Kierstin Wall is a UVM student who recently started the blog Sustainabelly in her Food and Media course.
I would like to introduce you all to The Perennial Plate, a weekly documentary series dedicated to adventurous sustainable eating. The series follows Perennial Plate founder, Daniel Klein on his adventures eating socially responsible and sustainable food.
I just started the first season (there are three), which follows Klein for a year in Minnesota while he discovers the joys and challenges of eating sustainably. The second season Klein, his girlfriend and co-producer, Mirra Fine travel across the US on a sustainable food adventure. This season, the duo is traveling the world:
This web series is unlike anything I have seen before, it is informational, captivating, inspirational and insightful. In the first season, Klein hunts for his own meat and mushrooms, butchers a sheep, produces his own cheese, and builds meaningful relationships through food.
I would like to stress the importance of entertainment documentaries like Perennial Plate. I learned so much more about local food systems, sustainable eating, and agriculture from watching a few episodes than I have from any popular show on television. I also learned a couple really amazing recipes.
Why do the majority of Americans prefer to watch Rachael Ray and Emeril cook not-so-sustainable food, that the audience will never be able to re-create, in a fantasy kitchen that most of the audience will never be able to own?
Why hasn’t Food Network produced a local and sustainable cooking show yet? Is there not an audience for this?
I would like to challenge television and webivision (a new term I coined for watching online episodes) watchers to partake in viewing shows that benefit your well being. Why does the purpose only have to be for entertainment? Why does the audience only have to be consumers?
Think about the purpose behind what television (or webivision) episodes you watch. Are you gaining anything from it?
This episode discusses both challenges and rewards of owning a small-scale farm. Living in a city like Burlington, VT, I think this is something that happens every day that many of us who are purchasing local food don’t see. Enjoy!
