In Ruth Reichl’s book “My Kitchen Year,” she rediscovered simple pleasures. “As I began to appreciate the world around me, I learned that the secret to life is finding joy in ordinary things.” I often wondered during these past few years with the pandemic, what did we learn? Did positive things come out of this difficult experience for all of us?
In the opening night film of Berkshire International Film Festival, “Food and Country,” Ruth Reichl and Director Laura Gabbert explored this very topic. We learned how fragile and broken our food delivery system is, but we also experienced the joy of cooking at home for our family. And many of the farmers and food purveyors explored different ways to diversify their farms and restaurants and how to pivot their approach during this unforeseen disaster.
Ruth Reichl is one of our most renowned food writers, including stints as the food critic of the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times. She was Gourmet Magazine’s editor-in-chief for 10 years and has won six James Beard Foundation awards. She is passionate about food and has said that it is “impossible to make great food if you don’t have a generous soul.” She decided at the beginning of COVID to connect with the people who were most affected by restaurants shutting down: the farmers, the ranchers, the food producers, the chefs, and even the fishermen. The American policy of producing cheap foods had already hurt our food purveyors. COVID-19 and the subsequent lockdown produced a catastrophic loss of business. The markets for crops and livestock were endangered by the pandemic and it exposed the vulnerability in the nation’s food system.
Ruth Reichl contacted 178 people affected by the lockdown and established strong relationships with many of them. Her empathy was very evident in these Zoom portraits. She was like a welcome friend “checking in” to see how these people were doing with such a devastating blow to their livelihood. She celebrated the role that small farms and restaurants played in their respective communities.
When I spoke to Ruth, she said that Laura Gabbert and she decided to focus on six main stories (choosing them was particularly difficult). They chose the ones that came out of COVID better or had at least made appropriate accommodations to this world-wide catastrophe. Her discussions with these farmers, ranchers, and restauranteurs were very compelling. It was easy to fall in love with these hard-working men and women who were trying to change the system so as to help themselves and their fellow Americans. They were stories of hope and resilience. As we learn in this documentary, farmers need to be resilient. They are used to dealing with disasters and never knowing what’s coming down the road.
One of the heroes in the documentary was Bren Smith, a former commercial fisherman who pioneered regenerative ocean farming. He has become a “kelp farmer.” Why? He said that he asked the ocean what would make sense to farm. The ocean answered that it makes sense to farm something that won’t swim away and you don’t have to feed! He has been helpful in training others in this fairly inexpensive way to engage in “farming.” He has also won $2 million in a sustainability award, the Food Planet Prize, for his company, Greenwave.
The Jones Brothers from Chef’s Garden in Ohio had to retool their vegetable business to keep their people employed. They had begun as a supplier for fine dining restaurants, but when these restaurants started to close, they expanded to sell their vegetables to home consumers, institutions, and hospitals. They noted that the U.S. has the highest spending on health care per capita of any industrialized nation but spends the least on nutritional food.
Will Harris of White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Ga. is a fourth-generation farmer. He has moved away from the industrialization of his family farm into a regenerative farm. He is more concerned now with animal welfare and managing free-range livestock. He has revitalized his small community by hiring over 100 young people. Thinking outside the box, he has brought thousands of sheep, chickens, and ducks to a solar farm, which has prevented erosion and improved the soil. Knuth Farms in Nebraska made the bold move to diversify with some organic crops. It took 36 months to transition the soil for these crops. There are so many other inspirational stories. Karen Washington operates Rise and Root Farms in the South Bronx and aspires to help Black communities become more involved with farming. Steve Stratford, a rancher from Kansas, is very involved in the political issues that are affecting the beef industry. Minh Phan is a very bold chef who actually opened a fine dining restaurant during the COVID pandemic and won first prize for best restaurant. Reem Assil, a San Francisco area chef and James Beard Award winner, is trying to keep her restaurant going by including her employees in the difficult decisions she needs to make.
This film is a wonderful education in the history of food in America. Ruth said, “I feel like I spent my whole life leading up to this.” She has spoken to many successful chefs, farmers, and ranchers who have used the pandemic to change the way their farms or restaurants have operated. It has been a difficult journey for many and COVID has exposed the weakness of our food delivery system. The farms that have survived have changed their focus and worked on improving their soil, their sustainability, and increasing the diversity of their crops. It is not an easy fix. Small independent farms need more regulation to protect them from the consolidation of the large food distributors. And it is apparent that the health of Americans is also at risk with fast food being so ubiquitous.
“How we grow and make our food shows us our values—as a nation and as human beings,” says Reichl.
