by Fiona Ruddy
How often do you think about the actual hands that feed you, those belonging to the people who make your meals? If you were the typical American eater, even a few years ago the answer was probably not at all. But that is changing. There is a movement afoot to connect eaters with workers all along the food chain, from celebrity chefs to restaurant workers behind the kitchen door to farmers and farm workers in the field. The Department of Agriculture now even has a Know Your Farmer Know Your Food program.
In Hands in the Orchestra, Kevin Longa chronicles the multicultural kitchens of the San Francisco Bay Area. Longa connects us with the passionate immigrant chefs and food entrepreneurs who serve as community anchors. These are the hands that feed us. Unfortunately, these workers are often exploited and paid poverty wages.
Longa’s short film serves as a rhythmic call to celebrate and honor the food workers nourishing our communities, a call for us eaters to look behind the kitchen doors and get to know the people who make our food.
For more information about the hands that feed us and ways to celebrate these workers, please visit voicesofthefoodchain.com.
This piece is part of a series in partnership with Food & Wine Magazine.
Hands in the Orchestra | Real Food Media Contest Film Library from Real Food Media on Vimeo.
