Is 'sustainable cities' an oxymoron or can they be made to work?
Reinventing the World: Food
- Description
- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
Food is a local issue, a global issue, a development, health, political and economic issue. This program asks: how can we design a food system that ensures health, accessibility and affordability for everyone: urban and rural, North and South?
Frances Moore Lappe, Joan Gussow, Brewster Kneen, FoodShare Toronto, organic farmer Alyson Chisholm, and participants in an innovative food program in Brazil are among those who offer ideas on how to make food systems more equitable.
'A video that can help change our minds...It features fascinating and hopeful examples of local communities in Brazil and Canada that have reclaimed the joys of locally grown and locally produced food...Food might help us rediscover the wisdom of breaking bread together and including the poor and powerless in our communion.' The WITNESS
'One of the most fascinating parts of the film is its depiction...of the Brazilian town of Belo Horizonte (which) decided all its citizens should be able to eat fresh, nutritious food. They not only posed the radical question, 'Why can't food be a basic human right?' but also provided answers.' EAT Magazine
'The film raises some disquieting and fundamental questions...Is it fair, is it right to regard food as just another commodity, like batteries for our Game Boys or tires for our cars?...Heather MacAndrew and David Springbett examine big issues and visionary options in pithy, bite-size, easy-to-digest servings. It's all so neatly and engagingly knit together that it's not until the final credits roll that you sit back, breathe deeply, and realize how much you've taken in...We can reinvent our world. Just watch.' Islander
'Thought-provoking, instructional, and offers seeds for ideas that may well brighten the future. Also very highly recommended are the other two titles in this outstanding video trilogy...' Library Bookwatch
Citation
Main credits
Springbett, David (film director)
Springbett, David (film producer)
MacAndrew, Heather (screenwriter)
Kennedy, Des (narrator)
Kennedy, Des (screenwriter)
Other credits
Editors, Jack Morbin, Gord More; photography, Gord More - Quadra Productions; original music, Tobin Stokes.
Distributor subjects
Agriculture; Brazil; Canadian Studies; Developing World; Environment; Ethics; Food And Nutrition; Gardening; Global Issues; Health; Hunger; Local Economies; Social Psychology; Sustainable AgricultureKeywords
WEBVTT
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Student
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Hello I\'m Dez Kennedy
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and I\'m standing in one of my
favorite places in the whole world.
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Our vegetable patch on Dan when
island in British Columbia.
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This is where the bulk of our food comes
from and even now in the final dregs of
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winter we can root around in the soil
and pull out a fresh organic carrot.
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It\'s great to grow your own
because you know exactly what
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you\'re eating but most of
us run the risk of having
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to eat something like this this is a tomato
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that was grown I don\'t know where
fertilized and sprayed with I
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don\'t know quite what shipped I
don\'t know how many hundreds or
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thousands of kilometers and stored
in a warehouse for I don\'t know how
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many weeks It may or may not
contain the genes of a mosque wrap
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this show is about food about changing
the food system so that everyone
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can afford to eat and know that what
we eat is really nourishing us.
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So we begin by asking how did
so much of what we eat which
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is really what we are get to be so
nutritionally worthless and tasteless.
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When did we start believing
that how food looks.
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Is what\'s most important what was
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the what was the apple in the Garden of
Eden no wonder about was it perfect it
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sweats I doubt it and maybe Adam had
to get to Pocket knife out and take
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off the scab but that was perfectly
good you know if you look at early
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on at some of the earlier advertising
around fresh fruits and vegetables.
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There was a definite shift as companies
began to realize it by making
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their product look cosmetically perfect they
could actually increase their demand for it.
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Consumer demand doesn\'t necessarily
drive what\'s going on I mean did did
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the consumers demand that companies spent
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$20 million developing
Pringles potato chips
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the ones that fit into those tubes I mean
there weren\'t consumers walking around saying
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give me a potato chip that fits in a
tube for most of human history people
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grew a certain amount of their
food close to where they lived We
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then come into a 20th century where we
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say it\'s not efficient to have
everybody growing their food it\'s not
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efficient to have rural life we have
an industrial society some people who
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are food for other people and
all of us are going to buy it
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and food used to be somewhere closer to
raising kids and how we felt about ourselves
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to where it is now where
it\'s each year becoming
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more and more something outside of our
reach that we the marketplace does for us.
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Food is actually common property in my view
it should not be a strictly market commodity.
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Because it is one of the three
biological requirements for
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life it is fundamentally
different than batteries
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or or car tires So in
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that process in it the process of food
becoming a commodity like other commodities.
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A variety of things happened first and
fundamentally anybody as I said before
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who doesn\'t have the appropriate
tools to play the game
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can\'t eat Why in a world of
abundance are there still
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so many hungry people that\'s the question
that 30 years ago haunted Francis Moore like
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hey the result of her questioning
and research was Diet
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for a small planet published
in 1971 she found that
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investigating food and hunger
issues opened up a whole world of
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other political questions what changed
my life was a realization that while
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the experts were telling us that
we were running out of food here
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I was at that 0.262526 and my own
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modest study we are
discovering that it wasn\'t
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true that there was more than
enough to feed all of us as
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there is today And so I thought
wow if I could just get a grip
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on this most basic question I mean food is
universal need it\'s a quantifiable need.
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It\'s a universal bonding among all
people it\'s a connection to the Earth.
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If I could just understand
why people are hungry
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and is it true that we\'re
running out of food if I
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could just go in that door that
maybe that would help me unlock
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the great mysteries of
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the economic and political order
that seemed to be so impenetrable.
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A decade after Diet for a
small planet first appeared.
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We saw a startling new development on
the Canadian Food Menu Food banks.
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This was an emergency measure we were told
00:05:06.994 --> 00:05:10.669
an unfortunate but necessary
stopgap response to
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the lean times brought on by the
recession of the early eighties.
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What we never suspected back then
was that food banks were here to
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stay a permanent reminder
of an economic system.
00:05:23.704 --> 00:05:25.890
Gone awry.
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Somewhere between 3 5% of the
population of any place in
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Canada or using an emergency program
and what\'s hidden behind that is for
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every person who uses a food bang there\'s
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one maybe two maybe three people who
were equally food insecure equally
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hungry who are not using a
program The food comes to
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big warehouses it then
goes out to hundreds of
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small where called pantries
or food rooms often run by
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church-based volunteers
who cannot cope with
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all the issues facing mm
and feel that they\'re
00:05:58.609 --> 00:06:01.218
the gatekeepers often
to a mountain of food.
00:06:01.219 --> 00:06:04.909
So food banks let governments off the
hook in terms of providing people
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basic income they redistribute
industry waste to
00:06:09.499 --> 00:06:12.484
low-income people and
we\'ve had people tell us
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oh yeah garbage food for garbage people the
way in which the poor feel really pissed
00:06:16.669 --> 00:06:23.730
off that they\'re having to eat what is
basically the excess of our society
00:06:27.450 --> 00:06:32.664
But isn\'t the excess food of our
society really just food that\'s
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not being fairly distributed in
the first place there\'s a town in
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Brazil that has tackled the issue in
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a simple way Belo Horizonte j an unassuming
town of several million people has
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a different attitude and approach to
ensuring that everyone\'s well fed in 1993
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the municipal government decided
that having all of its citizens eat
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healthy and affordable fresh
food was not an impossibility.
00:07:02.290 --> 00:07:06.349
Especially if there was the
political will to do it.
00:07:06.870 --> 00:07:14.703
Moreover Pose the radical question why
can\'t who\'d be a basic human right.
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It was a question that resonated.
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A lot in the past in Belo Horizonte
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shame no efforts were made by municipal
authorities to take action in
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the area of nutrition to make it clear
that food should not be treated
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like other consumer goods but as
a basic right of the citizens.
