Books & Media

Today’s post is the final half of a two-part interview with Curt Ellis (the first part of our "Big River" article is here), who will be in Minneapolis this week showing “Big River,” a companion to his 2006 documentary “King Corn.” Both films will be screened at the Riverview Theater on Wednesday, November 18 at 7:00, with a panel discussion afterwards. Admission is $10.

I recently had a chance to catch up with Curt Ellis, whose “Big River” documentary picks up where his film 2006 “King Corn” left off - in the banks of the Mississippi River.

Shepherd's WayThe cold weather hasn't slowed down the Twin Cities' passion for local food or the momentum we've got going here. Here's a quick roundup of some important news and activities:

Linden Hills Co-op to relocate and expand

Super great news from their member letter:

Star Tribune Photo by Kyndell HariknessMy family and I (pictured above) are happy and amused to have been featured in a Star Tribune article by Julie Pfitzinger this weekend entitled "Eat Well, Be Well." Most people who know us don't think of us as the world's healthiest family, although this quote from the article is certainly true:

Every Tuesday morning, the supplier, under cover of pre-dawn darkness, packs up his truck in rural Minnesota to make his weekly delivery. His drop-off site is a nondescript, middle-class home in a Minneapolis suburb, where his regular customers begin to converge around 8:00 a.m. They drive up, park, pick up their orders, leave cash, then return to their everyday lives.

What they’re doing is illegal, but the contraband isn’t cocaine, krugerrands or even Cuban cigars.

It’s milk. Straight from the cow. Whole, non-pasteurized, non-homogenized, non-industrialized, raw milk.

Here's a video of New York Times food writer Mark Bittman speaking at the TED conference in 2008. Mark is as compelling a speaker as he is a writer. And I can't think of another time someone used the phrase "cow farts" in a presentation and it wasn't even a little bit funny. Here's what the good folks at TED wrote by way of introduction:

In this fiery and funny talk, New York Times food writer Mark Bittman weighs in on what's wrong with the way we eat now (too much meat, too few plants; too much fast food, too little home cooking), and why it's putting the entire planet at risk.

Take a look:

First, there was Fresh. Then, Food, Inc. Now, the latest food documentary that begins with the letter F gets its own Minneapolis screening tomorrow night.

Food Fight approaches the local-food movement from the perspective of a chef, acknowledging that food is, above all, “a sensual experience.” Fittingly, it prominently features the chefs, like local-food icon Alice Waters, who were among the first to claim that the best-tasting food comes from the healthiest, most sustainable sources. Or, as nutritionist Marion Nestle exclaims on camera, “Who would ever have guessed that the taste of vegetables would turn out to be the start of a revolution?”

Image Credit: David Joles, Star TribuneI was delighted to find myself quoted in the Star Tribune this morning, in an article entitled: "Making the local food movement accessible." The article, by Hayley Tsukayama, is all about how to eat local food on a student's budget, and includes terrific advice from Lucia Watson from Lucia's, Tracy Singleton from the Birchwood Cafe, and Jennette Turner. Here's an excerpt from the article:

This 6 minute video, filmed in 2007, features the terrific Nina Planck describing her relationship with food, the science behind dietary advice, and why it's better to eat real food than poor imitations. Planck is practical and personable. I'm a big fan of her approach.

Here's an excellent video of a radio interview with Michael Pollan, conducted by WNYC.org in May of 2009. In the clip, Pollan discusses his latest project - an attempt to collect food traditions - along with the perils of fast food. It's a 4 minute video, packed with all sorts of good things. Check it out.