INGREDIENTS (Robert Bates). 73 minutes. Opens Friday (August 26). Opens Friday (August 26) at the Projection Booth. See Indie & Rep film. Rating: NNN
Robert Bates’s doc Ingredients dates from 2009, so most of its findings aren’t new, especially to savvy NOW readers. Consider it a refresher course on healthy eating and living, filled with stories by an inspiring crop of socially conscious farmers and enterprising chefs.
Calmly narrated by Bebe Neuwirth, the film begins with a brief recap of the history of American agriculture, concluding with the failings of the current industrial food model’s destruction of farmland, questionable mass production methods and cheap foreign produce that has hidden transportation and nutritional costs.
In the face of the toll that this fast-and-cheap philosophy has taken on people’s health, Bates’s film is optimistic, bolstered by passionate interviews with foodies like Alice Waters and Peter Hoffman, who in their acclaimed restaurants Chez Panisse and the Savoy advocate in-season ingredients and support for local farmers.
The film lacks tension and doesn’t break ground in its storytelling – Bates structures it by taking us through the seasons. But his articulate subjects’ love for good, healthy ingredients should inspire everyone to visit their farmers’ markets and food-share co-ops.