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Subsequently policies were
established in the areas of
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production marketing and my consumption
of food To ensure basic nutrition in
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quadrant and this was all
well within the framework of
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the food supply Concept production
and marketing and consumption we
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believe it\'s necessary to intervene in
the marketing of fat and we cannot allow
00:08:02.855 --> 00:08:05.119
people\'s nourishment to be vulnerable to
00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:10.578
the market will give me the
is their fundamental right.
00:08:10.579 --> 00:08:13.278
Once you establish this.
00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:16.744
Once we establish that food
security is a human right.
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And then.
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Governments have an obligation to guaranty
that no matter what The city\'s plan included
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small markets called Sacarose
where people could fill
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large clear plastic bags with fresh
locally grown produce all of it
00:08:37.579 --> 00:08:39.948
sold at the same government regulated
00:08:39.949 --> 00:08:46.864
low price as a condition of being allowed
to operate at lucrative central locations.
00:08:46.865 --> 00:08:51.438
Managers of the markets must
take a mobile market truck once
00:08:51.439 --> 00:08:55.968
a week to low income areas on the
city\'s fringes sum as far as
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25 kilometers away this means that all of
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Belo Horizonte che citizens have
access to affordable quality food
00:09:07.360 --> 00:09:14.539
If we provide some public spaces
with quality and price control and
00:09:14.540 --> 00:09:17.898
the proper nutritional
balance the merchants
00:09:17.899 --> 00:09:21.769
must sell the products that
controlled prices and this.
00:09:21.770 --> 00:09:26.313
Today and enables us to
get products for 60% and
00:09:26.314 --> 00:09:33.179
sometimes depending on the region
100% less than the market price.
00:09:34.120 --> 00:09:42.120
This shows that it is possible to
intervene using public policies also
00:09:42.634 --> 00:09:50.634
the idea of human rights then transforms
people From there not consumers anymore.
00:09:51.665 --> 00:09:55.668
They have sits-ins sensors as
citizens they have this right.
00:09:55.669 --> 00:10:03.669
So the whole thing about food being a
commodity in the market loses its meaning
00:10:05.134 --> 00:10:09.769
the radical notion of food as a human
right was in part what Francis Moore Law
00:10:09.770 --> 00:10:14.029
pay was talking about back in the
early 70s and the early 90s to
00:10:14.030 --> 00:10:18.499
Toronto women Debbie field and Mary
Lou Morgan ran with that idea they
00:10:18.500 --> 00:10:24.214
asked how can we make fresh locally grown
food affordable and accessible to everyone.
00:10:24.215 --> 00:10:28.729
Food for everyone rich as well as
poor knocked the food bank stigma of
00:10:28.730 --> 00:10:34.524
poor food for poor people Thus
was born the good food box
00:10:34.525 --> 00:10:38.078
a box of fresh food
that\'s the same price for
00:10:38.079 --> 00:10:42.098
everyone and if you volunteer to
help pack boxes you get one for
00:10:42.099 --> 00:10:46.509
free the good food box is just one of
00:10:46.510 --> 00:10:52.250
several innovative programs
operated by who\'d share of Toronto.
00:10:53.280 --> 00:10:58.269
When we started in 199293 Mary you and I had
long discussions about whether we would
00:10:58.270 --> 00:11:02.888
distribute packaged goods
or not and at that time all
00:11:02.889 --> 00:11:06.233
the research around cancer hadn\'t come
out yet and we made some decisions
00:11:06.234 --> 00:11:10.209
around staying with the raw
building blocks of life which has
00:11:10.210 --> 00:11:14.538
since been really confirmed by all the
research on cancer People if people
00:11:14.539 --> 00:11:16.279
a closer to ten servings of
00:11:16.280 --> 00:11:19.399
fresh fruit vegetables a day we
know that a variety of cancers.
00:11:19.400 --> 00:11:22.339
Would have a lower incidence
the fast food system
00:11:22.340 --> 00:11:25.699
does not make eating fresh
fruit vegetables possible.
00:11:25.700 --> 00:11:30.349
We had some industry leaders here
a guy who was the president of
00:11:30.350 --> 00:11:36.108
the Toronto Stock Exchange one day packing the
good food box and he said oh my goodness.
00:11:36.109 --> 00:11:38.988
Why are you giving kiwis
to the poor Porsche
00:11:38.989 --> 00:11:43.278
sneaky ways you know of course should
be grateful with what they get well
00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:45.948
absolutely the poor the rich everybody
shaky ways they\'re very high in
00:11:45.949 --> 00:11:50.268
Vitamin C as everyone
moves to being properly
00:11:50.269 --> 00:11:54.753
nourished the benefits spread to everybody
this is particularly so in Canada where
00:11:54.754 --> 00:12:00.018
we\'re all paying for each other\'s diseases
through publicly funded healthcare.
00:12:00.019 --> 00:12:02.509
So if if you don\'t eat properly
00:12:02.510 --> 00:12:06.243
because you don\'t have the money
to acquire a nourishing diet.
00:12:06.244 --> 00:12:08.508
I end up paying for that in some way.
00:12:08.509 --> 00:12:11.418
So it doesn\'t make sense to
invest in making sure that
00:12:11.419 --> 00:12:14.808
everybody has a nourishing diet
because ultimately it\'s going to
00:12:14.809 --> 00:12:18.438
save us all money in the end
and it\'ll end it\'ll create
00:12:18.439 --> 00:12:22.668
a kind of a social cohesion Is
currently in question right
00:12:22.669 --> 00:12:25.939
now if social cohesion is
something we could use
00:12:25.940 --> 00:12:29.809
a lot more of why not as Rod
suggests seek it through
00:12:29.810 --> 00:12:34.128
an enlightened food system if a city
in a developing country can do it
00:12:34.129 --> 00:12:38.883
why can\'t we all asking these
kind of questions lead food share
00:12:38.884 --> 00:12:43.038
into a creative relationship
with the food revolutionaries of
00:12:43.039 --> 00:12:48.378
Belo Horizonte J filter staff and
board figured out that they needed to
00:12:48.379 --> 00:12:52.428
look elsewhere and so they
said to themselves while we
00:12:52.429 --> 00:12:57.063
agitate and lobby for increased
income redistribution What about
00:12:57.064 --> 00:12:59.809
learning something from the
developing world I mean are there
00:12:59.810 --> 00:13:03.408
some lessons from people in countries
that don\'t have any social systems So
00:13:03.409 --> 00:13:06.214
people began to say is
there are there programs
00:13:06.215 --> 00:13:10.488
in the south where people are
through mutual cooperation.
00:13:10.489 --> 00:13:14.694
Figuring out how to improve their own access
and also how to become politically active.
00:13:14.695 --> 00:13:16.398
They also have a program called.
00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:18.739
Direct from the producer which
00:13:18.740 --> 00:13:21.499
actually so amazing we were up here
inventing the words feel to table and
00:13:21.500 --> 00:13:24.049
they were inventing new words
direct from the producer which is
00:13:24.050 --> 00:13:27.529
their piece of it which is actually
directly from small farmers and
00:13:27.530 --> 00:13:30.739
you\'ll probably get to go a few
hours outside of Belo Horizonte
00:13:30.740 --> 00:13:35.028
and see the farmers who are growing
directly for these urban markets
00:13:35.029 --> 00:13:38.820
marshy o is one such farmer
00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:47.883
Marshmallows main crop is a Brazilian kale.
00:13:47.884 --> 00:13:55.319
Which like all the Kales is a versatile and
nutritious green and is a staple in Brazil.
00:13:56.140 --> 00:14:01.908
We sell the vegetables we
come to this spot twice
00:14:01.909 --> 00:14:07.799
a week to bring the produced directly
to the everyday consumer debt
00:14:07.990 --> 00:14:13.248
that is housewives restaurants and so on
00:14:13.249 --> 00:14:16.128
a product purchase straight
from the local farmer
00:14:16.129 --> 00:14:18.948
last longer and is much better quality at
00:14:18.949 --> 00:14:22.159
the same time we have to keep the
people in the rural areas which is
00:14:22.160 --> 00:14:25.908
a major problem in Brazil In
Brazil the cities are filling up
00:14:25.909 --> 00:14:30.258
more and more every day we had a
boom in the 70s and in the 80s
00:14:30.259 --> 00:14:35.599
the scenario didn\'t change more than 60%
of the Brazilian population is already
00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:38.569
living in the big urban
centers were not able to
00:14:38.570 --> 00:14:41.899
reverse this situation if
we cannot create income in
00:14:41.900 --> 00:14:45.708
the rural areas through the production
of food we will not be able to keep
00:14:45.709 --> 00:14:50.434
people there and therefore the uncontrolled
growth of the cities will continue.
