Deconstructing Supper

48 minutes, 2002.

A leading chef investigates food safety in the age of GMOs and industrial agriculture.

Ripe tomato salad. Creamy chicken soup. Grilled westcoast salmon. Dinner is served.
But what's in our food and how is it grown?

Renowned chef John Bishop leads viewers on an eye-opening and engaging journey into the billion-dollar battle to control global food production. Starting with a gourmet meal in his five-star restaurant, Bishop travels the world -- from farmer's fields to biotech laboratories to supermarket aisles -- on a personal quest to find out what our food choices are.

With a hearty appetite for food and information, chef Bishop explores the politics and ethics of food. He discovers that 70% of processed foods on supermarket shelves in North America contain genetically modified ingredients. The handful of biotech companies who control genetically modified seeds claim this is the only way to feed the world's growing population. But are these foods safe? Are there other, less risky ways to feed ourselves? Our chef finds answers to these compelling questions and more.

From North America to Great Britain to India and back, John Bishop shares fascinating conversations and mouth-watering feasts with farmers, such as Michael Ableman, scientists and activists, such as Vandana Shiva. We see the actual transfer of DNA from bacteria into canola plants, and meet Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser who is battling the giant Monsanto Corporation. We learn startling information about the milk we drink in North America and meet Indian farmers and activists fighting to keep traditional farming practices alive.

Deconstructing Supper is a ride every contemporary eater will want to take -- a thought-provoking and entertaining journey into the revolution in modern food production, and its effects on our lives.

Directed by Marianne Kaplan
Produced by Leonard Terhoch & Marianne Kaplan