) If this was the end of the film, I would think it was an indirect infomercial for a new line of juices.

But this is where the film takes a direction that is refreshing, especially after watching Jamie Oliver’s come-to-America-and-revolutionize-the-food-system, community-placed approach.

Joe has a genuine, gregarious, non-condescending manner that allows his conversations with the diversity that is America unwrap raw truths of the trajectory of our food culture. From a family that proudly only eats a home cooked meal a few times a month to a father who shrugs off dying early in front of his son even when he could change course with better eating habits, our convenience-based eating habits are exposed.

Then Phil comes along, a story one gets all too used to after shows such as the Biggest Loser. By befriending Phil, a random trucker with the same rare condition as Joe and who is severely obese, the film demonstrates how a helping hand and a healthy relationship with food can give you a life back.

And that is what the film’s mission is to do, I learned, with a campaign called “Reboot.” As the film unrolls across screens this spring, the Reboot team is partnering with the National Good Food Network to help build the supply channels to meet the increased demand for fresh fruits and vegetables this film will seed.

As a beginning farmer and advocate for local food systems, I cannot help but love the demand this film can create for local produce growers, but in the film there is no rally cry to local, sustainable or organic food, it’s just simply increased fruit and vegetable consumption. The film’s singular focus may attract more viewers, but it’s a missed opportunity to not touch upon the built environment, i.e., how many fast food chains were in close proximity to Phil’s home compared to the grocery store or farmers’ market? Why was the day’s worth of juice ingredients more expensive from the local co-op versus the big box store? Maybe Reboot as a campaign will delve more deeply into the issues the film skimmed over.

So even though I still don’t like the title, I recommend watching the film to witness how the simple act of consuming more fruits and vegetables can, in fact, reboot your life.

You can watch the trailer here:

Photo by Daniel Marracino

The cast of farmers in our documentary GROW! have something in common: a desire to grow clean, fair food on their own terms. They’re growers of vegetables, fruits, and grain, and they raise pigs, cattle, sheep, and chickens. They’re Georgia’s next generation of young, organic, and sustainable farmers. Most have college degrees covering all sorts of disciplines ranging from Physical Chemistry to Engineering, Pre‐Med to Political Science, English Literature to Accounting. Some have never worked in their chosen fields. Some have, got fed up, and left. Disgusted by corporate America and its influence on a broken food system, these young farmers had no problem leaving the cities to live more simply. Arianne McGinnis of Hope Grows puts it most succinctly: “Farming is an activism for a way of life that is in danger.” There’s a reason why the “food movement” earned its name.

One of the biggest challenges facing any aspiring agronomist is access to affordable land. Of the 12 farms featured in GROW!, only three are owned by the farmers. The other farmers rent, manage, or borrow the land on which they toil. Tim and Krista Showalter‐Ehst of Oakleaf Mennonite Farm arrived in Atlanta from Pennsylvania two weeks after the congregation had prayed for someone to grow food on the acreage surrounding their church. Paige Witherington and Justin Dansby manage Serenbe Farms, a certified organic fruit and vegetable operation which is part of an upscale eco‐community located 45 minutes from Atlanta. Arianne McGinnis and Elliott McGann of Hope Grows are friends who met in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina while working for Americorps in New Orleans. They rent a farmhouse and six acres in Sylvania where they raise broilers, laying hens, and pigs.

Family land is another route some young farmers take. Wes Swancy grew up on Riverview Farms, acreage his father had once farmed conventionally. After graduating from college with degrees in Chemistry and no desire to become “lab rats,” Wes and his wife Charlotte returned to the farm. They persuaded his father to transition to certified organic. In danger of losing the farm, he was willing to try something new. That was 10 years ago and Riverview Farms is now one of the biggest certified organic farms in Georgia. My point is that there are many ways to farm even if you don’t have enough capital to start an operation on your own. Those who choose to take up the plow work long, hard hours and don’t necessarily make a lot of money. But as McGann of Hope Grows says, “Would I be happier working 40 hours a week at McDonalds and making minimum wage? I don’t think so.”

These kids love farming. For some, it’s the independence of self-employment. Those farmers find inspiration from their customers and the satisfaction of providing food for a community. For others, it’s the simple act of growing something in the ground that sustains. As for hard work, William Hennessey of W.A. Hennessey Farm sums it up, “People always tell you to do what you love. And if you’re doing what you love, it doesn’t seem like work.”

