Why Angry?
People have contacted us to say while they love our mission of better school food, they don’t love our movie title, Two Angry Moms. It seems that some folks are put off by the word “angry”. Here’s a short explanation as to why we call ourselves “angry moms”. Anger is a misunderstood emotion in our culture. Especially when it comes to women, we are told from childhood that “nice girls don’t get angry” and that conditioning persists into adulthood. Many people associate anger with aggression and violence, but that is only one way to react to feeling angry.
Anger is often about boundaries. When our boundaries get violated, we get angry. It’s a great feedback mechanism. As a mom with three kids in school, I get a bit angry when my kids are exposed to unhealthy food. It undermines what I’m trying to do at home to make sure my kids grow up healthy. Think of a mama bear protecting her cubs, it’s a protective sort of anger.
I’ve been working to improve school food for over 10 years. That “anger” often works as fuel to keep me moving forward to help make school food better. My hope is that other parents who aren’t too pleased about the food and junk food rewards their kids receive at school will be inspired by the film to take action in their own schools.
If you’re not angry about what is being served in your kid’s school, maybe you ought to be! Have lunch with your child one day. Take a look around at what is being served and what is being eaten. Check in with your gut and see what you feel!
A film’s title has to grab your attention and make you curious. Names like “Making School Food Healthier” just aren’t sexy enough to draw a crowd. If you have any clever suggestions, we’d love to hear them. When you read about “two angry moms” it paints an interesting image that draws you in and makes you wonder what they are up to!
About The Movie
Amy Kalafa was stewing for years, packing her kids lunches from home and trying to get her community to pay attention to what kids are eating in school. When news of a national child health crisis began making headlines, Amy, an award-winning documentary filmmaker, decided to take the fight to film. Two Angry Moms is Amy’s quest to learn what she and other parents need to know and do to get better food in their kids’ schools.
Susan Rubin had been trying for a decade to work with her district on improving school food, earning herself a reputation as a rabble-rouser with a “macrobiotic agenda” (NOT!). She’s even been banned from her children’s’ school cafeteria! In the meantime, legions of kids continue to make a daily lunch out of neon green slushies, greasy fries and supersize cookies, imperiling not only their long-term health but also their ability to learn. Exasperated, Susan decided to reach beyond her school district, and founded Better School Food, her own grassroots organization.
Part exposé, part “how-to”, Amy chronicles the efforts of Susan and other leaders in the fledgling better school food movement as they take on the system nationwide. From Chefs Alice Waters and Ann Cooper reinventing school food in Berkley California to Chef Tony Geraci’s student designed meals in New Hampshire, Amy discovers programs that connect the cafeteria with the classroom and connect our kids with the earth. Over the course of a school year, we see Susan’s coalition drive dramatic changes in one Westchester, NY school district.
Two Angry Moms shows not only on what is wrong with school food; it offers strategies for overcoming roadblocks and getting healthy, good tasting, real food into school cafeterias. The movie explores the roles the federal government, corporate interests, school administration and parents play in feeding our country’s school kids.
See what happens when fed-up moms start a grass-roots revolution!
About The Movement
Former Texas Agricultural Secretary Susan Combs said that it will take 2 million angry moms to change school food. This gave Amy an idea…. Build from 2 to 2 million angry moms.
That’s where you come in. If you agree that our kids should have the option to eat real, wholesome, tasty, nutrient dense food in schools, then join us. You can help us bring this movie to every school district in America.
Sign up for our quarterly email newsletter to read the latest news about school food and what parents are doing.
Join our facebook page to meet angry (or maybe just concerned!) parents in your town and around the world. Download our pledge and collect names, host a screening of the movie – get involved!
About The Mission
Angrymoms.org aims to collect two million moms (and dads and others) to send a clear message to school administrators, state and national legislators, and government officials acknowledging the connection between whole, nutritious food and better children’s health and scholastic performance. There is a crisis of obesity, type II diabetes, asthma, learning, behavioral and emotional disorders among America’s children. Angrymoms.org seeks to establish an imperative for taking better care of our kids by offering better food in schools and cleaning up the school food environment. We advocate for making the school food environment a district-wide and nationwide priority.
About The Moms
Amy Kalafa, MBA, C.H.H.C.
Since childhood, Amy has been passionate about social justice and environmental issues.
For over 25 years, Amy has produced award-winning films, television programs and magazine articles in the field of health education. Amy’s production credits include three seasons of Dr. T. Berry Brazelton’s parenting show, “What Every Baby Knows”, PBS specials, “Our Nation’s Health: A Matter of Choice” and “Healthy Aging”, as well as the Reiner Foundation’s, “The First Years Last Forever”. She has produced food and health segments for “Martha Stewart Living”, has appeared as a guest chef on PBS’s “Cultivating Life” and is a writer/producer for PBS’s “Lidia’s Italy”. Amy holds a Lectureship at the Yale School of Medicine and Psychiatry for her work in the field of health communication, in recognition of a series she created for Court TV, “Inside the Criminal Mind”. Amy has worked on numerous training films for Yale University and the US Department of Education.
Amy is also a holistic health and nutrition counselor and a Lyme disease consultant. Her advocacy work extends to her personal life as well. She served a four-year term on the advisory board of the Weston / Westport Health District’s CDC funded “Target Lyme” prevention initiative and she is a founding board member of the AIDS Treatment Data Network, a certified Kripalu Yoga teacher and an organic farmer. She and her husband Alex have two daughters who have always brought their lunch to school.
Susan P. Rubin D.M.D., H.H.C.
Susan is portrayed as the other “angry mom” of the movie’s title; she is one of the leaders of the better school food movement depicted in the movie. Dr. Rubin is director of A Better Way Holistic Health, a private health counseling practice in Mount Kisco, NY. Her unique approach and in-depth knowledge provides clients with effective drug-free solutions for a wide range of health related concerns. Food and lifestyle changes are her biggest healing tools. In addition to her private practice, she teaches cooking classes and conducts workshops and programs on many aspects of food, public health advocacy and holistic healing.
Dr. Rubin has been active on the school food front for over ten years. Her junk food awareness program has been implemented in many schools across the country. As the issues of childhood obesity and declining children’s health have skyrocketed, so has her work as a consultant for many school districts.
Dr. Rubin created the Better School Food, which is a coalition of concerned educators, parents and health professionals. Their mission is to increase awareness of the importance of feeding our children health supportive foods in school. Dr. Rubin lives in Chappaqua with her husband, Ron, and three daughters.