the project
talking about food
films
events
learning
I COULD EAT A HORSE is a multi-artform participatory project exploring the diverse relationships that individuals and communities have with food and the food industry.
Since 2012 A Moment’s Peace have been asking people to dig deep into the how, why and where questions; from personal choices about consumption, to examining who is in control of our access to food.
We’ve been across Scotland carrying out interviews, running workshops, making films, hosting interactive events and eating some very good food along the way. We wanted to know what can our relationships with food and the food industry tell us about Scotland today, what kind of food culture do we want in the future and how do we get there?
This site has been created to offer you an insight into the project, to share our creations and discoveries, as well as to continue the debate with you. So, we invite to explore the site.
Enjoy!
Food is a universal subject and something that we all interact with everyday. It differentiates between the poorest and wealthiest. It is tied into issues of health, climate change, economics, as well as land rights and global trade. Food has the power to dictate the potential of all human life.
It is for these reasons A Moment’s Peace made the decision to begin researching the human stories behind its significance and the complex meaning it has within our everyday lives.
The first stage of the project took place in 2012 with Artistic Director Catrin Evans and Associate Artist Maryam Hamidi interviewing people across Scotland whose lives, both personal and professional, were deeply intertwined with the production and consumption of food. They spoke to farmers, growers and local producers; they spoke to supermarket managers, cooks and marketers; they spoke to consumers as they were out and about buying their food. Talking About Food brings together extracts from these interviews for you to explore.
With hours and hours of interview material A Moment’s Peace began to see the complex recurring themes affecting people across the country in a myriad of ways. The deeper we delved into the topic the clearer it became that there was no single story to tell. Instead we wanted to create platforms for people to creatively respond to these themes, to ask questions of themselves, as well as their local and global communities. And so the second stage of the project was born.
I Could Eat A Horse: Films About Food
In the Autumn of 2013 A Moment’s Peace worked with 12 community groups from all across Scotland to create 12 unique short films that focused upon human narratives, but shed light upon, and ask questions of an industry that is increasingly globalised.
Our four creative teams worked for three months in Greater Glasgow, Edinburgh, The North East and Dumfries & Galloway, delivering over a hundred workshops with 146 participants ranging from ages 8 - 80. Each group as tasked with creating a film that reflected their own concerns and/or their experiences of their local community. The result being a collection of rich films, diverse in style and theme, taking on topics ranging from geographical isolation from food, to potential environmental impacts on food systems, the increased reliance upon food banks, multi-cultural diets, the mixed messages young people receive, the power of communal eating and alternative food producing models.
Watch our films and find out more about the groups involved
The final ongoing phase of this project is about sharing our work with wider society, with the hope of provoking further discussions about how food affects and connects us.
Our first event was at the Catstrand in New Galloway, before visiting the CCA in Glasgow, Summerhall in Edinburgh, and finally The Woodend Barn in Banchory. In each venue we invited the groups and local audiences to consider their own connections to food and the associated issues through film screenings, creative exploration and discussion.
The first time we brought all twelve films together at one event was at Nourish Scotland’s Annual Conference: Our Common Wealth of Food. In October 2014 Nourish Scotland hosted a 2 day event with 200 local and international delegates with the aim of taking us closer to an ethical food policy. This inspiring conference enabled us to offer up our films as part of the debate; reaching policy makers, producers, and retailers who are all working to create a fairer food system.
We continue to seek out opportunities to share our films, as well as the discoveries we have made throughout the project. If you are interested in screening any of the films, or have any forthcoming events you would like us to be involved in please contact info@amomentspeace.co.uk
This space has been created to share extracts of the interviews carried out by A Moment’s Peace’s Artistic Director Catrin Evans and Associate Artist Maryam Hamidi in 2012. The people we spoke to and the experiences and insights they shared inspired us to develop the film project and continued to inform us throughout its delivery.
Scan through the sections below, hover over any section to read the extract.
BOILED EGGS WERE A GREAT TREAT...
THAT'S WHY THAT GIRL'S FAT...
AN EXCESS OF FOOD GOING TO THE WRONG PLACES...
THEY WOULD HAVE TO SCRIMP ON THE FAMILY DINNERS...
