EIV news special examines food habits
Emerson Independent Video (EIV) will broadcast a news magazine special April 1 that analyzes how Bostonians make decisions about the food they eat.
The special, EIV News Presents: Consumed, which airs Monday, April 1, at 7:00 pm on the Emerson Channel, will examine the life of a 23-year-old anorexic living in the Boston area; the story behind Higher Ground, the city’s first-ever rooftop farm atop a skyscraper on Fort Point Channel; and the thinking behind Clover Food Truck, an innovative food truck business that integrates healthy and organic foods.
“Last summer … I went straight from India to Los Angeles. I was very struck by the differences in how people viewed food in the two places,” said Rebecca Wahle ’13, an executive producer.
Wahle, a Studio Television Production major, said, “food is the enemy” in health-conscious Los Angeles, while in India, “it represents their entire culture.”
“The over-arching theme of the show is to understand people’s different relationships with food,” said Alison Puzio ’14, an executive producer who is also a Studio TV Production major. “Do you eat to live? Or live to eat? The show challenges people to look at themselves.”
Consumed includes interviews with several experts, including Anuraj Shankler, a scientist at Harvard School of Public Health; Greg Maslowe, manager at Newton Community Farm; Emily Gordon, psychologist at McLean Hospital; and Miguel Alonso, instructor of neurology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
“People make 200 to 250 food decisions everyday,” Puzio said, “and we wanted to explore what goes into those decisions in Boston.”
Wahle and Puzio say Consumed is modeled after popular news magazine shows Rock Center and 60 Minutes.
A portion of the episode is focused on Tessa, a 23-year-old Boston-area woman who suffers from anorexia.
“She started going to Weight Watchers, which was not something she planned, because she didn’t want to get a ‘Freshman 15,’” said Wahle. “She never intended to have an eating disorder.”
Tessa’s disorder took center stage after she continually received positive comments on her initial weight loss.
“She got compliments when she lost 10 pounds, so she thought, ‘What if I lose 20 pounds?’ It started to go on from there. A lot of it was wanting to fit in,” Wahle said.
About 30 Emerson students were involved in putting together Consumed from research to production.
After the episode airs, it will be replayed on eivtv.com.
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