Our motivation for making a documentary that follows young, passionate farmers is to inspire other young people to take up farming and to learn the stories of those who have already. Maybe you’d like to help: We’ve launched a fundraiser for GROW! on Kickstarter, and we’re now 82 percent funded.  Time is up on the 31st of October at 11:00 a.m.

Look out for GROW! in the spring of 2011.

The first time I saw “Pressure Cooker” was at Slow Food Nation last Labor Day. It left me–and as far as I could tell every single other viewer in the theater–in tears. It follows three seniors at a Philadelphia public high school, charting their journey through a culinary arts curriculum under the wing of the hilariously blunt, tough-loving Mrs. Stephenson. The film has been making the film festival circuit for the past 9 months and will now be enjoying a theatrical release in several cities (scroll all the way down for schedule). Here I sat down for an interview with Co-Directors Mark Becker and Jennifer Grausman:

Civil Eats: What do kids get from culinary education that they can’t find elsewhere in their schools/lives?

Jennifer: Culinary education provides hands on training that can engage all of the senses – smell, taste, touch, sight, and sound. It combines creativity with practicality, and is a skill students can use in their lives now and in the future. Culinary Arts also encompasses many other disciplines: reading, math, science, but presents them in a practical rather than theoretical way that appeals to many students. In addition, the discipline of the kitchen adds structure to lives that may not have much structure, and teaches teamwork.

Mark: As for the students from Frankford, in Culinary Arts with Mrs. Stephenson, they are gaining access to a classroom unlike any other at their public school. They know that if they can perfect their crepes and tourne potatoes for Mrs. Stephenson, they can get scholarships and get out of Frankford. Mrs. Stephenson, through her irreverent and uncompromising manner, teaches the value of practice and discipline. There are seven sides on a correctly crafted tourne potato: Wilma helps the kids see that there is a serious upside to perfecting that shape. The patience, repetition, and focus necessary to tourne a potato are skills predictive of success inside and outside the kitchen. Wilma makes that abundantly clear.

Civil Eats: What do kids gain by developing a relationship with food?

Jennifer: Some students develop a passion for food and cooking, some gain respect and understanding for the products used in the kitchen, and many learn about nutrition as they broaden their palate and modify their eating habits.

Mark: I felt like I witnessed a developing respect for process. The students at Frankford were learning to put time and care into an endeavor. In preparing even something as seemingly straightforward as an omelet there were several variables that could lead to success or disaster. They developed a rigor in their mentality about how to achieve results.

Civil Eats: In the movie we see the kids eat home cooked meals and the food they cook in school–do they, like most teenagers, eat fast food? Or has their culinary training made them less susceptible to the big draw of fast food? Did you learn anything about kids and their relationship to fast food?

Jennifer and Mark: Although Mrs. Stephenson’s students cook gourmet meals at school and often cook at home, they also consume a lot of fast food because of its low price and easy availability. Also, several students work in fast food chains and often eat there for free. Money and time are big factors when students are at school, doing sports, taking care of siblings, and working part and full-time jobs. Mrs. Stephenson does try to broaden her students’ palates. In one of the scenes in the film, Erica (a 17-year-old) even chastises her family for not having a discerning palate: “You haven’t acquired the taste for anything but Fritos and Chitos.” And Erica believes in what she is saying, even though the food economy and culture around her can prove an overwhelming foe.

Civil Eats: The organization that runs the scholarship competition, C-CAP, has been around for over 15 years. How has C-CAP changed the landscape restaurant kitchens?

Jennifer: It is difficult to say that C-CAP has changed the landscape of the restaurant kitchens at this point. But many of its graduates have made it to the top of the kitchen hierarchy in some of the best restaurants in the country. Certainly, the lives of many students have been changed, and with the continued guidance of C-CAP they are furthering their education far beyond what they would have otherwise, and often finding great success in kitchens across the country

Civil Eats: As audience members we get drawn into the lives of the students very deeply–it is an emotional movie. As documentary filmmakers did you have to work to stay emotionally uninvolved? Or is emotional involvement with your subjects and their story necessary to create a movie like this?

Mark: On this film, one could not be detached. Dudley, Erica, and Fatoumata are these smart, ambitious, sensitive kids who are trying to do something that will help them potentially transcend the other options before them in Northeast Philly. They are funny and mature and charming, and their lives are so much more full and complex than the platitudes one hears about people in working class communities. So whenever we would film with them, or spend time with them, we always got that sense of peculiar privilege that one can sometimes feel when making a documentary. You feel like you are genuinely lucky to have access to this person, and you feel like you can learn from them.