FEEDING AND CHECKING, THAT SORT OF THING...
THAT'S A BIT OF A TRAUMATIC DAY FOR ME...
WHAT WE'RE FIGHTING AGAINST IS CONVENIENCE...
IT'S NOT JUST SCOTTISH BEEF I'M COMPETING AGAINST...
WHO'S PAYING THE PRICE FOR THAT...
INVISIBLE CONSUMPTION...
THEY WILL FALL FOR THE TRICKS...
I HOPE THAT MIGHT CHANGE...
IT’S ALL ABOUT APPEARANCE...
AISLES AND AISLES AND AISLES...
THE SUPERMARKET AS A PERSON…
THEY’RE RATIONING THEMSELVES...
IT’S OFTEN MORE EXPENSIVE TO EAT CHEAPLY...
CLASSIC MARKETING...
THEY TRICK YOU...
IT’S AN ADDICTION...
EVERYBODY’S GOT AN OPINION…
LOOK AT THE FUNNY FAT PERSON...
IT’S UP TO YOU TO FIND A SOLUTION…
ONE PLANET EATING...
A TABLE IS VERY CRITICAL…
PEOPLE JUST AREN’T COOKING...
CLOOTIE DUMPLINGS…
BUT THERE IS RESISTANCE…
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1/12
THE SPICE OF LIFE
BY THE KIRTI GROUP AT SHANTI BHAVAN
Did things used to be better or do we look at the past with rose-tinted glasses? The Kirti Group draw on their personal experiences to explore how food culture around them has changed over their lifetimes, and the effect these changes have had on their relationship with food.
This film was made with the Glasgow creative team, Vickie Beesley, Kim Beveridge & Kim Moore.
2 / 12
FOOR, FIRE AND FILM
BY GATEHOUSE PRIMARY SCHOOL
Did things used to be better or do we look at
A group of ten children have been out foraging. Bramble crumble, roasted acorns are all cooked on the fire pit which they built, with a tasty nettle on the side! They’ve been talking about dislikes and likes and why they think being closely connected to the food they eat might be important.
This film was made with the Dumfries and Galloway creative team, Anne Errington, Drew Johnstone & John Dinning.
3/12
HOW GOOD IS YOUR FOOD?
BY THE PRINCES TRUST FRASERBURGH
This film focuses on the distance that is often between us and the food we eat. Food and food production is a major part of the local economy, in a place where butchers still have their own livestock and fishmongers buy direct from the boats and the local markets. The film looks particularly at the contrasts between pre-packed food and the fresh locally sourced products available in local small businesses, and asks the question, how good is your food?
This film was made with the Aberdeenshire creative team, Chris Lee, Graeme Roger & Dave Martin.
4/12
MEET THE BAKERS
BY GARVALD BAKERY
We are a big team, a busy team, a team who take time for each other and the work we do. We work hard, and enjoy the bread we make, organic and artisan. We all have our own jobs to do, and the heart of our bakery beats with an anarchic rhythm. Laughter rings out as we bake. Real food made by real people, we challenge you to find better bread, better bakers, or better banter!
This film was made with the Edinburgh ICEAH team, Caro Donald, Ruth Barrie & Gareth Griffiths.
5/12
THE FOOD RUSH
BY DUMFRIES HIGH
It is the future. Blackouts are becoming increasingly frequent, sometimes planned, sometimes not. How does this impact what we can eat? Dumfries High students jump into an imagined future to try and better understand their own relationship to food and where it comes from.
This film was made with the Dumfries and Galloway ICEAH team, Anne Errington, Drew Johnstone & John Dinning.
6/12
ALONE TOGETHER
BY THIRD STAGE
Alone Together explores the social aspects of sharing food and good company. This is sharply juxtaposed against the isolation often experienced by older people who are living alone following the loss of a partner and the way that that isolation changes the experience and function of eating. Alone Together is a celebration of new friendships between older people as they come together, to be alone together.
This film was made with the Aberdeenshire creative team, Chris Lee, Graeme Roger & Dave Martin.
7/12
WHERE DOES FOOD TAKE YOU?
