‘Good Food’ Connects Local Sustainable Farming with Your Table
On Tuesday, April 14, 7 P.m., the documentary Good Food will screen at the Twisp River Pub. The film premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival last year to enthusiastic audiences in sold out theaters and since then has screened in small theaters, in other film festivals, and many community settings. The Twisp event is sponsored by Sustainable Methow. Filmmakers Mark Dworkin and Melissa Young will attend, along with Brooke and Sam Lucy of Bluebird Grain Farms near Winthrop, one of the farm families featured in the documentary. Following the screening, people are invited to participate in a discussion of local food. A donation of $ 5-$ 10 is requested to cover expenses and raise funds for Sustainable Methow.
Food, where it comes from, how it is grown and processed is becoming more important for everyone, and Good Food introduces us to farmers and ranchers, stores and restaurants that are building a more sustainable food system. For decades small family farmers have been disappearing, but there is new life in the fields, orchards and pastures of the Pacific Northwest, and in the business community to help sustain them. In Good Food we see the beautiful rural landscapes and meet some of the leaders in bringing good food to tables across the region.
- Brooke and Sam Lucy of Bluebird Grain Farms in the Methow Valley, plant, harvest and sell organic grain on land they have recovered from years of disuse.
- The Hatfields, family ranchers in eastern Oregon who founded Country Natural Beef, explain how proper grazing of cattle can actually improve the environment.
- Hilario Alvarez, who came to the U.S. as a farm worker decades ago, shows off the innumerable varieties of colorful peppers that brighten his fields and farmers markets.
- George and Eiko Vojkovich of Skagit River Ranch raise chickens, pigs and beef for your table, all sustainably and naturally.
- Seth Caswell, chef of Seattle restaurant Stumbling Goat, sources from individual farmers to make his menus local and delicious.
- Burgerville, an Oregon and Washington burger chain, discusses sourcing locally and offering seasonable faire that pleases both farmers and diners.
Good Food brings you close to the producers and the people who are helping to sustain and support the cycle of great food getting to our tables. Some grocery stores, a multitude of farmers markets, and community supported agriculture projects are increasing people’s access to fresh local food. Public policy is also relevant, and Ron Sims, King County Executive, discusses how the public health system is dependent on getting local food to people who need it.
The current industrial food system may be short-lived because of its dependence on inexpensive petroleum for transportation and agricultural chemicals. Many have become alarmed at the contamination of food that is processed in only a few facilities and then distributed across the country.
With the Northwest leading the country in the development of a more sustainable local food system, these Good Food stories are making the elements of such a system accessible to other regions of the country. Featuring original music from nationally known cellist and composer Jami Sieber, plus Mark Graham, Los Emocionantes and Jack Knauer, and colorful urban and rural images, Good Food shows that it is possible to increase the supply of healthy, local, sustainably grown food.
About the producers
For award winning Northwest filmmakers Mark Dworkin and Melissa Young, Good Food is the latest of many environmental and social justice documentaries. The team has a history of work related to food and farming, and their most recent programs broadcast on PBS stations are Net Loss: The Storm Over Salmon Farming, and How Can I Keep on Singing? The latter was partially filmed at the Shafer Museum in Winthrop, and screened in the Methow several years ago at the Twisp Playhouse.
Contacts
Good Food web page: http://www.goodfoodthemovie.org Co-directors: Melissa Young and Mark Dworkin Melissa@movingimages.org Copies: http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/gf.html 800-543-3764
Reviews
"Couldn't be more timely! A film made to awaken our taste buds and our courage to create a food system aligned with what the earth needs and what our bodies yearn for. GOOD FOOD shows us it's possible. It's happening!"
Frances Moore Lappe, author, Diet for a Small Planet, Hope’s Edge
“…a curiously exhilarating look at the Northwest's growing number of small organic farms and co-ops, and the grocery outlets and consumers that support them. The film chronicles a veritable revolution going on all around us in which large numbers of people are turning their backs on the evil ways and unhealthful products of industrial agriculture and finding a whole new relationship with the food they eat and the land that surrounds them.”
William Arnold, movie critic, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"Food scarcity may become the dominant issue of our time. This film demonstrates that abundance is possible, when we refocus on regional agriculture and honor those who are making it happen. This film is a celebration of the best of the Northwest, portrayed through food and those whose hands grow it."
Michael Ableman, farmer and author of On Good Land and Fields Of Plenty.
"Good Food is an exciting, thoughtful and provocative movie that asks -- and answers -- the question: what could life look like if we really wanted to have healthy food for healthy communities? The film tells inspiring stories of not just what is possible, but what is really happening on the ground and in the ground to restore our farms, our health, and our families and communities."
Richard Conlin, Seattle City Council President, author of Local Food Action Initiative
“Good Food, a film by Mark Dworkin and Melissa Young, explores the benefits of operating small, organic farms by pointing to the emergence of an increasing number of small growers and local/organic-only consumers in the Pacific Northwest. Amid stunning visuals of rural Oregon and Washington landscapes, the film introduces viewers to the grain harvesters, ranchers, restaurateurs and distributors who are a part of this movement and connects us with a more sustainable and sensible way of putting good food on our tables.”
Eric Larson, Common Ground [Scroll down]
“I’m very, very excited about Good Food, a documentary that will help us understand and promote sustainable agriculture and carry the message of what it takes to bring a carrot to your table. It takes a lot of work, a lot of energy, it takes someone’s dedication to make sure it comes to your table as you wish - clean sustainable practices by someone who is as passionate as you are. You’re passionate about wanting it and they’re passionate about growing it.”
Chef Thierry Rautureau, Rover’s Restaurant, Seattle
