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In LUNCH LOVE COMMUNITY, passion, creative energy and persistence come together when Berkeley advocates and educators tackle food reform and justice in their schools and neighborhoods.
How are citizens transforming local food systems? How are innovators changing the way children eat in schools? How do we talk about culture, identity and responsibility through the lens of food and health?
LUNCH LOVE COMMUNITY is a beautiful and engaging story of how a diverse group of pioneering parents and food advocates came together to tackle food reform and food justice in the schools and neighborhoods of Berkeley, CA.
Through a mosaic of twelve interconnecting short documentaries, the film explores food and education, children and health, and citizens making democratic change. This is a rich and multi-dimensional story of passion, creative energy, and idealism -- a project linking the ways we teach our children to eat and understand food to the traditional passing of powerful values from one generation to the next.
LUNCH LOVE COMMUNITY is divided into three thematic programs - Heart, Body, Mind - each containing four short films. Discussion guides for each short are included on the DVD in PDF format. These guides explore a range of topics from nutrition and health, to equity and justice, citizen participation, public policy, and school reform.
78 minutes, an episodic documentary in 12 short films
Closed Captioned
Directed by Helen De Michiel
Produced by Helen De Michiel and Sophie Constantinou
Director of Photography: Sophie Constantinou
Writer: Helen De Michiel
Editor: Mike Shen
Executive Producer: Jean Donohue
Associate Producer: Emma T. Bailey
Associate Editor, Designer: Jackie Zabel
A co-production of Thirty Leaves Production and Citizen Film in association with Media Working Group
Transmedia project directed by Helen De Michiel and Sophie Constantinou
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"Inspiring…Lunch Love Community is a multi-media inspiration for change."
Amy Bentley, Associate Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, Public Health, New York University
"For all community advocates and educators concerned with food justice issues, Lunch Love Community is an insightful and creative documentary that will help you open up a rich dialogue around changing the food system for the better."
Y. Armando Nieto, Executive Director, Community Food and Justice Coalition
"A compelling portrait of the work of community change for a more just and democratic food system, with schools as ground zero for a better food future."
Amy Best, Professor and Chair of Sociology and Anthropology, George Mason University, Author, Fast Food Kids: Youth and Changing Food Landscape of School and Home (forthcoming)
"Lunch Love Community reveals the transformative power of progressive food politics...This film holds valuable lessons for parents, professionals, and policymakers interested in how to grow social change from the ground up."
Timothy D. Lytton, Professor of Law, Georgia State University, Author, Kosher: Private Regulation in the Age of Industrial Food
"Lunch Love Community brings it all together. It reminds us that food is about housing; food is about jobs; food is about justice. This film is a vivid and visually rich presentation of how we ensure the health of our society by nurturing children with good food in schools."
Ivy Ken, Associate Professor of Sociology, The George Washington University
"From the labor of food service to the significance of social difference to the history of dietary reform, Lunch Love Community is true to the complexities and contradictions of what it means to eat well. And, the best part is that it invites us to take part in the conversation!"
Jessica Hayes-Conroy, Professor of Women's Studies, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
"An inspiring tale of school food reform...A rich, systems-based look at the actual process of transition – with a discussion of how other communities can engage in similar efforts...The modular nature of the film, coupled with excellent discussion guides for each module, makes Lunch Love Community a valuable, flexible tool for educating and engaging a wide range of students and stakeholders."
Jennifer Gaddis, Assistant Professor of Civil Society and Community Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison
"This film poignantly conveys the fundamental role of food in our lives, far beyond just physical health effects, extending to matters of choice, respect, and belonging. It invokes the bold wisdom of Margaret Mead – that a small group of concerned citizens can change the world, or at least their corner of it. And it reminds us that we all have skin in this game – the skin of our children. It is moving and motivating, practical and philosophical, inspirational and aspirational. I recommend it highly."
David L. Katz, MD, MPH, FACPM, FACP, Director, Yale University Prevention Research Center at Griffin Hospital, President, American College of Lifestyle Medicine