00:14:50.435 --> 00:14:54.544
My mother. My wife my father-in-law that is
00:14:54.545 --> 00:14:58.549
my whole family is taking care of the
business and making a living from
00:14:58.550 --> 00:15:01.519
it not just my family but
also the families of
00:15:01.520 --> 00:15:05.539
my partner This is their source
of income so we have to keep
00:15:05.540 --> 00:15:07.608
the business going and
that\'s all there is to
00:15:07.609 --> 00:15:15.609
it when you have a farmer growing food and
selling it directly to people nearby.
00:15:15.935 --> 00:15:19.863
There\'s a very different kind of
relationship among the people
00:15:19.864 --> 00:15:25.428
and to the food as a society
00:15:25.429 --> 00:15:28.968
are ethical relationship
with the people who produce
00:15:28.969 --> 00:15:34.099
our food is very poor but in terms of
actually respecting the people who
00:15:34.100 --> 00:15:37.039
produce our food or thinking
they do anything worthwhile or
00:15:37.040 --> 00:15:40.098
that they are real people
who are really suffering
00:15:40.099 --> 00:15:44.328
and who have problems that we don\'t we
don\'t we don\'t we just don\'t we just
00:15:44.329 --> 00:15:52.308
eat Who in North America
00:15:52.309 --> 00:15:57.840
is working to improve our
relationship to food and to farmers.
00:15:58.210 --> 00:16:02.733
My name is Alice and
Chisholm and I am a farmer.
00:16:02.734 --> 00:16:07.263
That Glenn Valley organic farm I\'m also
a shareholder in Glen Valley farm.
00:16:07.264 --> 00:16:11.478
I\'m making a living raising
organic vegetables
00:16:11.479 --> 00:16:17.429
and eggs and bidding plants and
whatever it takes to survive farming
00:16:17.710 --> 00:16:20.448
I think we have to be concerned
00:16:20.449 --> 00:16:23.388
about producing our own food because
if we don\'t we\'re going to lose
00:16:23.389 --> 00:16:26.088
our farmland There\'s a
lot of stress right now
00:16:26.089 --> 00:16:29.238
on municipalities and on the
agricultural land commission
00:16:29.239 --> 00:16:32.148
to remove land from the
agricultural land reserves to allow
00:16:32.149 --> 00:16:35.344
for more development more suburban sprawl.
00:16:35.345 --> 00:16:38.779
And if we do this if we lose
our farmlands we\'re gonna lose
00:16:38.780 --> 00:16:42.679
our food lands but how many
people like Alison can make
00:16:42.680 --> 00:16:46.429
a living growing food more and
more we hear news stories
00:16:46.430 --> 00:16:50.553
about the farm crisis and the
death of the family farm.
00:16:50.554 --> 00:16:53.659
Prime farmland is consumed by urban sprawl
00:16:53.660 --> 00:16:58.698
every day but what is happening
to farmers and to farmland is not
00:16:58.699 --> 00:17:02.928
inevitable It is the result
of choices we as a society
00:17:02.929 --> 00:17:08.268
make choices like where we buy
our food and who we elect to
00:17:08.269 --> 00:17:11.779
political office and with
the land price is so
00:17:11.780 --> 00:17:15.919
high that people can\'t afford
to farm and farming just being
00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:18.888
such a very difficult life and
00:17:18.889 --> 00:17:21.888
we\'re going to lose our farmers were gonna
lose the skills we\'re going to lose the people
00:17:21.889 --> 00:17:26.448
willing to grow food so I think
we have to somehow become more
00:17:26.449 --> 00:17:28.968
aware of these things it\'s just plain as
00:17:28.969 --> 00:17:32.058
potatoes that if we lose
our farmers and farm land.
00:17:32.059 --> 00:17:35.689
We\'ve lost our options then
will be compelled to eat
00:17:35.690 --> 00:17:40.429
whatever the agribusiness giant cellas
but what can someone sitting in the city
00:17:40.430 --> 00:17:44.629
do about any of this There are initiatives
like the one Allison\'s involved
00:17:44.630 --> 00:17:49.083
with a group of non farmers
pool are cash and buy a farm.
00:17:49.084 --> 00:17:51.678
Thereby preserving it for the future and in
00:17:51.679 --> 00:17:55.819
the meantime making it possible
for someone to farm it and to
00:17:55.820 --> 00:17:59.239
supply them with fresh projects I
00:17:59.240 --> 00:18:02.989
think a lot of people who are shareholders
in gland Valley organic farm.
00:18:02.990 --> 00:18:07.548
Are doing so with a very
long-term view of what
00:18:07.549 --> 00:18:12.229
we have and where we\'re at and what
our needs will be securing land for
00:18:12.230 --> 00:18:15.288
food production isn\'t something that
you do for the here and now they are
00:18:15.289 --> 00:18:18.469
not going to get dividends paid for
00:18:18.470 --> 00:18:22.638
their investment but I think what they
do see Coming out of their investment in
00:18:22.639 --> 00:18:27.978
the farm is a long-term sustainable
food system I know that there\'s
00:18:27.979 --> 00:18:31.083
more than one shareholder
who has bought shares
00:18:31.084 --> 00:18:34.938
for their grandchildren for their
children or grandchildren and
00:18:34.939 --> 00:18:38.149
trust so its social responsibility is
00:18:38.150 --> 00:18:41.449
what it is it\'s saying that you know
I think this is important I don\'t
00:18:41.450 --> 00:18:43.968
see anyone else doing anything
about it so I\'m going to
00:18:43.969 --> 00:18:46.803
put my money where my mouth is I
am going to invest in this farm
00:18:46.804 --> 00:18:49.173
the change IC is that
00:18:49.174 --> 00:18:53.433
the choices that we have to make now
are much clearer than they were
00:18:53.434 --> 00:19:00.633
30 years ago and our awareness of the
the consequences are much greater.
00:19:00.634 --> 00:19:05.418
So my goal now is to return to
The original book diet for a
00:19:05.419 --> 00:19:10.248
small planet to look at
that all those issues again
00:19:10.249 --> 00:19:15.108
from where we are today and
hopefully help people see that
00:19:15.109 --> 00:19:20.553
they can be part of this this movement that
didn\'t exist when I wrote the first book.
00:19:20.554 --> 00:19:24.169
Another part of the movement
to keep farmers farming is
00:19:24.170 --> 00:19:27.648
the CSA which refers to community supported
00:19:27.649 --> 00:19:32.299
agriculture it involves consumers
like you and me forming
00:19:32.300 --> 00:19:37.504
a partnership and sharing the risk with a
farmer who will supply us with fresh food.
00:19:37.505 --> 00:19:41.119
People would get together with
the farmer and say okay we\'ll
00:19:41.120 --> 00:19:45.018
buy everything you grow
Week by week and we\'ll
00:19:45.019 --> 00:19:47.838
pay for it up front so you don\'t have to
go to the bank and become beholden to
00:19:47.839 --> 00:19:50.868
the bank and then we\'ll
get our weekly deliveries
00:19:50.869 --> 00:19:55.429
of whatever is growing
whatever\'s done well so if
00:19:55.430 --> 00:20:00.019
the consumer is paying for their
food in advance of the season than
00:20:00.020 --> 00:20:03.499
they are basically they\'re supporting
the farmer they\'re saying we
00:20:03.500 --> 00:20:07.039
will take on some of that risk
will pay you for the food that
00:20:07.040 --> 00:20:11.059
you are going to produce and if
anything happens to reduce the amount
00:20:11.060 --> 00:20:15.184
of crops that you have or the types of crops
you have then we will take that risk.
