Sunday afternoon, midwesterners packed a small independent movie theater in Kansas City, Mo., for a screening of the new documentary "Fresh," which takes a close and at times disturbing look at factory farming in the United States. Along with its director, Ana Sofia Joanes, "Fresh" (click the trailer above) is wending its way across the country in the hopes, Joanes said at a panel discussion between two sold-out screenings, of "changing the misconception that we need the industrial food system." This isn't the first new anti-Big Farming flick to hit the silver screen, so we're calling a trend.

"Fresh" follows the lives of four farm families, including a Missouri hog farmer who exterminated his industrial stock after being gored by one of his hogs and doctors found that he was resistant to most antibiotics. Michael Pollan and John E. Ikerd, Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Economics at the University of Missouri, make cameos as talking heads.

The real star, however, may be the swoon-worthy (if you like the rugged type) sustainable Virginia farmer Joel Salatin, who has the vocabulary of a professor and no shame about embracing "the chickenness" of his hens when greeting them with a "Good morning, girls!" each day.


If the Kansas City crowd was especially enthusiastic Sunday, it's because many of the region's fresh food champions-including David Ball, owner of the Henhouse markets and Diana Endicott, the farm-to-market coordinator for Good Natured Family Farms-were featured prominently in the film and participated in the panel discussion, along with Ikerd.

Talk turned academic (GMO legislation) until Joanes reminded the panelists and the audience that the first step towards change is getting fresh food into the refrigerators of low-income families. She said she hoped that small screenings of "Fresh" throughout the country would be a boon to the movement.

Of course, those who talk fresh food together must eat fresh food together. After the panel, everyone noshed on refreshments-including pulled bison meat sautéed with local berries-from Blue Bird Bistro, a local restaurant that uses only local, sustainable ingredients.

Catch "Fresh" as it heads west across the U.S. and find out how to host a screening of your own here.