by Phyllis Louise Harris
March 2014
Across the world food brings people together in a way nothing
else can. Daniel Klein found hundreds of examples of this during his three-year
effort to produce the James Beard Award winning online documentary series, “The
Perennial Plate.” Along with his partner (and now wife) Mirra Fine, Daniel
travelled through thirteen countries to learn more about the food of the world
from the people who make it.
From the farmer in Japan who fought to keep acres of farmland
from being turned into housing developments so that he could continue to grow
wheat and then opened a restaurant to turn that wheat into flour and wonderful
udon, to the coconut growers in Sri Lanka who find a use for every part of the
coconut tree, the team met the people who produce the food we all need and
want.
In our world of supermarkets and instant meals we tend to
forget the effort made by so many people who spend their lives keeping our
plates full. Daniel and Mirra went back to the sources and found a passion
among food producers worldwide.
“We wanted to revive the human connection to food and the
business of food,” Daniel said. “We wanted to create a series with a positive
approach to food production and to get people thinking about the food they eat.”
And, they wanted to have fun doing it. They also wanted to change eating habits
and to talk about sustainability. What they did surprised them both.
In November of 2009 the first episode of The Perennial Plate
was all about turkeys – raising them, killing them and eating them. It is a
short, graphic film that some people find too realistic to watch. It is the
piece that convinced Mirra to become a vegetarian. “Turkey” ran on the Internet
and the series was born. Every Monday for the next year a new short film
focused on the food of Minnesota, attracting an audience of about 10,000
viewers who were watching and commenting on each episode. In the second year
Daniel and Mirra travelled throughout America and then decided it was time to
go abroad. They selected 12 countries with centuries-old culinary traditions and
where travel was relatively easy. That included China, Japan, India, Sri Lanka,
Spain, Morocco, Italy, Turkey, Argentina, Mexico, South Africa and Ethiopia.
Intrepid Travel thought it was a good idea and became a sponsor.
The intriguing thing about the series is the visual way the
team tells a simple food story in three to five minutes. One of my favorites is
“Tea for Two,” episode number 117, April 2, 2013. It is a very sweet story of a
couple in Sri Lanka whose marriage was arranged for them by their parents and
has lasted for 35 years. Today, the couple manages their small tea farm
handling everything from the growing to the picking and delivery as a team. In
those few short minutes the viewer is suddenly involved with this loving,
hardworking pair as they go through their daily routines together, making their
own contribution to the world through their beautiful Ceylon tealeaves.
The series also touches on some of the problems of
sustainable farming with a cranberry grower in Minnesota who is trying very
hard to maintain production while bugs and weeds are killing his crops.
One of the most fascinating stories follows the Dabbawalla
of Mumbai where every weekday 4,000 men deliver 175,000 lunches from homes to
workers at their jobs. In Episode 115, March 10, 2013, we see a deliveryman
stopping at home kitchens to pick up hot lunches packed in special containers.
As each pick-up is made it is added to dozens more on a large board that is balanced
on the head of the deliveryman as he bicycles through the crowded streets to
make each delivery. Other lunch containers are added to hundreds more on a
commuter train for a quick ride then delivered on foot. Surprisingly, no
delivery is lost and not a single lunch is spilled. Then the deliverymen make
the same route in reverse to deliver empty lunch containers back to their
homes. As one of them said, bringing good, home cooking to the people at work is
very important.
Daniel is an experienced restaurant chef with a film
background and Mirra has a wealth of marketing and film experience. Together
they have created a food series that educates and entertains in a memorable
fashion. I have been a food writer for more than 40 years and found each
episode a new lesson in the business of food and gained a new appreciation for
the people who spend their lives producing it. Their passion, their dedication,
and their hard work clearly transmit to the food we all enjoy everyday. The
series is truly enlightening!
Today, Daniel is editing the final episodes of the
three-year project. Each three to five minute piece takes three hours to film
and additional time to edit. By July the project will be finished but will live
on at www.theperennialplate.com.
In reviewing the past three years Daniel found that across the world most
people want good, real food whether they grow it or buy it. He also found a number
of surprises including the episodes that went viral reaching two million
viewers. As to his goal to change eating habits, Mirra’s entire family is now
vegetarian.
Read more about Asian food in Minnesota and try more than 160 recipes in Asian Flavors: Changing the Tastes of Minnesota since 1875, now in bookstores and on amazon.com.
Watch the EMMY® award
winning “Asian Flavors” television show based on the book on tpt MN. Check
local TV listings for broadcast times or view the show streaming online at:
http://www.mnvideovault.org/mvvPlayer/customPlaylist2.php?id=24552&select_index=0&popup=yes#0
