We review films on a regular basis on our sibling blog — CanadianCrossing.com. We even write about film for this blog about food issues and documentaries.
We have run across some food documentaries of late so we have reviews about the merits of these food documentaries. You might think seeing a food documentary means you don't have to watch others. True in some cases and not the complete truth with other films.
Food and Country
Ruth Reichl has a documentary about the state of the food system over the last 5 years and beyond. You might recognize Reichl from her work as The New York Times restaurant critic. Reichl takes us through the perils of COVID-19 on farmers and restaurants. One farm had geared its efforts to restaurants and had to pivot since eating out became a problem during the pandemic.
The backstory is presented, going back to Earl Butz in the Department of Agriculture under Richard Nixon. The film showcases the limited control of major production with Tyson, Cargill, and 2 Brazilian owned companies.
Food and Country points out notable solutions to improve the situation, such as getting more Black people to become farmers and the efforts of White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, GA with regenerative and organic farming.
Reichl throws in a bit of her story but is wise enough to limit that in the documentary. A good overview if you know little to nothing but a lot you may have seen before if you are clued into the food supply concerns.
AARP ran a free screening of Food and Country about a month ago. This should stream soon.
Common Ground
The primary focus of this food documentary is regenerative agriculture, the true opposite of monocultures. No-till policies help regenerate the soil. Using cattle to pollinate the grassland. This also puts carbon into the ground to help the climate crisis as well as improve the soil.
A number of celebrities are involved in the narration of Common Ground and are seen on-screen, including Laura Dern, Jason Momoa, Woody Harrelson, Donald Glover, Ian Somerhalder, and Rosario Dawson.
The tone is kind of "duh. of course we should be doing this." Normally, that can be annoying but this is obvious.
Common Ground is the follow-up film to Kiss the Ground. You can find out if there is a screening near you or to request one. Common Ground has run in select theatres and should be streaming in 2025.
Tea Creek
Jacob Beaton tells us that Indigenous food sovereignty used to be 100%. Beaton runs Tea Creek, an Indigenous food sovereignty training center in northern British Columbia in Canada. The documentary ties in with Indigenous populations having to move to less desirable farm land and the Indian Act restricting what Indigenous people could do in terms of farming.
The training center gives Indigenous people expertise and confidence to farm the land. Farm techniques also help the people take care of the land. The film talks about the importance of the 3 sisters: corn, beans, and squash. They also share the bounty with the Indigenous community, a trait of their people for hundreds of years.
The center does its best yet has run into financial difficulty.
These techniques and inspiration can also apply to non-Indigenous people so don't limit yourself in watching the documentary. This will be hard to find outside Canada yet is the most important documentary in this article.
Tea Creek is available in Canada in the Absolutely Canadian section of CBC Gem. Hopefully, there will be a U.S. deal.
The Michoacan File
On the surface, The Michoacan File is about the quest to get UNESCO certification for Mexican cuisine. That part of the documentary isn't that interesting. The telling of the story of Mexican food over centuries, the connection with the Philippines, the connection with France, the matriarchal angle of Mexican cooking, Baja California cuisine, Tex Mex, and so much more.
Milpas and the 3 sisters: corn, beans, and squash. The different names for chiles, depending on their state in the moment. This is a wonderful history of cooking that goes way beyond tacos and tostados.
The film centers on the Michoacan region as a gateway to get the UNESCO certification. They have to leave their comfort zone and cook in a foreign land where they are not wanted in the kitchen.
You can likely watch this film on demand at some point.
Crush: Message in a Bottle
We don't really cover wine, even if wine is made from food (grapes). People cook with wine so we should include this documentary. A nice overview of four seasons with the battles and challenges in the wine making process. This takes place in the Niagara region of southern Ontario, an up and coming wine-making area.
Crush: Message in a Bottle is ideal viewing while drinking a glass of wine. The film is available via TVO (TV Ontario) in Ontario in Canada.
Singing Back The Buffalo
Singing Back The Buffalo is a documentary about bringing back buffalo populations to Canada and the United States. The film reinforces the regenerative agriculture argument of buffalo pollinating the grasslands. Buffalo are falsely seen in some circles as a threat to cows. Of course, buffalo is a nice alternative to cows in terms of grass-fed meat production with more Omega 3s and lower in fat.
Tasia Hubbard is a very good filmmaker and makes the buffalo a subject worthy of contemplating.
BalanceofFood.com film coverage
40 Acres is a feature film about Black and Indigenous farmers defending their farmland in a post-apocalyptic world. There is a bit too much killing yet tells a good story about how important farming is, especially when food is scarce.
Seeds is actually about seeds: how an Indigenous influencer gets tricked into endorsing a company that wants to patent seeds and steal her grandmother's seeds. This film also mentions the 3 sisters (corn, beans, and squash). A bit violent toward the end of the film yet an important message.
Both these films are in the film festival stage. They are both Canadian, which means they could end up on Crave within the next year and eventually on demand in the United States.
We know a lot of this content deals with Canada. These films played at a film festival in Canada and Canada does a lot of documentaries. Plus, Canada is similar to the United States in some ways.
photo credits: Tea Creek; Crush: Message in a Bottle; Singing Back The Buffalo
video credits: Greenwich Entertainment; Common Ground Film; Windsor International Film Festival; Veneto International Film Festival
