How do we decide what food to eat? From PROCESSED FOOD, food made cheaper with PESTICIDES and ANTIBIOTICS, to LOCAL, ORGANIC and higher quality food, Americans choose how they eat based on their economic situation, knowledge of nutrition, and accessibility. The short film, Montana Fare, by Jaime Jelenchick, is a documentary about how two women feed their families while living in rural Montana roughly 50 miles from the closest grocery store.1
The two women featured in this documentary come from very different backgrounds. Jenny Sabo is a Caucasian upper-middle class woman from the suburbs of Ohio who decides to move to the Northwest for a more sustainable lifestyle. Minerva Allen is a Native American who lives on the Fort Belknap Reservation. She is an elder who comes from a low-income family and unfortunately, in her past, not having enough food was a common occurrence.
Jenny and Minerva differ in many things, from their race, income, age, and most importantly, the way they eat. Jelenchick’s purpose of this documentary is to look at how two women in different socio-economic classes buy, purchase and prepare food for their families. These two stories are microcosms of the different ways America deals with food.
Jenny Sabo
Jenny grew up eating foods packed with nutrition. Things like whole grain bread, fruits and vegetables were a daily occurrence. Her school lunch was different than other students because her parents did not feed her packaged or processed foods like Doritos, or Oreos. As she grew older, Jenny began to understand the importance of growing local and organic food. The first half of Montana Fare is about how Jenny lives on her own farm with livestock like pigs, chickens and cows. She also has a garden and green house that provides her with fresh organic produce, ultimately trying to grow as much food as possible for her family.
Jenny spends two to three hours per day working her land, whether it is milking the cows for milk, tending to the produce or cooking bread from flour purchased by a local farmer nearby. By eating food from her land, JENNY feels that it provides the best flavor and nutrition. Not to mention the health factor; everything is fresh, and completely organic. Jenny even notes that although it is a tough job, she feels that when it comes to slaughtering her animals for food, it is her job and no one else’s. She states: “by creating my own food I realize that I learn the importance of recognizing where my food comes from.” Also, it is an advantage to know what exactly is being put into her body.
Being able to live a sustainable lifestyle like this is desirable, however, hard to attain for many Americans. Many of us do not have the time, money, or job situation that would allow for us to create our own farm. However, there are bits and pieces of her life that everyone can use to become healthier, more sustainable people. For example, plant something that produces food, like an easy-to-grow tomato plant. Another way to live life like Jenny is to make an effort to only purchase locally grown, organic produce. These types of purchases help environmentally ethical farms grow and they are the farms that America needs to see more of.
The filmmaker Jelenchick notes that a reason why people do not choose to live like Jenny does is because we have become transitory beings, and part of the growth of America has been leaving behind our local foods. Many of us don’t know how to grow a garden. This loss of knowledge, combined with the affordability of junk food makes it almost impossible for people to understand the importance of eating well.
Lower income Americans have to make tough choices when deciding how to feed their families. Think about someone using food stamps to buy food for a family of four. At most grocery stores, organic, fresh, unprocessed foods are more expensive. Thus, when deciding how to feed a family of four with food stamps, healthier options are not an option and they must compromise on quality.
Minerva Allen
The second woman featured in Montana Fare is Minerva Allen. She grew up on a Native American reservation tens of miles near the closest grocery store. Her family did not did not make a lot of money and had to concentrate on feeding their family as affordably as possible. They would by tons of cheap meets, canned foods, and processed snacks, all with one qualification: they must be able last months in case the family couldn’t make it back to the grocery store. Minerva notes that she only needs to go to the grocery store every two months, meaning most of her food is pumped with preservatives to make it last.
Looking into Minerva’s pantry, everything comes pre-packaged. They must buy meat that has been sitting in the market for days, and produce is shipped from thousands of miles away to make it to the shelves. Our bodies were not meant to eat food this way—processed and sitting around the kitchen for months before being eaten, lacking the nutrition of fresh ingredients…
It is a problem we see in society everyday when the less healthy food options are cheapest, and people with lower incomes are forced to eat the worst of the worst because it is all they can afford. Our food suppliers are not helping the cause either. If you think about the layout of a grocery store, only the perimeter is filled with fresh produce, meats and dairies, while the majority of the store is filled with packaged processed junk foods. From the beginning, we are taught to eat this way and have little knowledge of proper nutrition.
However, steps are being taken by admirable people to teach America the importance of nutrition and bridge the gap between different socio-economic classes and their eating habits. First, we can thank Jaime Jelenchick for not only creating this film to educate America, but for streaming the video on Terra’s podcast. This allows the film to reach a wider audience range. To see the documentary Montana Fare, click here.
Another food hero is celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver, and his recent television series: Food Revolution. The show is filmed in Huntington, West Virginia, one of the most obese cities in America, and Oliver tries to change they way people think about food in this town. At Central City Elementary School, Oliver works with apprehensive school lunch ladies, a weary principal, and the children, many of whom are already showing signs of obesity and diabetes. Like Montana Fare, this series a real eye-opener to the food problem America faces. The more we educate America about this problem, the closer we get to being a healthier, more sustainable America.
