Movie Screening: Good Food (followed by discussion with filmmakers)

Join Sustainable Ballard as we explore 'Good Food'
$5 suggested donation

‘Good Food’ Connects Local Sustainable Farming with Your Table

After its premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival to enthusiastic audiences in sold out theaters, this film has screened in small theaters, in other film festivals, and many community settings around the country where it inspires discussion and action on local, sustainable food. Its broadcast debut was Nov. 12, 2009 on Seattle’s PBS affiliate, KCTS/9. It will soon be seen on other public TV stations around the country.

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.

* Mark Schmid, of the White Salmon Valley of Washington, shares the advantages of converting a conventional dairy to one that produces for Organic Valley.
* 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, President of Seattle’s Chefs Collaborative, buys from individual farmers to make his menus local and delicious.
* Helsing Junction farmers Susan Ujcic and Anna Salafsky provide Community Supported Agriculture boxes for hundreds of families each week during the growing season.
* 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, proliferating 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 expensive 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.

The Northwest is a leader in developing a more sustainable local food system, and 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, including Risky Business: Biotechnology and Agriculture [1996], Not for Sale [2002] about the impacts of patenting life forms and their most recent program broadcast on PBS stations, Net Loss: The Storm Over Salmon Farming.

Good Food web page: http://www.goodfoodthemovie.org [5 min. preview, reviews, etc.]

Location