Vote With Your Fork, We Are

How is war related to the aisles and aisles of junk food lining our grocery shelves? Watch Food Fight for the answer.

I won’t spoil it here.

But I will say that if you get a chance to see Chris Taylor’s new documentary, take a few minutes.

If you’re a buy local fanatic, you’ll see lots of familiar faces.

A real maverick from Maverick Farms, Tom Philpott; chef and small farm supporter Suzanne Goin; movement launcher Alice Waters; MacArthur genius Will Allen and the Food Fighter general, Michael Pollan all have starring roles.

The film begins with a close encounter with the iconic 50s TV dinner. And it follows the rise of big agriculture and the decline of flavorful (and more nutritious) food, all the while documenting the buy local, return-to-farm fresh movement.

It’s an especially good primer for anyone who hasn’t been closely following these trends and it’s a good explanation of why we’re seeing seeing labels changing (0g Trans Fats) plus commercials from the high fructose corn syrup industry touting moderation.

I’ll be sure to chain my family and interested friends to their seats and get them to watch it. I’m eager to hear their reactions. I don’t think it’s easy to see how eating bleached flour, high-fructose infused colas and sugared cereals can be all that bad…even in moderation.

The trouble is, when these overly processed products are everywhere in all of our three squares a day plus snacks, moderation is impossible.

But back to the documentary. It’s full of characters. Don’t believe me? Talk to me after the carrot segment.

My favorite part is the introduction of Jeremiah Tower and the groundbreaking menu in 1976 when he and Waters showed the foodie trendsetters that the finest foods don’t need to be imported from France.

I like how the film pinpoints these key moments in the development of the buy local movement.

And it’s clear to see film creator Taylor has no love for big agriculture hero, “fencepost to fencepost” advocate, Earl Butz (my grandfather’s Purdue classmate).

The film – through Philpott, makes the point that Butz and his policies succeeded in that they drove food costs down. But cheap food has come at a price: poor health and higher healthcare costs.

I thought King Corn played the Butz influence a little straighter, with more context in terms of where the country was financially/nutritionally at the time. Plus, big agriculture isn’t the only one to blame for obesity and skyrocketing problems with heart disease and diabetes. What about our sedentary way of life and addiction to television?

It’ll be interesting to see if Philpott gets any flack for saying that the politicians that have taken over the committees in the U.S. House and the Senate are “on the payroll” of the large farming interests in their states.

I could have done with less emphasis on the Californians, so I was especially happy to see the segue to Will Allen’s Milwaukee and Chicago Growing Power operations. I would have loved to see more on the Cabrini Green Community Garden project, which was spearheaded by Allen’s group and evangelized (and attracted funding) by the late Rev. Dana Ferguson. I would count this garden among her legacies…even though the film fails to make the tie to 4th Church (which started it all as mission work and owns the land) at all.

Taylor wraps up the documentary with a surprisingly moderate viewpoint from Pollan, who says we get three votes a day with our forks.

If just one of those meals is assembled with an eye toward the land, toward supporting sustainable farming, we’ll be doing something.

I’m down with that. He’s got my vote.

Food Fight had its first screening Saturday afternoon at Mann Chinese 6 on Hollywood Blvd. Check back on the Food Fight page or become a fan of the film on Facebook to find out about listings/future show times in your area. I’m pulling for a Chicago/Milwaukee screening since there’s a strong tie to the film in this region too.