Parents' Guide to

What's on Your Plate?

By Joyce Slaton, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 8+

Excellent docu teaches Fast Food Nation-like lessons.

Movie NR 2010 73 minutes
What's on Your Plate? Poster Image

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The topics in What's On Your Plate could easily be dry, but aren't. Sadie and Safiyah are curious and intelligent girls who ask interesting questions, and then answer them in a way that's neither off-putting nor preachy. Nutrition and the way food is produced can be a rather abstract concept, particularly to city kids who have never seen a peach on a tree or a tomato on a vine. This documentary makes it clear how those tomatoes turn into tomato sauce that's in school lunch, and why kids should be thinking about why they're eating each piece of that school lunch or whatever they brought in a brown bag.

Kids interested in social issues, environmentalism, filmmaking, and activism will find some great role models in this film, and potentially some inspiration for how to turn curiosity into a tool that can really make a difference.

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