Following on from our award-winning 2019 series about the UK grains, CEREAL, comes our second in-depth production, Who Feeds Us?, released this coming Sunday, 11 October.
The COVID crisis exposed a food system failing to serve its most basic purpose: to nourish all citizens of our society. As supermarket shelves were left empty and the hospitality industry shut down overnight, many people turned to farms and local CSA schemes to buy food. Many small scale food producers stepped up to feed their communities in new ways.
Who Feeds Us? is a chorus from the people who have fed us throughout the pandemic: people from all over the UK, of many different ages and beliefs, from different backgrounds, regions and classes; farmers, growers, community leaders, healers, chefs, beekeepers, and fishers.
Over seven episodes, narrator Katie Revell will share with you the experiences of these people and explore what it really means to take on the responsibility of feeding and nourishing our communities. Join us, as we consider how the pandemic has made clear that food doesn’t come from shelves – and never did. Instead, food comes from the sea, the soil, and the hands of people.
With commentary from those at the forefront of growing food, as well as academics, activists, authors and chefs, the series seeks to address how we can make access to nutritious food the norm, not only for those who have the time and the means, but for everyone.
Throughout the course of the series, we learn that farms feed us in many ways, and that food is just the beginning. It turns out ‘feeding us’ is not just about getting any old food on the table and calories in our bodies, it’s about nourishment, community, healing and a sense of self-worth. It’s about respect for the animals, the plants, and the people putting food on our plates. What people really want from their food system is dignity and justice.
Hear from a baker in the Scottish Highlands, a Halal slaughterman in Wales, a fishmonger in the Shetland Isles, and chefs adopting farm to table restaurant models; from growers on council estate allotments in Birmingham, to beekeepers on city rooftops, to a medical herbalist’s mobile apothecary, and a mental health campaigner’s idea to set up a Food Pharmacy (as opposed to a food bank) for Sheffield’s black community.
Who Feeds Us? is an important series about the relevance of food sovereignty to everyone in society. This means putting our food back in the hands of the people, and prioritising nature and nourishment.
Who Feeds Us? was made possible by a team of 23 people across the British Isles, without whom this series would not have been possible. Thank you also to Farming the Future for generously funding Who Feeds Us? and allowing us to share these stories.
We can’t wait to share Episode 1 with you this Sunday!