Jennifer: Although we never wanted to interfere, or inject ourselves into their lives, we wanted to be there as people the kids and Wilma could talk to – about the good and the bad – even if it wasn’t material for the film. Some of the best conversations we had with them were off camera. In the end, we hope that that type of connection between filmmaker and film subject allows for naturalness to the Wilma, Fatoumata, Dudley and Erica you see on camera.

Watch the trailer here.

See it here:
* NYC, IFC Center
o MAY 27 – 9 days only
* LA, Sunset 5
o JUN 5 – 1 week only
* Philadelphia, Ritz at the Bourse
o JUN 12 – 1 week only
* Nashville, The Belcourt Theatre
o JUN 30-JUL 1
* Seattle, Northwest Film Forum
o JUL 10-16
* Washington DC, E Street Cinema
o JUL 17 – 1 week only
* Denver, The Starz Film Center
o JUL 30-AUG 6

The last couple sunny days have gotten me itching to buy seeds.  The skilled gardeners I know (of which I am decidedly not, having barely grown an herb garden that now looks like brittle sticks in dirt) have told me to get started with my highlighter and my catalogs – order before it gets to late and the best seeds are gone.  So I became a member of the Hudson Valley Seed Library ($20) and got ten complimentary packets of their heirlooms, most of which come from this area.

With Monsanto and their ilk gobbling up all the seed companies in the last decade, its important to remember to support the little guys – like another small company in Missouri, Baker Creek Seed Company.

From The People Who Feed Us:

At sixteen years of age, Jere Gettle joined Seed Savers Exchange and never
looked back. With his interest in gardening (and collecting) as the catalyst, he
started Baker Creek Seed Company And he still looking for ways to get the
word out about the value of heirloom seeds.

Now his operation distributes nearly 100,000 catalogs yearly, hosts a gardening
forum-I Dig My Garden, and has put together what is generally acknowledged as
one of the best seed collections around.

Jere gives a good explanation here of why heirlooms matter. The diversity of
plants is a strength that Baker Creek promotes mightily. As host to several events
at his southwestern Missouri location every year, Jere is a outspoken advocate
for real food through old-school seeds. He loves this stuff.

Check out the engaging documentary they made of Jere Gettle (and the many other wonderful documentaries on their site, www.thepeoplewhofeedus.com)

For months, I’d been planning to see the French television documentary The World According to Monsanto (Le Monde selon Monsanto, also to be released in spring 2009 in book form), made for the French-German network Arte by the journalist Marie-Monique Robin, which premiered in France March 11, 2008.  Having plenty of reasons to despise Monsanto (Agent Orange, PCBs, global food domination) I thought that this film would only confirm what I knew about the giant agribusiness firm, which controls between 70%-100% of the GM market share for various crops.  Well, I was wrong.  There was more to fear, and seeing it all on film made it more concrete.

Marie-Monique Robin spoke to people in government at the time GM seed was given approval and granted “substantial equivalence,” to farmers in the fields in India, Paraguay, Mexico, and Iowa, and to anyone she encountered in her research that could explain the story on rBGH, seed contamination (The part on Mexico’s corn crop contamination is particularly sad and ominous – I was left wondering whether contamination was part of Monsanto’s plan in the first place), the legacy of Agent Orange, and PCB contamination in Anniston, Alabama.  She leaves not a stone unturned in the Monsanto cabinet of curiosities.  And, folks, we should be scared, very scared about the implications of these details on the future food security in the world.  I left the film certain that Monsanto was responsible for perpetrating a slow and conscious modern holocaust, and should be no less than tried for crimes against humanity in the International Criminal Court.  Sound extreme?  70% of food on supermarket shelves contains GM food, and scientists in government and university research programs have been fired for speaking out against treating human beings as guinea pigs, aside from all of Monsanto’s other trespasses (Wonder why you didn’t know that 70% of supermarket food contains GMOs? lobbying against labeling).

During this holiday lull, do yourself a favor and watch this film.  It is the most important and fundamental documentary about the future of our food system, and it is available to watch here, or can be bought here.  (Also, here is a great review from Truthout.org last November.)  If you are new to these facts, this movie will convert you to food security issues.  If you know all there is to know about why our food system is broken, this will reinstate your food fighter’s fervor.