00:20:15.185 --> 00:20:17.779
So it\'s a shared risk and if a crop
00:20:17.780 --> 00:20:21.019
fails that\'s our problem socially
we can\'t just blame the farmer it\'s
00:20:21.020 --> 00:20:22.638
everybody\'s problem and
we have to figure out
00:20:22.639 --> 00:20:24.409
what we\'re gonna do about
it and I think that\'s
00:20:24.410 --> 00:20:28.999
crucial that\'s a big step And you find
and I think that\'s the most radical.
00:20:29.000 --> 00:20:33.378
Step is being taken as when it\'s generally
a community shared agriculture.
00:20:33.379 --> 00:20:36.273
So one of the things that
economists talk about is when
00:20:36.274 --> 00:20:39.618
somebody makes a purchase it
then of course puts money in
00:20:39.619 --> 00:20:43.278
somebody else\'s pocket to make another
purchase and these are called
00:20:43.279 --> 00:20:47.613
multiplier effects and food is
actually one of the big multipliers.
00:20:47.614 --> 00:20:54.439
So if a teacher says I\'m going to start buying
the farmer\'s market or I\'m going to start
00:20:54.440 --> 00:20:57.559
buying from these local small
entrepreneurs who are doing
00:20:57.560 --> 00:21:01.623
some interesting processed
foods you know healthy foods.
00:21:01.624 --> 00:21:07.128
Maybe organic foods it\'s CO cheese
or salsa or These kinds of things.
00:21:07.129 --> 00:21:13.399
Suddenly that money stays in the community
longer because then the small entrepreneur.
00:21:13.400 --> 00:21:16.219
Maybe can expand their business
because they\'re getting
00:21:16.220 --> 00:21:19.158
more business they can hire another
local person maybe somebody who is
00:21:19.159 --> 00:21:24.018
unemployed or somebody on social
assistance of course that cuts
00:21:24.019 --> 00:21:27.898
social assistance costs which then
has another spin off which is that
00:21:27.899 --> 00:21:32.999
then as it as it builds and of course
it reduces everybody\'s tax burdens.
00:21:33.070 --> 00:21:37.879
Last year we bought $700
thousand worth of produce.
00:21:37.880 --> 00:21:41.929
Of which 350 thousand went directly to
small Ontario farmers and the other
00:21:41.930 --> 00:21:47.869
350 thousand went to imported
and larger farmers so
00:21:47.870 --> 00:21:51.588
We\'re having a kind of constant impact
on generating a bit of business and
00:21:51.589 --> 00:21:56.529
the local farm sector one of other
farmers Lena who Gross for us
00:21:56.530 --> 00:21:59.629
this is an old order
Mennonite and we gave her
00:21:59.630 --> 00:22:03.439
$20 thousand worth of business
last year in lattice that she grew
00:22:03.440 --> 00:22:06.649
for us and that helped
generate one job on the farm
00:22:06.650 --> 00:22:10.414
so it actually has some impact on
rural life people tell me that
00:22:10.415 --> 00:22:13.788
in the South of France you\'re very
aware of where the food comes from
00:22:13.789 --> 00:22:17.479
but I think here people trying to eat
00:22:17.480 --> 00:22:19.458
locally if you don\'t grow
it yourself it\'s almost
00:22:19.459 --> 00:22:21.649
impossible because you can\'t
even get a store manager to pay
00:22:21.650 --> 00:22:25.818
any attention to you if you say
I went to my local apples moved
00:22:25.819 --> 00:22:30.679
mission and looked arousal versus
local food Lots grown here but
00:22:30.680 --> 00:22:34.489
it\'s not available and so we started a
farmers market and that since we were very
00:22:34.490 --> 00:22:39.589
typical and that enticed to farmers
00:22:39.590 --> 00:22:42.108
to come and the townspeople and
00:22:42.109 --> 00:22:44.688
it what was intriguing was that people
would come to the market realized
00:22:44.689 --> 00:22:47.359
that they couldn\'t come and
just grab something and run
00:22:47.360 --> 00:22:50.508
it was a social event and in fact
that\'s what kept them coming
00:22:50.509 --> 00:22:53.389
back it was a combination
of the quality of food
00:22:53.390 --> 00:22:55.219
and the fact that it was a social occasion
00:22:55.220 --> 00:22:56.944
that they enjoyed it would
meet their neighbors.
00:22:56.945 --> 00:23:01.008
So you had the culture food reasserting
itself and it isn\'t being recreated.
00:23:01.009 --> 00:23:04.518
Now of course not all of us have
the time to grow and process
00:23:04.519 --> 00:23:07.878
our own food or the resources
to buy a share in a farm
00:23:07.879 --> 00:23:10.819
or even to get to a farmer\'s market Is
00:23:10.820 --> 00:23:15.123
a frantic dash down the aisles of
a superstore only other option.
00:23:15.124 --> 00:23:16.833
Well no it isn\'t.
00:23:16.834 --> 00:23:21.738
Consider something like Spud or small
potatoes urban delivery one of
00:23:21.739 --> 00:23:24.679
many ingenious new businesses
that are shrinking
00:23:24.680 --> 00:23:28.638
the distance between the farm
gate and the city kitchen.
00:23:28.639 --> 00:23:33.078
Well small potatoes is
home delivery company for
00:23:33.079 --> 00:23:37.954
groceries that\'s operating in the Lower
Mainland of British Columbia and it\'s
00:23:37.955 --> 00:23:42.588
very much like a conventional grocery store
except that we\'ve traded off the bricks and
00:23:42.589 --> 00:23:47.614
mortar of a traditional grocery store
with having a warehouse and delivering.
00:23:47.615 --> 00:23:50.928
From with delivery trucks
so we don\'t actually have
00:23:50.929 --> 00:23:58.929
a retail operation But I don\'t know.
00:24:02.970 --> 00:24:05.724
We haven\'t fully your open a 10-year-old
00:24:05.725 --> 00:24:11.139
and I when I come home I don\'t
want to go shopping I don\'t
00:24:11.140 --> 00:24:14.678
wanna have to go out and so it\'s very
very convenient for me to be able to
00:24:14.679 --> 00:24:19.419
just have my food delivered
to my door it\'s great.
00:24:19.420 --> 00:24:24.069
What we try to buy our groceries as
much as possible locally and from
00:24:24.070 --> 00:24:28.389
small independent suppliers who have
a difficult time getting exposure
00:24:28.390 --> 00:24:32.469
they have a great product but there
they are small potato suppliers if
00:24:32.470 --> 00:24:36.558
you will and we\'re also because we
have a strong environmental ethic Want
00:24:36.559 --> 00:24:40.038
to buy stuff as locally as
possible and contribute to
00:24:40.039 --> 00:24:46.564
the local economy it\'s also important to me
to know that I am supporting local producers.
00:24:46.565 --> 00:24:50.718
Because food security is
an important issue to
00:24:50.719 --> 00:24:55.188
me and my husband we talk about it and
we talk about global we actually talk
00:24:55.189 --> 00:24:59.419
about global food security
issues and one of
00:24:59.420 --> 00:25:04.773
the ways that we know by our choices that
we can make a difference is to support.
00:25:04.774 --> 00:25:10.308
Local sustainable agriculture and
particularly organic agriculture.
00:25:10.309 --> 00:25:13.669
Well the main reason the food
system is such a big contributor to
00:25:13.670 --> 00:25:20.209
greenhouse gas emissions is what are
called food miles That the distance that
00:25:20.210 --> 00:25:26.418
food travels has grown enormously in the last
20-30 years you know that the estimate in
00:25:26.419 --> 00:25:29.178
Canada now is that the average
food molecule travels
00:25:29.179 --> 00:25:34.289
2 thousand kilometers which is phenomenal.
