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Documentary\u00a0filmmaker\u00a0Sanjay\u00a0Rawal\u00a0is\u00a0the Director of Food Chains<\/em><\/a>, a film crucial to fair labor practices in the United States. His work illuminates a previously hidden cost of food\u00a0that is\u00a0arguably the most important\u2014the toll on people involved in the production of our food. Please join Sanjay and Foodstand on Friday, April 8th<\/strong>, for our Food Book & Film Club screening of Food Chains at the Food+Enterprise Summit<\/a> in Brooklyn. Food+Enterprise is offering Foodstanders special\u00a0evening entry to the screening and reception for $30. To\u00a0register<\/a>,\u00a0leave quantity fields blank and\u00a0use the discount code A47BFT. <\/strong>And in the meantime, get to know Sanjay!<\/p>\n <\/span> Is there current food policy that safeguards against slavery in the U.S. food supply chain?<\/strong> How do you define good food?<\/strong> What are some of the food-related revelations you had while filming?<\/strong> What was your biggest challenge while making this film?<\/strong> Food issues have not quite made it into the Presidential race. If you could ask the future President to consider a food issue that needs to be addressed, what would it be?<\/strong> If you could get the general population to change ONE aspect of their eating habits, what would it be?<\/strong> What is one of your first memories of food?<\/strong> Who is one famous person, dead or alive, that you would want to share a meal with? And where?<\/strong> What’s always in your fridge? What do you use it for \/ how do you use it?<\/strong> You used to work in the non-profit and government sectors. How did you first become involved with film?<\/strong>
\nFor those unfamiliar with Food Chains<\/em>, please describe the film in a few sentences.<\/strong>
\nFood Chains<\/em> follows a small group of farmworkers, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, as they expose the abuse rampant in farm labor in the US. We follow their battles against the largest companies on the planet, some of which they win!<\/p>\n
\nThere are ZERO government safeguards against slavery in the food industry. Yeah there are laws. But there is almost no power to enforce those laws. The only program in the US that guarantees slavery-free produce is the Fair Food Program by the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, the stars of Food Chains<\/em>. Look for their Fair Food Label<\/a> on tomatoes and strawberries at Whole Foods, Walmart, Giant and Stop&Shop.<\/p>\n
\nI don’t care if something is organic or sustainable if the people that picked, grew, manufactured or served the food aren’t treated and paid well. Too many people care too much about what goes into their bodies at the direct expense of caring about those responsible for creating that food. Should we eat organic? Sure. But organic doesn’t mean workers were treated well\u2014there is zero correlation. Same goes for local, natural, everything that gets foodies excited. The food movement has left the worker behind. We need to fix that.<\/p>\n
\nThere’s so much interest and consciousness around food these days, but it’s really focused around environmental issues and issues of animal welfare. Even when informed, very few people care about the hands that pick or serve our food. If they did, the fight for a $15 minimum wage, for example, would draw millions of protestors to the street. It doesn’t.<\/p>\n
\nAbuse in agriculture is our nation’s deep dark secret. Farm labor abuse began the moment the first European settlers arrived in Massachusetts and California and mushroomed through the enslavement of Africans. People think that the problems of yore have been eradicated. Sadly, that’s just not true. There is a willfulness in the agricultural sector to obscure the abuse of workers. Consumers, therefore, are not told the actual story behind their food. From Ag-gag laws that made filming a potential felony, to resistance from growers and supermarkets, we had to shake off legal risk every step of the way. This was by no means as dangerous as making a film in a war zone. But this is a story that Big Ag does not want to be told.<\/p>\n
\nAbout 20 million Americans work in the food sector, many of whom barely make ends meet. Without their service we have no food security. Same goes for the 3 or 4 million undocumented workers who are in the food sector (farmworkers, meatpacking, distribution, dairy, etc). Without job security and dignity much less a non-draconian immigration policy, our food system will absolutely disintegrate. I am shocked and appalled that the issue of equity in our food system isn’t being discussed in even the most basic way.<\/p>\n
\nCare about who is responsible for your food\u2014whether it’s a farmworker, a restaurant worker or your mom!<\/p>\n
\nAhhhh\u2014my parents are the best cooks of Indian food in the whole world. I would love to share those memories with anyone who wants to grab a meal with me and my folks.<\/p>\n
\nI was so lucky to have been able to spend my 20s with an Indian spiritual teacher who lived in NYC\u2014Sri Chinmoy. He was close to all the peace-makers of his generation\u2014from Mother Teresa to Mandela. He passed in 2007 and while I feel his presence daily, I would love to have another meal with him. He was a real New Yorker in every wonderful sense of the term\u2014and loved diners! These days Greek omelettes with feta and spinach or a Guyanese Aloo Pie can elicit a tear or two of gratitude just for memories of time with him.<\/p>\n
\nI live off frozen cherries and a\u00e7a\u00ed. A\u00e7a\u00ed bowls twice a day. I am also trying to master cooking eggs every way possible. These days I’m trying to get good at Japanese omelettes\u2014dashiki.<\/p>\nWANT TO BE FEATURED ON BEHIND THE PLATE?
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\nIn the early 2000s I worked on a couple projects overseas (Haiti, Congo) where filmmakers were hovering, making feature length projects on folks I was working with. But in 2009 I helped a friend (in a very minor way) on her first feature length doc\u2014Pray the Devil Back to Hell<\/i>\u2014about a group of Liberian women peace activists who lead the peace process in West Africa. Those women ended up getting the international credit they deserved because of the film. The film promoted their work to such an extent that the Nobel Peace Committee recognized them with the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011. So I saw how powerful film could be!<\/p>\n