Local Filmmaker Puts Spotlight On First Foodie

Local filmmaker Beth Federici is currently in the midst of creating a full-length documentary about the world-renowned chef and Portland native, James Beard.

James Beard: America’s First Foodie, focuses on the chef’s life and legacy, how he made the food industry the billion dollar enterprise that it is today. It follows two renowned Portland chefs: Naomi Pomeroy, the owner and head chef of the restaurant Beast, and Cathy Whims, the executive chef and founder of the restaurant Nostrana, as they travel to New York City to attend the 2014 James Beard Foundation Awards.

The idea first came to be after a Skype call between Federici and her friend Kathleen Squires, a freelance food critic who has had her work published in the New York Times, turned to discussion how Beard was a former neighbor of hers.

“We knew James Beard was from Portland, and we thought how is it possible that James Beard, a pioneer in the food industry and has an award the equivalent of the Academy Awards in the food industry named after him, never had a full length feature-documentary made about him?” Federici said.

Squires’ connections in the food industry gave them a special pass to the people they needed to interview for the film right away.

“Kathy had the insider status that granted both of us a privilege that would’ve taken other filmmakers years to access,” Federici said.

James Beard was one of the most influential chefs of the 20th century; being the host of the first television cooking show, I Love to Eat, and one of the first true foodies. He was a Portland native who often visited the coastal Oregonian city of Gearhart as a child, where he first experienced cooking food with unorthodox ingredients.

Beard also published some of the most revolutionary cookbooks of his time; Hors d’Oeuvre & Canapés and Cook it Outdoors, which influenced dozens upon dozens chefs around the world.

“He was an eccentric figure, but that was what the food industry needed, something to spice it up, something exciting and fresh,” Federici said.

The biggest challenge Federici and Squires faced while filming the documentary was that many of the people they interviewed were elderly, and had passed after the interviews.

“Many people who had known James Beard as a child or adult were very elderly, so getting re-interviews with them was impossible,” Federici said.

To help fund America’s First Foodie, they started a Kickstarter to help fund the film, raising the 30,000 dollars needed to launch the film.

“Time and money is what you need for a film,” Federici said. “Both are very hard to get, but that Kickstarter campaign really helped kickstart the project.”

America’s First Foodie will be premiering in the fall of 2015 at the Hollywood Theater. For more information about the film go here.