00:25:35.000 --> 00:25:40.949
You\'re willing to accept going north.
00:25:43.210 --> 00:25:48.739
One truck delivering to
75 homes on a set route
00:25:48.740 --> 00:25:54.108
uses less than half of the feel
of individual consumers going
00:25:54.109 --> 00:25:57.649
to the store and back to buy
their own growth groceries I
00:25:57.650 --> 00:26:01.848
think it has to be a gradual shift
I think it starts with a shift in
00:26:01.849 --> 00:26:07.909
awareness of people realizing that our food
system is very important that we can\'t be
00:26:07.910 --> 00:26:11.268
relying on other countries to
produce the food that we can
00:26:11.269 --> 00:26:15.033
produce for ourselves we
import beef from Haiti.
00:26:15.034 --> 00:26:17.148
We import port from Haiti.
00:26:17.149 --> 00:26:20.838
That\'s insane I mean Haiti
hasn\'t got enough food to feed
00:26:20.839 --> 00:26:25.023
its people and if it has anything
to you know if if if it has
00:26:25.024 --> 00:26:30.889
any resources to grow meat of all things
you know they should certainly be
00:26:30.890 --> 00:26:33.139
used in Haiti where children are dying from
00:26:33.140 --> 00:26:37.804
starvation Focus on the crops
that grow best locally.
00:26:37.805 --> 00:26:42.288
Change our tastes a little bit to
accommodate those crops so we\'re
00:26:42.289 --> 00:26:46.518
not trying to make to
form a diet on foods that
00:26:46.519 --> 00:26:50.299
aren\'t grown locally I think the
more the closer to home your food
00:26:50.300 --> 00:26:54.139
is the better it is for you
and the big challenge of
00:26:54.140 --> 00:26:56.539
creating this diet is not as you know
00:26:56.540 --> 00:27:00.409
the health professionals generally say
you\'ve just gotta make better choices for
00:27:00.410 --> 00:27:03.183
yourself I mean that is
obviously a piece of it but
00:27:03.184 --> 00:27:06.589
the real challenge is that the food
system doesn\'t really provide you
00:27:06.590 --> 00:27:09.184
with the right kind of menu
a lot of what\'s out there
00:27:09.185 --> 00:27:12.199
is not actually conducive to consuming
a real food diet and there\'s
00:27:12.200 --> 00:27:15.079
all kinds of pressures led particularly by
00:27:15.080 --> 00:27:18.978
advertising To eat things that
aren\'t healthy for you not
00:27:18.979 --> 00:27:23.463
long ago there was a fabulous urban
legend making the rounds on the internet
00:27:23.464 --> 00:27:28.458
to the effect that a popular fried
chicken chain had been legally
00:27:28.459 --> 00:27:33.994
required to remove the word chicken
from its name because it was no longer
00:27:33.995 --> 00:27:39.963
serving real chicken but
rather an chickens substitute.
00:27:39.964 --> 00:27:44.148
Produced from chemicals bubbling
in huge vats somewhere in
00:27:44.149 --> 00:27:49.759
the deep south the bizarre thing is
the myths not that far removed from
00:27:49.760 --> 00:27:57.760
reality the chemical chicken myth yearly
echoes in 1952 science fiction classic cold
00:27:58.249 --> 00:28:03.169
The people are all eating soy burgers
00:28:03.170 --> 00:28:05.388
and other things because there\'s
no meat except that they\'re
00:28:05.389 --> 00:28:08.253
growing this giant chicken breast.
00:28:08.254 --> 00:28:11.329
In a tank or in a in a place somewhere
00:28:11.330 --> 00:28:16.819
in Central America and the hero is
kidnapped and taken down and he\'s
00:28:16.820 --> 00:28:20.029
skimming chlorella algae to feed
to this thing which is fed by
00:28:20.030 --> 00:28:24.198
tubes in it\'s this giant chicken
breast and I could I could see
00:28:24.199 --> 00:28:27.469
that that that was clearly the
direction we were going toward
00:28:27.470 --> 00:28:32.659
the total de naturalization Food.
00:28:32.660 --> 00:28:37.098
Real food is about bringing health
joy just as in nature back to
00:28:37.099 --> 00:28:41.208
the table and we\'ve lost
that but we\'ve lost it not
00:28:41.209 --> 00:28:44.148
just because we chose to lose
it again there are lots of
00:28:44.149 --> 00:28:47.209
pressures that the food system
applies if we just sum doesn\'t make
00:28:47.210 --> 00:28:52.969
money out of people who are great cooks great
shoppers and great food entertainers it
00:28:52.970 --> 00:28:56.059
makes money off people who have lost
their skills who have lost their sense
00:28:56.060 --> 00:28:59.538
of taste who\'ve lost their
sense of joy about food.
00:28:59.539 --> 00:29:01.863
So we have generations of kind of
00:29:01.864 --> 00:29:07.804
ignorant people people that I\'ve had over the
years who didn\'t know peace came in pods.
00:29:07.805 --> 00:29:10.908
People who are so out of
touch with where food
00:29:10.909 --> 00:29:14.478
comes from it\'s so much boxed
and canned That they really
00:29:14.479 --> 00:29:18.498
don\'t know more than 50% of
00:29:18.499 --> 00:29:23.629
the population of Belo Horizonte has come
from the interior and they brought with
00:29:23.630 --> 00:29:27.199
them nutritious food like the
dark green leafy vegetables from
00:29:27.200 --> 00:29:33.228
the fields and fortunately now these
are being eaten less and less.
00:29:33.229 --> 00:29:37.878
From TV people learn that it is cool
to drink soft drinks and eat junk food
00:29:37.879 --> 00:29:42.634
and sandwiches And they think that
all Punjabis local vegetable.
00:29:42.635 --> 00:29:46.264
Is not good for them and this is not true.
00:29:46.265 --> 00:29:50.329
So we tried to convince them
that what they used to eat
00:29:50.330 --> 00:29:54.438
all their lives is much better for
them and then this new kind of
00:29:54.439 --> 00:29:59.419
food from BC to Brazil traditional
foods have been swept off
00:29:59.420 --> 00:30:05.689
the shelf buy a wave of convenience and fast
foods whose value lies not in nutrition.
00:30:05.690 --> 00:30:09.528
But in saving time Joan die gusto recalls
00:30:09.529 --> 00:30:14.974
a brilliant essay written by a prophetic
Philip wildly back in the 1850s.
00:30:14.975 --> 00:30:19.188
He wrote a wonderful piece called
Science has spoiled my supper probably
00:30:19.189 --> 00:30:23.869
about 30 years ago Talking
bitterly about what science
00:30:23.870 --> 00:30:27.109
have done to food at that
point I wonder what he\'d say
00:30:27.110 --> 00:30:32.313
now and he complained about
frozen vegetables coming out like
00:30:32.314 --> 00:30:36.198
like hair nets boiled in oil
funny funny pace he was always
00:30:36.199 --> 00:30:39.048
a very good writer Connie
writer and he talks at
00:30:39.049 --> 00:30:42.258
the end about that it\'s all in the interest
00:30:42.259 --> 00:30:45.438
of saving time and that
what does it mean when
00:30:45.439 --> 00:30:49.309
a society where the whole goal
of society is to save time that
00:30:49.310 --> 00:30:52.549
that\'s the society\'s goal
that we\'re seeing that that
00:30:52.550 --> 00:30:57.498
this terrible terrible food is good
enough for us he says what is it saying
00:30:57.499 --> 00:31:01.593
about us as a people that this
is good enough and I think that
00:31:01.594 --> 00:31:06.499
our food system A is a is an
appalling statement about
00:31:06.500 --> 00:31:09.978
American culture I think there\'s
an interesting shift of
00:31:09.979 --> 00:31:13.728
people who realized the extent the
extremes to which we\'ve gone and they
00:31:13.729 --> 00:31:16.668
look at what\'s happened to agriculture
they look at what\'s who\'s controlling
00:31:16.669 --> 00:31:19.759
the food system Then
look at how marginalized
00:31:19.760 --> 00:31:23.659
they\'ve been where they are expected
to go and delight in choosing
00:31:23.660 --> 00:31:27.589
between 57 brands of the
same commodity and think
00:31:27.590 --> 00:31:30.019
that that\'s a meaningful choice or
00:31:30.020 --> 00:31:33.529
a pleasure and now
00:31:33.530 --> 00:31:36.919
people look back and say well it may what
was food really liked before we did this
00:31:36.920 --> 00:31:41.794
to it what food was really
like and should still be like
00:31:41.795 --> 00:31:47.193
is the passion that drives people who
work to preserve heritage seed varieties.
