'In Good Taste' Spotlights Future of Food on UN World Food Day

A TEALEAVES documentary exploring what it means to have 'good taste' and its impact on our bodies and planet. (Photo:provided)

​​​​As part of the Food and Agriculture Organization’s World Food Day celebrations taking place online, the documentary In Good Taste had its World Premiere at United Nations World Food Day. The film brings together the insights of recognized physicians, foragers, ocean and regenerative farmers, designers, educators, and journalists to explore what it means to have ‘good taste’. It delves into our current food system by focusing on unsustainable demand perpetuated by our singular concepts of quality, rarity, and deliciousness: our tastes. The film invites the viewer to evaluate and adapt the decisions they make daily, through introducing concepts like mouthfeel, context, and monoculture. 

“How do you help people change behaviors when they feel utterly stuck in bad habits? Oftentimes the why trumps the how. I was never taught that in medical school.” - Dr. David Eisenberg, MD, Director of Culinary Nutrition at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. In a world where we trust food that comes in a plastic package with a nutrition label more than when it sprouts up at our feet; where doctors prescribe medication but cannot prescribe healthful meals; where caviar and foie gras are the pinnacle of luxury and staple products are judged for their shelf life rather than their nutritional density… The hidden costs are so much more than the price we pay. With themes ranging from environmentalism to regenerative agriculture and behavior change, In Good Taste reveals solutions to save our planet and our personal health. Changing human behavior is a matter of deliciousness or desirability: How can we mobilize for positive impact through personal taste? 

“Knowing that our tastes affect our behaviors, and our behaviors affect our impact, how could we alter our tastes in order to ensure that our impact on this world and on our bodies is a positive one?” - Lana Sutherland, Co-Founder & CEO of TEALEAVES. In Good Taste redefines the new luxury as sustainability and wellness; not rarity or scarcity, but diversity. Not one size fits all, but owning the power of our daily decisions. Those who grow the food, those who eat it, and those who move the food between the two – must all be connected in social mobilization.

“How do we change the system so that no one has to ask where their food is coming from?” - Dr. Daphne Miller, In Good Taste collaborator. In Good Taste shines a spotlight on how our monoculturalistic desires for food, fashion and more are unsustainable and unhealthy. The road to reclaiming our own tastes is cultural and complex and the strategies are anything but singular.

Established in 1994, TEALEAVES is one of the very few tea blenders in the world, known for crafting the highest quality teas in small batches by hand. With a unified goal of inspiring connections and creativity, TEALEAVES blends techniques, stories, people, companies and ideas to understand and tackle global issues. This information is shared through the work of documentaries (Garden of Secrets, Color in Sight, Language of Aroma), Design Weeks (San Francisco Design Week, LA Design Week), and panel discussions (World Biodiversity Forum, Nature x Design).