In about thirty minutes – I blame my computer crashing that I’m not revealing this sooner – The Kale Project will be on JT on Canal +!
What started as a simple email from a journalist turned into a whirlwind of planning and completing two days of shooting the report. It’s incredible to see how much goes into just a 2 minute segment for a news program. Here’s hoping that tonight turns out alright.
A few behind the scenes photos of tonight’s reportage:
The first day was made possible by the lovely ladies at Thank You, My Deer, who let us prepare and film guests to the café as they ate the salad. A special thanks goes out to Daphne who saved the day by eating the last salad and talking about her alkaline diet – all while I had been preaching that kale is an alkaline vegetable during the entire interview. It’s always helpful when someone backs you up.
The other two that tried it were not necessarily those that I would expect to ever eat kale. One guy came in for a coffee and was forced to try the salad but my bet is that he never really eats anything green at all. The second woman, who lives next to the cafe, apparently comes in every day and tries the food but never really has a very enthusiastic opinion. She liked the salad, could tell that it is very healthy for you and said she would try it again, but she didn’t really grasp the concept that it was different than other cabbages.
The next day of shooting involved an early morning train ride to Lyon, where the lovely farmer, Gérard met us at the train station. Gérard contacted me mid-winter explaining his interest in planting kale. Encouraged by a chef-friend of his, he was excited to try something new and one thing led to another which led him to The Kale Project – and lucky for me, he spent some time in Philadelphia which means he also speaks English – making our interactions much easier than my normal farmer interactions.
Greeted by such adorable bunnies – who also happened to be very soft, making me realize that perhaps I’ve never actually held a bunny until two weeks ago – we took a tour of the farm.
Along with multiple lettuces, gorgeous summer courgettes, cucumbers, onions, peas and herbs, we made our way to the kale fields.
As Gérard is an organic farmer and this is his first time growing kale, he’s had a bit of a pest problem. And given that spring started about six weeks late this year, everything is a bit behind. That’s why keeping the beautiful ladybugs around is so important as they keep away the pests.
The Canal+ team settled in and began asking Gérard a few questions about his life, farming and why he decided to grow kale in the first place.
As if the day could not get any better, Gérard who sells a lot of his produce to local restaurants, arranged a lunch and a meeting with a chef who is excited to use kale later this year when Gérard’s crop is ready! And he agreed to be interviewed as well. To have a chef that is part of Les Toques Blanches talk about kale on national television to me is such a huge step towards awareness for the vegetable and all-around credibility.
The day consisted of chatting back and forth in French and English – although I did much more talking in English and listening in French – discussing why I started the Project, how things were going, what ultimate goals were…
I told Gérard just how important it was that someone like him has been willing to test out growing kale and taking something that most of the French farmers have considered a risk. And he does not have a lot of land – enough – but not that much where devote the space used for kale – we should all be very grateful.
The Kale Project on JT, Canal+
Tuesday, June 25
18h45