00:31:47.194 --> 00:31:51.979
One of them is Dan Jason
saving seeds is definitely
00:31:51.980 --> 00:31:57.694
a very crucial thing to do at this
point because our diet is based on
00:31:57.695 --> 00:32:04.779
just a very few number of crops And the
conditions that we\'re living under
00:32:04.780 --> 00:32:08.438
an increasingly fragile in terms of
environment and and weather and all that
00:32:08.439 --> 00:32:12.248
so we don\'t know what\'s
00:32:12.249 --> 00:32:15.908
going to what\'s going to make it and we
better it we\'d better have an arsenal of
00:32:15.909 --> 00:32:20.780
a whole bunch of different kinds of seeds
if we were going to food in the future.
00:32:21.000 --> 00:32:24.938
The fact that there\'s diversity
means that if a disease or
00:32:24.939 --> 00:32:29.618
a bug strikes then they\'re
going to have something to
00:32:29.619 --> 00:32:32.798
fall back on because it\'s not going to
wipe out the entire crop somethings
00:32:32.799 --> 00:32:36.009
are going to survive and and more than
00:32:36.010 --> 00:32:40.239
that there\'s a there\'s a certain joy and
00:32:40.240 --> 00:32:45.378
completeness in having A range of
diversity and what you need is
00:32:45.379 --> 00:32:49.189
just something very different it\'s
00:32:49.190 --> 00:32:53.614
a cultural bias that we have that
makes us want to have everything
00:32:53.615 --> 00:32:56.793
identical and perfect and
00:32:56.794 --> 00:32:59.659
most other cultures don\'t
look at it that way they see
00:32:59.660 --> 00:33:03.439
the perfection in the diversity
rather than the uniformity.
00:33:03.440 --> 00:33:06.138
This goes with a kind of
00:33:06.139 --> 00:33:10.908
arrogance of our culture that disdains
what\'s out there and thinks that we
00:33:10.909 --> 00:33:14.029
have to improve everything
and particularly if you look
00:33:14.030 --> 00:33:18.409
at current efforts in genetic engineering.
00:33:18.410 --> 00:33:21.003
There\'s a great deal of
talk about improving
00:33:21.004 --> 00:33:23.989
improved foods improve sees and of
course you end up talking about
00:33:23.990 --> 00:33:30.039
improved babies And it\'s a
devaluing of what\'s given.
00:33:30.040 --> 00:33:33.293
Of what\'s out there and actual fact.
00:33:33.294 --> 00:33:36.278
We have so many varieties of plants and
00:33:36.279 --> 00:33:40.539
such diversity that for any characteristics
that you want We have seed
00:33:40.540 --> 00:33:44.409
set their early maturing plants
and late maturing ones and there
00:33:44.410 --> 00:33:49.118
are ones that resist is 0s and 1s
I resist bugs in there are ones
00:33:49.119 --> 00:33:51.758
that are good for me and
tomato say for making
00:33:51.759 --> 00:33:55.059
pace and ones that are good for
eating fresh and ones that are good
00:33:55.060 --> 00:33:57.308
for just putting little ones
in kid\'s lunch buckets and
00:33:57.309 --> 00:33:59.949
ones that are good for putting in savages
00:33:59.950 --> 00:34:05.573
and we have all all the choices
and for every characteristic.
00:34:05.574 --> 00:34:09.678
There exists already Totally
fine varieties we don\'t have to
00:34:09.679 --> 00:34:14.928
reinvent them by manipulating their
genes in weird ways and we\'ve gotten
00:34:14.929 --> 00:34:17.808
them all already but all
of this sort of represents
00:34:17.809 --> 00:34:22.039
a real contempt for what\'s there
there\'s no reciprocity in this at
00:34:22.040 --> 00:34:24.229
all it\'s simply an object that is there for
00:34:24.230 --> 00:34:28.893
our exploitation and I\'m sure
that it isn\'t what\'s beginning to
00:34:28.894 --> 00:34:30.889
people are beginning to see
that to understand that at
00:34:30.890 --> 00:34:33.348
some very gut level intuitive
level there\'s something
00:34:33.349 --> 00:34:36.138
profoundly wrong with this the notion
00:34:36.139 --> 00:34:39.379
that we\'ll get total control
over nature I think comes out of
00:34:39.380 --> 00:34:43.518
our fear I think were very
very fearful people and
00:34:43.519 --> 00:34:46.819
so we are in we want to be in
control and in agriculture
00:34:46.820 --> 00:34:50.509
this has been just a
pathology I think over I\'m
00:34:50.510 --> 00:34:54.339
a gardener I can understand that I
mean my my introductory essay to
00:34:54.340 --> 00:34:58.584
read my book called Chicken Little
tomato sauce in agriculture but
00:34:58.585 --> 00:35:02.538
but my introductory essay talks about
walking out in the garden and seeing
00:35:02.539 --> 00:35:06.469
the you know the peppers
thriving in one bed and
00:35:06.470 --> 00:35:08.629
not thriving in another
and saying wouldn\'t it be
00:35:08.630 --> 00:35:11.058
nice to know why and get
it all under control of
00:35:11.059 --> 00:35:16.068
course you know it\'s simpler But
as Wendell Berry says you know
00:35:16.069 --> 00:35:22.199
we we simplify our culture at the
expense of our minds I mean you know.
00:35:22.200 --> 00:35:26.539
We\'re we\'re doing things to ourselves
by wanting everything to be simple.
00:35:26.540 --> 00:35:29.749
People don\'t want to talk about
it but I think we have to view
00:35:29.750 --> 00:35:35.029
genetic engineering and then read back
into our industrial processes a hole
00:35:35.030 --> 00:35:39.648
a very inherently violent character that is
00:35:39.649 --> 00:35:44.059
the that the organism is not respected
as having any integrity but
00:35:44.060 --> 00:35:47.163
it\'s it\'s quite reasonable for us to
00:35:47.164 --> 00:35:51.229
blow it open to blow a hole in it to
insert genic material we don\'t refer
00:35:51.230 --> 00:35:54.798
it that way of course we have
much more sophisticated language
00:35:54.799 --> 00:35:58.488
but that\'s really what it is
Okay so we know that Pop-Tarts
00:35:58.489 --> 00:36:00.918
and Mr. Noodle in a cup
aren\'t the foundation of
00:36:00.919 --> 00:36:06.244
a great diet but how do we get past the
overprocessing and over packaging.
00:36:06.245 --> 00:36:09.720
How did we reinvent the food system.
00:36:09.880 --> 00:36:12.228
So it can be seen as
00:36:12.229 --> 00:36:18.258
a huge downer or we can say this is a revelation
that we need to take seriously it\'s for
00:36:18.259 --> 00:36:20.749
saying something to us and we kind
of go back and maybe we have to
00:36:20.750 --> 00:36:24.453
unravel this whole thing
and start over again and
00:36:24.454 --> 00:36:27.918
recreate food systems
that are based on respect
00:36:27.919 --> 00:36:31.008
for life and a reciprocity that
we have our place in this and so
00:36:31.009 --> 00:36:36.559
does everything else and the problem
is how to what is our place and
00:36:36.560 --> 00:36:42.739
that\'s what we have to address I
often say that the most powerful.
