"food documentaries" news and stories

Cramped cows and abused chickens are at risk of losing a powerful ally: filmmakers. A new bill up for House ruling in Iowa today would make whistle-blowing documentarians like Robert Kenner of "Food, Inc." fame criminals, reports the Iowa Independent. And similar action is on the table in Florida.

Any undercover videotaping or photographing of livestock or farm operations would be a classified aggravated misdemeanor calling for two years in prison and a penalty fine of up to $6,250; subsequent offenses would be class D felonies (five years and up to $7,500 in penalties). Tough break for journalism.

The risky work of undercover reporters has often led to legislation or at least further investigation of unjust acts, namely in the case of animal rights violations. We've all seen the videos -- cramped pigs with rail wounds; crippled chickens living in dark, feces-ridden barns. Heck, some even turned us vegetarian, or led us to greener (ahem, more humane) pastures. But that'd all be cutting room floor dust if this law were enacted mere years ago, or before YouTube turned it all insta-viral.

Three journalism students at St. Michael's College in Vermont have made a documentary film that examines the nocturnal adventures of "freegans" – people who rummage through dumpsters in search of discarded, but still edible, food items.

Carolyn Smith, one of the filmmakers, said that when she took to the streets with freegans in New York City and Burlington, Vermont, she expected to see garbage bins filled with the likes of half-eaten pizzas.

Instead, she was amazed by "the amount of good stuff" that was pulled from the trash, including fresh fruit and vegetables, intact eggs in cartons, and packaged foods (some of it not yet past the sell-by date), all of it tossed out by various food markets and eateries.

When you go out to eat, do you ever wonder what the waitressing world is like behind the scenes?

There is a new food documentary making the festival rounds called "Dish: Women, Waitressing & The Art of Service." Filmed by documentarian Maya Gallus, the doc looks into life for women in the service industry. Traveling between Toronto, Montreal, Paris, and Tokyo, the film investigates how waitressing changes (or doesn't) from country to country, and what customers expect when a woman walks up and asks for your order. Hint: it's a heck of a lot more than prompt service with a smile.

While Hanna Raskin's column "What Can I Get You Folks?" looks into the opinions of one server, "Dish" turns the focus more on the industry and patrons, revealing a massively diverse collection of experiences. But they all share one striking similarity: As much as we like to think of restaurants as welcoming places that cook the food for us, there's a whole undercurrent of struggle and performance that goes well beyond crazy customers wanting their tea made with boiled Evian or their fruit salad sautéed (sadly, both are real examples).