Two Angry Moms
directed by Amy Kalafa
86 mins., 2007
One part undercover documentary, one part instructional video, this film follows Amy Kalafa and Susan Rubin, two moms fed up with the prepackaged junk food and mystery meat served in their children’s school cafeterias. Frustrated that the well-balanced meals they packed for their children each day are often tossed aside for chicken nuggets or supplemented with sugary, flavored milks, the women set out to understand how cafeteria food became carnival fare, and how they can change it. Their quest leads them to heated conflicts with school administrators and USDA representatives quick to defend the lunchrooms’ “well-balanced” offerings, and reveals the underlying corporate pressures that influence what America’s children are fed. Kalafa and Rubin also visit schools in New York, California, Connecticut and New Hampshire that have successfully turned their backs on stringent guidelines in favor of sustainable and locally sourced produce, meats and dairy products—some of it straight from schoolyard gardens. With guidance and advice from school food reform pioneers Alice Waters and Ann Cooper (the Renegade Lunch Lady), the Two Angry Moms rally support from plenty of angry dads, uncles, aunts and grandparents in their fight to change school food.
For more information and to host a screening, visit angrymoms.org. Amy Kalafa’s new school food revolution how-to guide, Lunch Wars, will be published Aug. 18 by Tarcher.
—Ariela Rose
