Once upon a time I was a well intended urbanite in pursuit of happiness and the American dream. Everything seemed to be moving along quite well when suddenly at the age of 39 I found out I was going to be a father. It was as if someone let the air out of my bubble. I couldn’t shake the suspicion that what I was contributing to had little or nothing to do with what this little person would actually need in her future. I had no idea. I was a walking cliche. It was a red pill Jerry McGuire moment. A looking glass of no return. Here is the blurb I wrote 18 years ago after trying to make a film about agriculture. Please come back and see how this site transpires. Not sure what the destination will be but pretty certain that isn’t the point.
From the About Page of my We Are What We Eat website:
Healthy nutritious food should not be an elitist privilege; it should be an inalienable right.
Agriculture touches everything.
Everything we eat has a consequence, a consequence to our physical being, a reverse consequence to the soil that food was grown in and everything in between and beyond. Each decision we make in the process of buying and eating food enforces a specific paradigm.
This film is an odyssey, my quest for clarity in what I’m finding to be a very hazy time in our adaptation as a species on this planet.
Imagine a day when any person can walk into any restaurant, grocery or convenience store, make a random selection and be part of a chain of events based on sustainability, health and a lack of harm.
We are currently very far from that day but I think we would benefit greatly from turning the ship in that general direction.
A good start would be striving for clarity and accountability with regards to the consequence of our choice. While too few of us farm we all eat and shape the paradigm with every purchase and bite.
Unfortunately we seem to be lacking a benevolent shepherd. We all need to be our own food advocate and more importantly advocates for our children’s nutritional well-being. While many of us have limited access to varied food choices we are all victim to skewed and confusing information regarding food and nutrition in the current market-driven paradigm.
This is my attempt to contribute to the clarification of that confusion for myself, my family and hopefully you as well.
The clips below are not necessarily indicative of where I’m going but they are from the raw stock that I have been accumulating. At best they are meanderings in my process of clarification. They may have some intermittent value.
Feel free to share them with others, check in from time to time and by all means share your reactions if you are so moved.