CYRENIANS COMMUNITY FARM
We are all individuals, we are a community... From all around the world, the paths that led us here to this farm are different. What brought you here? Where have you been? What can you remember? Did you know we have over 10,000 taste buds, and as many individual memories given to us buy our experiences of food. Our memories and stories are our own and unique... Come, and share with us.... then ask yourself: Where does food take you...?
This film was made with the Edinburgh creative team, Caro Donald, Ruth Barrie & Gareth Griffiths.
FEASTERHOUSE
BY THE TRANSITIONS TO LEARNING AND WORK GROUP AT JOHN WHEATLEY COLLEGE
Eat healthy... Eat cheap... Eat alone... Eat easy... Eat pricey... Eat home cooked... EAT NOW! A group of teenagers reflect on the mixed messages they hear about food. Is food really the most important thing? Why bother eating healthily? What’s all the fuss about food, anyway?!
This film was made with the Glasgow creative team, Vickie Beesley, Kim Beveridge & Kim Moore.
8/12
AGE IS BUT A NUMBER
BY THE LET’S COOK GROUP AT
THE CATSTRAND
This group of older people have been reminiscing about how they got food in the past...local shops, farms or the house pig. It is more difficult now: local shops have gone; some cannot drive any more; some have lost the taste for food...But if there is only one of you left, why bother?
This film was made with the Dumfries and Galloway creative team, Anne Errington, Drew Johnstone & John Dinning.
9/12
WHAT DO THEY KNOW?
BY THE DUMBARTON ROAD CORRIDOR YOUTH PROJECT
A contemplation on whether our children know enough about the food they eat. This young group ponder what they know about food – where does it come from, how is it made, and what does it take to be a food hero?
This film was made with the Glasgow creative team, Vickie Beesley, Kim Beveridge & Kim Moore.
10/12
THE SYSTEM WORKS
BY ELGIN YOUTH CAFE AND KUTTING EDGE YOUTH THEATRE
This is a film about Moray Foodbank and Moray Food Network. These are organisations providing free food boxes and cost price fruit and vegetables to people in need across Moray. The film is focuses why the foodbank is in such demand at the moment on the young people (16 - 24) who have become end users of the Foodbank service whilst going through a transitional living scheme in Moray.
This film was made with the Aberdeenshire creative team, Chris Lee, Graeme Roger & Dave Martin.
11/12
LE PAIN SE LÈVE (THE BREAD IS RISING)
BY THE SOURDOUGH WEEKEND PARTICIPANTS AT BREAD MATTERS
Making and breaking bread together is about so much more than just a filling and familiar meal. The Sourdough Exchange brings together people working in different communities, to share and exchange inspirations, and some perspiration. As the team thresh, harvest, gather, mill, and bake Scottish Rye, this film asks: Why does bread matter?
This film was made with the Edinburgh creative team, Caro Donald, Ruth Barrie & Gareth Griffiths.
12/12
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To celebrate the work made by the groups and to provoke further discussions about how food affects and connects us A Moment’s Peace hosted a series of local events in each region we worked in.
past events
future events
At each event we screened the films made locally and asked the audience to share with us their own stories and experiences.
Throughout the night audiences told about us their favourite food memories, the food producers & retailers they were inspired by, what would be on their ideal shopping list and engaged in imagining what Scotland’s food culture might be like.
The following year all twelve films went on to be screened at Nourish Scotland’s 2014 Conference.
Details of any future I Could Eat A Horse screenings and events will be posted here.
If you are interested in screening any of the films, or have any forthcoming events you would like us to be involved in please contact info@amomentspeace.co.uk
A MOMENT’S PEACE is in the process of developing an Education Workbook to accompany the films which can be used by schools, colleges and community groups to inspire their own creative responses to the topics we’ve explored throughout I COULD EAT A HORSE. Further details of these resources will be updated soon.
I COULD EAT A HORSE is the second in a triptych of food-focused projects led by A Moment’s Peace. In 2012 we created a local performance and cooking project PLAYING WITH FOOD, in Cranhill, Glasgow. We are currently in the process of developing the third installment of the triptych. EAT ME is touring show for primary schools exploring our desire to eat more and more and more.
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