Food Evolution

They say you make a film three times – when you write it, film it and ultimately edit it. And we, the filmmakers, can say with full transparency that Food Evolution turned out to be a different film than the one we first started researching. But before we get to that, some context. We had partnered up after working on a previous documentary together and were pitching various projects when the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) contacted us looking for filmmakers to help them bring to life a documentary that would inform a fact-based public dialogue about our food system. And before our first call, not having heard of this group before, we have to admit that we were inherently skeptical that they were looking for nothing more than advice from a “Hollywood leftie” who was nominated for an Oscar® for a documentary about a community garden in Compton to help them along their way. So, we did our due diligence and what we found was that IFT is a non-profit, scientific society that publishes peer-reviewed scientific journals and consists of over 17,000 food scientists around the world, spanning across academia, the public sector and the private sector. Despite not having found any “smoking guns” online or in conversations with experts in food and agriculture, it was the last group, the private sector, that still presented concerns as we set the initial call. But during that first conversation, we learned three important things that would ultimately make it possible for us to make this movie with funding from IFT. First, as scientists they understood the importance of an independent investigation into a topic as polarizing as the science behind how we grow and produce food, and as such, when we insisted on complete creative control and final cut before we could participate in the project, they willingly granted that control to us. Second, IFT is not a trade association, they do not represent industry and amongst their members who work in the private sector, many work for the natural and organic food industry as well and not just for what many have come to call “Big Food” or “Big Ag.” They represent science, scientists and the body of scientific knowledge that continues to evolve, as science does. As with nearly all scientific societies, they charge companies that wish to advertise, sponsor or exhibit in their publications or annual food exhibition to help finance their operations as a non-profit. But, most importantly, neither the motivation nor the funding for this film would come from any grants or from any particular company or industry group, but solely from the scientific society itself on behalf of its diverse membership. And third, as food scientists who were tired of seeing their work denigrated and diminished by less detail-oriented, if often well-intentioned, media and activists that focused on fear-mongering over facts, their overarching goal for this project was to promote a more science-based conversation about food, and not to advance any particular agenda.