Why a Farm to Table TV Show

As I’ve engaged with the local sustainable food movement, I’ve learned a great deal about why I wrote Farm to Table: The Emerging American Meal in the first place. As I’ve spoken and corresponded with people from coast to coast, I’ve had to constantly articulate my vision of the show, the genesis of it and my goals and hopes for the project. This near constant articulation has illustrated to me, in a much clearer way than I ever expected, why I sat down almost a year ago to write a new kind of television show. My intention at the time was to drive the food conversation in America forward. I wanted food programming to take its next evolutionary leap, a leap that would not have been possible had it not been for the Emerils, the Bobby’s, the Martha’s and the Rachel’s.

And as I draw nearer to that special anniversary I thought it would be helpful to put down some of my thoughts on what I have learned and why I wrote the show in the first place.

The Genesis of the Show

A little over a year ago, I lost my job as a derivatives trader at a French bank in Manhattan. It was the culimination of a short, rather unnoteworthy career in the financial services industry. It had been clear to me for some time that a long career in banking was not in the cards.

I remember sitting at a dinner one night in Manhattan at a fairly upscale restaurant. Surrounding me were other traders and analysts and a few of the tech folk who made our lives so spectacularly easy. Everyone was talking about their trades of the day, war stories from the field, how much money they made or lost. But I was completely tuned out.

I was studying the menu, captivated by how dilligently the restaurant had sourced their food. Almost every item on the menu clearly delineated the heritage and proveneance of that item. The buzz of the conversation around me dimmed as I zeroed in.

So when I lost my job, I took a look at the books on my bedside table, the books that had accumulated over the last few months and decided to make my way through them once and for all. I had already done some light reading of Michael Pollan and Alice Waters, but my new found freedom allowed me to dig deeper. David Kamp’s The United States of Arugula, Carlos Petrini’s Slow Food books, Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal Vegetable Miracle. There were many others. But as I read through these books, I began to puzzle together a composite of America’s food culture over the past 30 years.

Kamp’s book in particular inculcated the importance of the emergence of Julia Child, the experimentations and successes of Chez Panisse, Nouvelle Cuisine, and the rise of gourmet foods. Coupling that knowledge with my own observations on what had become of food television, I began to detect some problems with the current state of food television programming.

The Food Network Sets The Pace

I love Rachel Ray, and Mario, and Bobby, and Emeril. I really love Martha, I think she’s hot. Food Network has done an amazing job revivifying the food culture of America. They’ve demystified the kitchen and I applaud that. And there are some occasionally terrific shows out there hosted by the various other hosts we’ve all come to know, love, and who we now mostly can’t stand. I am sure their ratings are still high. I watched Food Network day in day out looking for clues, looking for inspiration, but mostly looking at what NOT to do. I knew that if I wanted to push the conversation forward I would have to adopt a modest approach. It had to be familiar enough to viewers that they weren’t confused, but with enough new elements that my goal of evolving food programming wasn’t lost.

One of the things I noticed was the level of programming has mostly stayed the same. Food Network simply found what works. And I understood why they had become complacent. But I also recognized that all around the country, the conversation about food was moving forward, and the Food Network, and other networks who have done food programming, were not responding. I sensed an opening.

The Farm to Table conversation was the future of television programming. This was my insight. The audience is clamoring, the content is abundant. Is it advertisers? Is it that hard to find companies willing to advertise for a show that promotes local and regional food chains, independent retailers and farmers, farmers markets and sustainability? It seems that this is too simple an answer. When it comes to media, if there is an audience, which I have ZERO doubts there are for local sustainable food, the advertisers will follow. It really is that simple. Can anyone deny that a television food show would attract hundreds of thousands, if not millions of devoted viewers? That these viewers are more educated, more affluent and more engaged than the audience for the Real Housewives of NYC or The Hills?

The Inspiration for the Show

In a word, the inspiration for the show was the people involved in local sustainable foods. The chefs, restaurateurs, the farmers, the artisans, the consumers, the home cooks, the gourmands, the journalists and writers, even the dilettantes.

What was soon clear to me was that the local sustainable food world needed a television show of its own. A show that chronicled the people, places and developments that were spreading around the country. The more I researched the more I realized how dynamic, entrepreneurial and inspiring the people involved in this movement really were.

The fact that the local sustainable food movement is almost entirely people-powered and bottom-up was rare. It was the first movement that I had in come into contact with that seemed to have a life of its own as well as a chance for actual success. Transforming our food system seemed strangely ‘”doable.” I had become so cynical that when I surveyed the landscape of American food, and then looked at the answers being developed in ten thousand laboratories around the country, I saw a movement with a chance of success.

I saw a movement that actually had within its grasp the power to change things on a national level.

I saw a movement that had the chance to improve America’s relationship to the food it eats.

I saw a movement with a chance to improve the lives of farmers, one of our most treasured assets. Their knowledge, selflessness, hard work and integrity inspired me every single day.

So what is to become of Farm to Table? You’ll have to check back in tomorrow for the answer to that question

Tagged as: evolution in food content, ex banker, farm to table tv show, food network fails, Local Foods, Organic Foods, tv advertising