"The People Who Feed Us"

One of the most fun things about The Farmer and The Chef’s new venture, is exploring the richness of the community committed to bringing good food to good people.  One of those examples is the team of Staci Strauss and Craig McCord who have been chronicling the leaders, motivators, farmers and chefs who are using their skills and talent to bring the very best nature and nurture to your dinner plate.  They do so with insightful, witty, and inspired short documentaries of people with passion

From Patrick Martins, a founder of Slow Foods USA and now CEO of Heritage Foods USA, to the colorful Joel Salatin, to the “farm-centric” Chef Joseph Wrede. “The People Who Feed Us” shows a cross-section of the personality, approach, and skills of innovators and leaders of the local food revolution.

Staci Strauss and Craig McCord have been a team for over ten years. Both having come from advertising and television commercial production, they traveled to many locations for work. This presented the opportunity to sample great restaurants and discover many farmers markets.

While working on a documentary about an jazz musician from New Orleans (who now lives in the Vaucluse region of France) they experienced the sights, sounds, and excitement of market day. As they traveled to various villages in Provence to shoot the band’s performances, they met many artisanal food producers working in the “small batch, handmade” style.

As luck would have it, the idea of doing stories about the people who feed us happened over lunch. After visiting the Wednesday market in St. Remy de Provence, they hit upon the idea to use their film making skills to create small videos to communicate the benefits of the market-driven, Slow Food approach to eating, in a meaningful, accessible way. And The People Who Feed Us was born.

As a result of her experiences in the Provençal markets, Staci has become an avid shopper of the farmers markets in the Hudson Valley and New York City. Ms. Strauss says:

“I would say that we know the producers of about 80% of what we eat at home, the wonderful people who bring their goods to the markets each week. For me, it is very satisfying to personally know the people who feed us. It is my goal to be a mouthpiece for local foods.”

Craig was raised on the produce from his family’s garden had this to say about eating locally:

“The purpose of this site is to bring awareness to the choices we make about what we eat. There are folks out there producing really good stuff to eat. We all need to support small farming.”

So for a relaxing and uplifting experience, visit www.thepeoplewhofeedus.com and take a tour of the diversity of a passionate community.  Thank you, Staci and Craig for being the archivist of small farms and those who enjoy the fruits of their labor.