A Place at the Table Review

This documentary showed a correlation between hunger and obesity that people who do not struggle to put food on the table may not realize exists. To do this they showed a child at her physical talking to the doctor about her eating habits. When she said she usually has some sort of chips for an after school snack her doctor suggested she ask her mother to buy something healthier like fruit. This was followed by an interview in the girls home with her mother talking about how expensive food is and how when she is at the grocery store if the chips are cheaper she will choose them over the produce, but when produce is on sale she opts for that. After this personal story they cut to an expert in the field who explains how many people understand the difference between healthy and unhealthy, however they cannot afford the healthier options. They go on to explain how many of these problems lie within public policy because the government is unwilling to spend the money it would take to make people, especially children, healthier. In order to get their message across effectively they overlay personal stories with experts who explain what actually needs to be done. This way people who watch will form an emotional attachment to the families whose stories are shared. This way more people in the general population can gain an understanding of what is happening with people living in their country, state, town, and possibly neighborhood. They also showed a doctor who advocates for these issues take a group of women from Philly to Washington to talk to Congress about putting more money into healthy school lunches. Ultimately they were unsuccessful and Congress ended up taking some money from food stamps to pay for the healthier lunches. This story is there to motivate people to get involved and write to their Congressmen, volunteer at a food bank, or any other way they can help people in their communities eat.