00:36:42.740 --> 00:36:46.938
The two most powerful arguments
are food safety and the fact
00:36:46.939 --> 00:36:51.109
that if we don\'t support local
farmers in 20 years we won\'t have
00:36:51.110 --> 00:36:53.628
any choice will be dependent
on Monsanto whether we want to
00:36:53.629 --> 00:36:56.388
be or not you know that
that when the time comes
00:36:56.389 --> 00:36:59.449
that you\'d like to turn to a local farmer
there won\'t be one there so we better
00:36:59.450 --> 00:37:02.959
support them But I think food
safety is a horrendous issue in
00:37:02.960 --> 00:37:06.589
this country nature does
not put a thousand hogs in
00:37:06.590 --> 00:37:12.349
one place pile up their wastes in a
lagoon and hope for the best and I think
00:37:12.350 --> 00:37:16.024
that the whole the whole Mad Cow thing is
00:37:16.025 --> 00:37:21.979
one example of what can happen now they in
theory we don\'t have mad cow disease in
00:37:21.980 --> 00:37:26.749
this country we stopped feeding
certain parts of animals to
00:37:26.750 --> 00:37:33.123
other animals but who in the hell first thought
of feeding a cow a cow anyway you know.
00:37:33.124 --> 00:37:36.288
I mean you\'re asking for it the problem
00:37:36.289 --> 00:37:38.929
is that we\'re all leaders
at the other end there is
00:37:38.930 --> 00:37:45.349
no class distinction when it comes to
eating No geographical immunity in a sense.
00:37:45.350 --> 00:37:53.350
So and things like allergies and asthma is
cancers are not choosy as to who they attack.
00:37:53.735 --> 00:37:59.089
Again they don\'t observe class because we\'re
all breathing the same air and ingesting
00:37:59.090 --> 00:38:02.989
the same toxins and so on and I think
00:38:02.990 --> 00:38:08.119
that\'s what\'s maybe a kind of unnerving some
people that they can\'t buy immunity anymore.
00:38:08.120 --> 00:38:12.288
So you\'ll end up with people who
have a direct financial interest.
00:38:12.289 --> 00:38:14.659
Perhaps as shareholders.
00:38:14.660 --> 00:38:17.389
Beginning to dissent from the policies of
00:38:17.390 --> 00:38:20.224
the company in which their shareholders
because they\'re going to be the victims
00:38:20.225 --> 00:38:23.388
they\'re not just a beneficiary
shareholders the victims of
00:38:23.389 --> 00:38:31.389
the epic Consumption yeah maybe.
00:38:32.405 --> 00:38:35.988
Regardless of income people
should be able to access
00:38:35.989 --> 00:38:42.169
this food through either a market
or a good food box program or
00:38:42.170 --> 00:38:45.289
some other way that it is
more affordable and we
00:38:45.290 --> 00:38:48.409
will then deal with both the
problem of hunger because
00:38:48.410 --> 00:38:51.018
maybe nobody will be
hungry and also supporting
00:38:51.019 --> 00:38:53.028
local farmers but also the middle-class and
00:38:53.029 --> 00:38:55.249
the rich person who\'s not
eating enough apples.
00:38:55.250 --> 00:38:57.018
Might be encouraged to eat them by
00:38:57.019 --> 00:38:59.089
price mechanisms Bruce Janine
00:38:59.090 --> 00:39:01.249
has suggested that it might be
like a health card maybe each of
00:39:01.250 --> 00:39:04.294
us have our health card and
when we go to the grocery store
00:39:04.295 --> 00:39:09.570
a variety of very healthy products
will come to us for a very low price
00:39:13.090 --> 00:39:17.434
Debbie\'s convection that good
food should be available to
00:39:17.435 --> 00:39:21.994
everyone is reflected in another
of Belo Horizonte chase subsidized
00:39:21.995 --> 00:39:26.403
programs the hugely
successful popular restaurant
00:39:26.404 --> 00:39:31.939
here are people from all walks of life
and income levels meat to eat and enjoy
00:39:31.940 --> 00:39:36.499
a hot lunch for our Brazilian
dollar or $0.80 on
00:39:36.500 --> 00:39:43.233
a typical day 3 thousand people come for
lunch Why is it a popular restaurant.
00:39:43.234 --> 00:39:45.423
Obviously the Price is Right.
00:39:45.424 --> 00:39:52.474
But mostly it\'s the good food meat
Susanna one of the cooks. Were shot.
00:39:52.475 --> 00:39:56.418
Today than menu is rice beans mash potatoes
00:39:56.419 --> 00:40:01.368
roasted chicken salad with tomatoes
at to drink there is passion
00:40:01.369 --> 00:40:03.300
fruit juice
00:40:10.240 --> 00:40:11.389
in
00:40:11.390 --> 00:40:12.664
This popular restaurant
00:40:12.665 --> 00:40:16.039
we have created a kind of friendship Club.
00:40:16.040 --> 00:40:19.698
During the last five years
and I have met lots of
00:40:19.699 --> 00:40:24.799
people Almost every day I
have lunch with a group
00:40:24.800 --> 00:40:32.800
of four or five people we talk a lot and we\'ve
had time to develop good relationships.
00:40:37.270 --> 00:40:45.270
My name is Cecilia and I
am 87 I never retired.
00:40:46.120 --> 00:40:49.668
I was afield slave on a farm.
00:40:49.669 --> 00:40:54.318
I was brought up in the bush and
never went to school and never had
00:40:54.319 --> 00:40:59.419
much clothing I had been coming
to the popular restaurant for
00:40:59.420 --> 00:41:03.648
one year now but when I am
sick I\'m not able to make
00:41:03.649 --> 00:41:08.089
it Food is good here I
never had anything like it
00:41:08.090 --> 00:41:15.349
at home I have to walk a long way to
get here I like everything they serve
00:41:15.350 --> 00:41:18.439
here except I don\'t much
care for the orange
00:41:18.440 --> 00:41:23.134
is a lot of the food cooked
here comes from local farms.
00:41:23.135 --> 00:41:26.658
This subsidize restaurant
program works brilliantly in
00:41:26.659 --> 00:41:33.048
Belo Horizonte j but do you think
they\'d buy in on wall street food is
00:41:33.049 --> 00:41:36.168
a market commodity something that
people who have nothing to do
00:41:36.169 --> 00:41:39.514
with producing food make lots of money off
00:41:39.515 --> 00:41:43.639
munching contentedly on our burgers
and fries we don\'t question that that
00:41:43.640 --> 00:41:47.569
should be the case it\'s
just the way it is But
00:41:47.570 --> 00:41:55.570
what if it wasn\'t we have a very very
prevalent ideology in North America that
00:41:57.154 --> 00:42:05.154
markets are the best way
of organizing society
00:42:07.010 --> 00:42:11.598
and they in general do
00:42:11.599 --> 00:42:17.599
a good job of providing the goods and
services that we need in society.
00:42:17.600 --> 00:42:23.539
So we\'re very reluctant to to intervene.
00:42:23.540 --> 00:42:27.918
So I think the first thing
is to convince people
00:42:27.919 --> 00:42:34.144
that we do have a problem and
it is worthwhile intervening
00:42:34.145 --> 00:42:39.138
in market if we were sitting here in
00:42:39.139 --> 00:42:44.133
the southern part of Cerrado
in 1899 and we would have
00:42:44.134 --> 00:42:47.178
been looking at problems
facing people who lived in
00:42:47.179 --> 00:42:51.109
this neighborhood we would\'ve
top in our list and talk
00:42:51.110 --> 00:42:53.793
probably talking about the fact
that so many people were dying
00:42:53.794 --> 00:42:56.868
in childbirth and so many kids
who did not have access to
00:42:56.869 --> 00:43:00.138
medical care and we\'ve had a
complete free enterprise time
00:43:00.139 --> 00:43:03.843
in which medical services were
just not available to the poor
00:43:03.844 --> 00:43:07.353
and none of us at that
time would have visualized
00:43:07.354 --> 00:43:12.498
The medical care system that we have
now if I could wave a magic wand.
