The documentary “Food and Country” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2023. At that year’s Roots conference—Roots 2023: Regenerate—attendees gained deeper insights into the people involved in the film.
First, here’s some context into the documentary’s development. During the pandemic, filmmaker Laura Gabbert and trailblazing food writer Ruth Reichl were each working independently on projects connected to the food industry. When they collaborated, the result was Food and Country, where passionate, inspirational changemakers in the industry “met” with Ruth via Zoom to share their stories.
As film review site Variety.com summarizes the documentary, it features a “thoughtful and strikingly personable cast of characters from across the U.S. . . . in the shadow of the pandemic. Some are chefs, bakers, restaurateurs. Others are independent farmers, ranchers, and even kelp harvesters. Some work in big cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, and New York. Others make their increasingly fragile living working fields or rearing herds in Kansas, Nebraska, Georgia, and Ohio. Their collective insights tell us a great deal about our food system and serve as a warning. Yet their devotion to the work—and often their employees—is heartening, even humbling.”
Michael Bracey, the film’s outreach strategist, led the conversation at Roots, with Ruth and Laura helping to direct it.
Heart of the Pandemic
When Ruth went to the supermarket and saw empty shelves, she was astonished. This, for her, truly spotlighted how Americans took food for granted—and she recognized this as a pivotal moment. How we ultimately react to this time in history, she believes, will play itself out in momentous ways that we can’t yet predict with certainty.
Ruth had never used Zoom before, but she got an account, and relevant clips of her conversations over the next two years appeared in the film.
Angela Knuth: Knuth Farms
The film captures the time Angela and her husband were transitioning their traditional farm, Knuth Farms, to an organic one. Angela was more enthusiastic about the process than her spouse. Food and Country showed the tension the family went through as they made the transition, which helped to demonstrate how it really does take time to get the soil where farmers need it to be.
For them, the process began in 2018, and by 2020, they were certified organic. At that point, they did well, and Angela appreciated how they could leave their farm to their sons with better-quality soil. At Roots, Angela described setbacks and expressed how they’re still in the midst of a learning curve, including learning how to combine organic farming with regenerative farming.
Minh Phan: Porridge + Puffs
Minh Phan was the first person Laura reached out to, and, in Food and Country, Minh shares her frustrations about her restaurant, Porridge + Puffs, in ways that Ruth called “incredibly frank.” Minh recognized the need for financial literacy around the economics of the restaurant industry for workers and diners alike. In the film, Minh rates the food at her restaurant at A- but levels of service at C- or even D, acknowledging that she was only at 20 percent of where she wanted to be; getting front-of-house workers was a particular struggle.
Through experiencing the pandemic, Minh recognized a need for a paradigm shift to get everyone on the same page at her restaurant. She also realized that she truly is a performer, one who can’t perform at the same level every night.
Reem Assil: Reem’s California
Reem’s California underwent a significant change during the pandemic years, one where the restaurant became a worker-owned cooperative where employees would share both the risks and the rewards. Although restaurant owners had sold their businesses to employees before, Reem wanted to stay in the business and grow the restaurant with the employees. Because this model was unusual, investors didn’t know how to react and neither did the people experienced in forming cooperatives.
Reem and her employees have worked hard to reimagine and reinvent their restaurant but have often encountered market and industry restrictions. Her employees are still with her, though, as they attempt to share burdens and build resiliency. In retrospect, Reem believes that she’s invested in her people in ways that might be detrimental to the business and realizes that she’s still on a journey where she attempts to balance ideals with practicality.
Common Thread
Throughout the panel conversation at Roots, participants noted how their journeys, triggered or enhanced because of COVID-19, are still ongoing. Solutions are partial, not complete, as they continue to strive for a reimagined model for our food system. The film was made available for attendees that evening.