Vermont International Film Festival Burlington, VT
Dr. Amy Trubek
Professor and Interim Chair, Nutrition and Food Sciences Department, University of Vermont
Food and Country— A climate kitchen conversation
Program Description
The film Food and Country looks at America's food system, and the damage it sustained (and inherent flaws that were highlighted) during Covid. The UVM Climate Kitchen is based in the university's innovative Food System Program, so, following the film, Dr. Trubek and a few research associates updated the crowd on the post-Covid resilience (or not) of U.S. food systems, then drilled down into efforts to create a sustainable 21st-century food system and how they are practicing that locally through various research methods.
Presented At
Vermont International Film Festival Burlington, VT
Film Synopsis
Trailblazing food writer Ruth Reichl examines the precarious state of America's food system.
Ruth Reichl—trailblazing NY Times food critic, groundbreaking Gourmet Magazine editor, best-selling memoirist, and for decades one of the most influential figures shaping American food culture—grows concerned about the fate of small farmers, ranchers, and chefs as they wrestle with both immediate and systemic challenges as the pandemic takes hold.
Reichl reaches across political and social divides to discover innovators who are risking it all to survive on the front lines. As one person leads her to the next, she follows the unfolding stories of ranchers in Kansas and Georgia, farmers in Nebraska, Ohio, and the Bronx, a New England fisherman, and maverick chefs on both coasts. As she witnesses them navigate intractable circumstances, Reichl shares pieces of her own life, and in doing so, begins to take stock of the path she has traveled and the ideals she left behind. Through her eyes, we get to know the humanity and struggle behind the food we eat. As Reichl says: “How we grow and make our food shows us our values – as a nation and as human beings.”
Photo credit: Greenwich Entertainment
About the Speaker
Dr. Amy Trubek is Professor and Interim Chair of the Nutrition and Food Sciences department at the University of Vermont. She was the founding Faculty Director of the Food Systems graduate program. Trained as a cultural anthropologist and chef, her research interests include the globalization of the food supply, the relationship between taste and place, the development of food agency, and cooking and sensory evaluation as cultural practices. Dr. Trubek is involved in transdisciplinary, collaborative research with scholars focusing on the ‘wicked problems’ of our time in relation to food systems and food agency.
She teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses, including Basic Concepts of Food, Qualitative Research Methods, and Food Systems, Society and Policy. She is the author of three books: Haute Cuisine: How the French Invented the Culinary Profession (2000), The Taste of Place: A Cultural Journey into Terroir (2008) and Making Modern Meals: How Americans Cook Today. She serves as the co-editorial chair of Gastronomica: The Journal For Food Studies. She has been interviewed and quoted in various media outlets, including the Burlington Free Press, Atlantic Monthly, the Boston Globe and the New York Times.