Like a classic sole meunière that pairs a beautiful filet of sole with a dash of butter and lemon, director Laura Gabbert’s films (“City of Gold”) match glorious portraits of food with a brilliant and uniquely qualified storyteller. In the case of her new documentary “Food and Country”, which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Laura partners with food icon Ruth Reichl who embarks on an ambitious quest to talk to a variety of stakeholders throughout the U.S. to find out what can be done to fix what is clearly a food system on the brink of collapse.

Sitting down with Ken at Sundance to talk about her new film, Laura discusses the challenges of a creative collaboration that, due to the constraints of the pandemic, often took place via Zoom; the forces of change that are reshaping the food industry; and the innovative chefs, restaurateurs, farmers, and ranchers who, against long odds, are re-inventing themselves in order to continue to do what they love and feed the world in the process. Bon appétit!

Follow:

@lauragabbertfilms on Instagram and @LauraGabbert1 on twitter

@topdocspod on Instagram and twitter

The Presenting Sponsor of “Top Docs” is Netflix.

A big thanks to Portrait for hosting this conversation at Sundance.