By Sheila Kinkade
On Saturday, September 6 at 7:00 p.m., Maryland Public Television will broadcast Cafeteria Man, a documentary film chronicling the early days of Baltimore’s school food reform movement. The story begins in 2009 and traces then Food and Nutrition Services Director Tony Geraci’s pioneering efforts—alongside a host of committed students, parents, school administrators, and community change agents—to kick-start programs and services designed to improve student health and nutrition.
Released in 2011, the film was recently updated to include an epilogue on Great Kids Farm and Tony’s move to the Memphis City Schools, where he continues his leading role as a passionate school food advocate and innovator.
From the very beginning, the farm played a pivotal part in this unfolding narrative. Even in its infancy, the farm stood out as a beacon of possibility, a vision to be nurtured and tended with care.
Over three years, Cafeteria Man has been screened before tens of thousands of eager viewers at festivals, universities, community events, and conferences across the country and internationally. Audiences resonate with the film’s positive message and the ‘can do’ attitude of its protagonists. A powerful theme is the all-too-often overlooked role of young people themselves as change agents and problem solvers.
Those looking to launch similar efforts are uplifted by the forward momentum and multi-faceted approach to school food reform they see captured in the film—from the sourcing of fresh fruits and vegetables to the serving of breakfast in the classroom, from the delivery of nutrition education to the training of students in the culinary arts. At the same time, they take caution in the film’s sobering look at the challenges that go with trying to change a system decades in the making.
What’s clear in hindsight is that changing complex systems takes time, vision, leadership, and perseverance. Fast forward to today and the farm remains a potent example of what’s possible with the right combination of committed people and institutions.
As Farm Manager Greg Strella says in the film’s new ending: “Students who plant seeds in their class today as a 5-year-old can’t ever be an 18-year-old who has never worked with the soil… What we’re investing in every day is new conditions, new realities for our young people to grow up into.”
Sheila Kinkade co-produced Cafeteria Man with director Richard Chisolm and editor David Grossbach.