Film
In 'King Corn,' college pals follow the trail of the ubiquitous grain into the U.S. food supply.
Corn was sole food for all chicken, 93 percent of beef in 486 servings of food from McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's in six states, study shows. Environmentalist predicts that corn-based biofuels mandate could push industrial farmers to soy-based feeds. And: 'King Corn' documentary follows myriad paths of corn into food supply (click 'See also').
By Catherine Brahic
New Scientist 2008-11-10 (entry)
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Marie-Monique Robin, filmmaker and veteran journalist, conducts Google searches onscreen.
Filmmaker explores history of biotech seed company Monsanto, including: Its manufacture of Agent Orange and PCBs; its Roundup weedkiller; its aggressive use of patents; its success in persuading U.S. to approve its genetically modified seeds without scientific testing; the revolving door between the U.S. government and Monsanto's executive board; and its domination of U.S. commodity crop markets with its GM seeds. To watch the film, click 'See also.'
By Malcolm Fraser
Montreal Mirror 2008-05-22 (entry)
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'Ratatouille' which won an Academy Award for best animated film, follows the journey of a rat whose culinary aspirations land him in Paris.
For 'Best Use of Food in a Film,' the nominees are: "Ratatouille" and Thomas Keller's vegetable sculpture; "Eastern Promises," rivaling Gourmet magazine; "Juno," with her cola, fries and chips; "The Bucket List," with black walnut ice cream, Champagne, Beluga caviar and oysters on the half-shell; and "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" with an oyster on the half shell and Champagne, sole with lemon and a glass of Chablis, a steak with bearnaise sauce and pommes frites. And, to finish, ripe, runny cheese and a slow sip of sweet wine.
By Beverly Levitt
Chicago Tribune 2008-02-20 (entry)
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Edna Lewis, chef, author and champion of Southern food.
As companion to a newly discovered and now published essay, "What is Southern?" by the late Edna Lewis, Gourmet magazine (via Epicurious) includes a short documentary, "Fried Chicken and Sweet Potato Pie," by the Atlanta filmmaker Bailey Barash.
Gourmet magazine 2008-01-01 (entry)
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Multicultural Olympic Diner, in Jamaica, Queens, is backdrop for Steve Barron's new indie film that explores the immigrant experience and the relationship between a shy Ecuadorian dishwasher and a Chinese waitress.
By Nathan Duke
TimesLedger Newspapers (NY) 2007-12-06 (entry)
Pointless hospitalization and hardbody shots aside, this propaganda film with teeth blames the precipitous drop in shark population on popularity of shark fin soup, a $300-a-bowl Asian status symbol, and on mobsters who protect practice of hacking off shark fins and leaving the shark to die.
By Matt Zoller Seitz
The New York Times 2007-11-02 (entry)
Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis take us on a moral, crucially skeptical road trip that reveals how industrialization, government subsidies and food technology have transformed subsistence family farming into a tradition-killing welfare system that intentionally overproduces and to food makers who put high-fructose corn syrup in, well, almost everything.
Los Angeles Times 2007-10-26 (entry)
"The Price of Sugar" focuses documentary lens on Dominican Republic and horrific conditions of mostly Haitian illegal immigrant sugar cane workers there, then tells story of Catholic priest who sets out to improve their lot.
By Stephen Farber
The Hollywood Reporter 2007-08-23 (entry)
Judging from plastic bottles clogging the landfills and SUVs clogging the highways, the news that we're killing ourselves and our world hasn't kicked in, so that makes "The 11th Hour," an unnerving, surprisingly affecting documentary, essential viewing.
By Manohla Dargis
The New York Times 2007-08-17 (entry)
In "Ratatouille" and "No Reservations," top chefs at restaurants and culinary schools consulted on appearance of dishes; actors ate the featured dishes, and the animation department went to cooking school, for authenticity's sake.
By Beverly Levitt
Philadelphia Inquirer (entry)
Mushy sides aside, fried chicken from Popeye's Chicken & Biscuits is some of the best soul food in Boston - but does it matter that this tender, juicy, extra crunchy bird with a cayenne kick is from a chain, if it's a cool chain?
By Devra First
Boston Globe (entry)