00:43:12.499 --> 00:43:15.108
You know one of my big acts
would be to to take food out of
00:43:15.109 --> 00:43:19.549
the marketplace actually you know that
it would no longer be a commodity.
00:43:19.550 --> 00:43:25.038
It would be something that would be
provided through other means it would
00:43:25.039 --> 00:43:27.409
be provided through the
health care system it would
00:43:27.410 --> 00:43:30.623
be you know part of publicly
funded health insurance.
00:43:30.624 --> 00:43:33.318
People would still get paid
obviously for participating in
00:43:33.319 --> 00:43:36.589
the system but food would be
seen as a common good and
00:43:36.590 --> 00:43:40.234
a common property and something
that we all had to be involved
00:43:40.235 --> 00:43:44.389
in protecting and preserving and
making sure it was done right.
00:43:44.390 --> 00:43:48.528
It\'s fascinating to me that there\'s so
much public attention on food now and it
00:43:48.529 --> 00:43:53.438
provides Opportunity I think for people to
00:43:53.439 --> 00:43:58.058
instance reconstruct a major part of
their life to begin to see that they
00:43:58.059 --> 00:44:02.498
can they can develop a resistance
to the blend assessments of
00:44:02.499 --> 00:44:07.479
the chemical companies and the big
food processors two and so on
00:44:07.480 --> 00:44:10.809
in a way that the crops and weeds and
00:44:10.810 --> 00:44:14.213
insects develop resistance
to industrial agriculture.
00:44:14.214 --> 00:44:19.043
People can develop resistance to the
to the other end of that and begin to
00:44:19.044 --> 00:44:22.298
to to seek out alternatives and
00:44:22.299 --> 00:44:25.794
recreate the food system that\'s
more satisfying and more healthy.
00:44:25.795 --> 00:44:33.124
You can find out where your food comes from
and support local farmers so that You\'re
00:44:33.125 --> 00:44:36.994
keeping things localize and encouraging
00:44:36.995 --> 00:44:41.734
your own bioregion to maintain
itself and instead of importing.
00:44:41.735 --> 00:44:45.049
Food from thousands of
miles away and exploiting
00:44:45.050 --> 00:44:48.649
the people that grow that food to
export to you at the same time.
00:44:48.650 --> 00:44:54.078
Basically when our customers buy groceries.
00:44:54.079 --> 00:44:56.104
Either from us or from others.
00:44:56.105 --> 00:44:59.388
They\'re voting with their dollars
with every purchase they
00:44:59.389 --> 00:45:03.049
make so if we can make them
just a little bit more
00:45:03.050 --> 00:45:07.548
knowledgeable and aware of the food
issues that stand behind each of
00:45:07.549 --> 00:45:12.318
the products they buy Then
we can literally caused them
00:45:12.319 --> 00:45:15.739
to help change the world by buying
00:45:15.740 --> 00:45:20.314
products that are more in line
with their values and our values
00:45:20.315 --> 00:45:24.528
that actually products that
contribute to the environment and
00:45:24.529 --> 00:45:29.719
contribute to the local economy and
the social fabric of our communities.
00:45:29.720 --> 00:45:32.689
I see it working is
something like this eaters.
00:45:32.690 --> 00:45:35.749
Start complaining to businesses they
00:45:35.750 --> 00:45:39.259
say to businesses if you don\'t give
me what I want I\'m gonna go shop
00:45:39.260 --> 00:45:41.779
somewhere else and we\'re
gonna fire wire my food in
00:45:41.780 --> 00:45:45.378
a different way and you\'re not gonna
get my dollar anymore it doesn\'t
00:45:45.379 --> 00:45:47.268
take too many consumers
to start saying that
00:45:47.269 --> 00:45:50.448
before the company is having a high
level discussion about how it\'s going
00:45:50.449 --> 00:45:52.698
to address this problem And it doesn\'t take
00:45:52.699 --> 00:45:55.878
too many companies having the same kinds
of concerns and starting to talk to each
00:45:55.879 --> 00:45:58.398
other in their in their
business associations
00:45:58.399 --> 00:46:01.444
before pretty soon they\'re knocking
on the door of government and saying
00:46:01.445 --> 00:46:04.758
something has to shift here and you have to
00:46:04.759 --> 00:46:08.359
help us regain our credibility
with eaters because
00:46:08.360 --> 00:46:11.029
we\'re losing money and
they\'re one of the one of
00:46:11.030 --> 00:46:15.574
the characteristics today is that the
industrial system has polarized.
00:46:15.575 --> 00:46:18.048
Everything to such an extent
that you are either in or you\'re
00:46:18.049 --> 00:46:22.054
out farmers now are either incense
surfs on a corporate farm.
00:46:22.055 --> 00:46:26.178
They still own it but they
don\'t own it or they\'re
00:46:26.179 --> 00:46:30.439
organic farmers on a small scale
and diversified There\'s just
00:46:30.440 --> 00:46:32.329
no middle ground and I think
that\'s the same way at
00:46:32.330 --> 00:46:34.363
the at the either end of
it that either you\'re
00:46:34.364 --> 00:46:40.024
a full-grown participant in the
industrial system or you began to assert.
00:46:40.025 --> 00:46:44.449
To resist and to recreate
a different kind of life
00:46:44.450 --> 00:46:48.979
for yourself and those about you and
your relationship to the organisms.
00:46:48.980 --> 00:46:51.198
Inside and outside of yourself.
00:46:51.199 --> 00:46:56.329
Most people want their lives
to count for something beyond
00:46:56.330 --> 00:47:01.638
just their immediate family survival and die
for small planet I think the reason that
00:47:01.639 --> 00:47:09.639
it is sold and continues to sell 28 years 29
years later is that it it shows people that
00:47:10.549 --> 00:47:14.089
their individual Choices
are connected to something
00:47:14.090 --> 00:47:18.379
larger and that they can take
action which has meaning which
00:47:18.380 --> 00:47:21.619
helps shape the larger world
of which we\'re part and I
00:47:21.620 --> 00:47:24.963
think it just convinced me
that most of us want that
00:47:24.964 --> 00:47:27.469
it\'s not just a few quote unquote activist
00:47:27.470 --> 00:47:31.398
or a few guilt ridden people
that all of us want to
00:47:31.399 --> 00:47:34.368
believe and know that
that our acts count in
00:47:34.369 --> 00:47:39.438
the larger sense I like
what Francis has to say.
00:47:39.439 --> 00:47:43.414
But the choices we make can
help shape the larger world
00:47:43.415 --> 00:47:48.558
the food production and distribution
system is so enormous and controlled by
00:47:48.559 --> 00:47:52.728
such powerful corporations it
seems impossible that you were
00:47:52.729 --> 00:47:56.978
I could ever make a dent
in it But consider we make
00:47:56.979 --> 00:48:01.628
food choices every day if we were
to change our eating and buying
00:48:01.629 --> 00:48:06.759
habits by demanding fresh organic
locally grown food if we were to
00:48:06.760 --> 00:48:10.329
let our dollars do are talking
then we\'d send a message
00:48:10.330 --> 00:48:14.439
that food corporations would
ignore at their peril we are
00:48:14.440 --> 00:48:18.248
what we eat and in a weird
way the world is what
00:48:18.249 --> 00:48:22.464
we eat as well and
amazingly by eating right.
00:48:22.465 --> 00:48:26.214
We take the first step
or should I say bite.
00:48:26.215 --> 00:48:29.659
Towards reinventing the world
00:48:37.340 --> 00:48:45.340
Often we
00:48:47.659 --> 00:48:48.870
do
00:48:56.140 --> 00:48:58.850
Because
00:49:09.970 --> 00:49:14.880
we didn\'t want to be just fine
Distributor: Bullfrog Films
Length: 49 minutes
Date: 2000
Genre: Expository
Language: English
Grade: 7-12, College, Adult
Color/BW:
Closed Captioning: Available
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