After watching A Place at the Table, I feel as though I personally became more passionate about the war of food justice in America. The directors of the documentary were mindful in their use of research. They employed a lot of first-hand stories that were jam packed with pathos. Whenever one of those individuals would make a claim, their statement was backed up by a scholar. Additionally, they included various statistics on the millions of people affected by food insecurities. The way they included these statistics was even more helpful, because they were turned into short and colorful animated clips.
One of the stories that touched me was of a woman from Mississippi who was a chef at a local restaurant. That restaurant mainly served fried food, made with a lot of cholesterol and oil. The story touched me because in my culture, a lot of the food we make is fried and unhealthy. What made this story more appalling is the fact that before this story was told, authors presented statistics saying that Mississippi is the city with the highest rates of obesity and food insecurity.
Another strong suit of the documentary is the fact that it follows one woman throughout her journey to being food secure. Not only did this strategy help the audience understand the severity of the issue, but it also touched the audience because the woman never truly became food secure, and instead faced one issue after the next.
Overall, the producers of this documentary were very intentional in their use of research. They employed both scholarly and non-scholarly sources, and they had first-hand stories which added to their logos and pathos.