How Producing 800 Episodes of ‘Chopped’ Led to the Farming Industry Doc ‘Fork in the Road’

For almost 15 years, Vivian Sorenson was surrounded by some of the world’s best food as one of the original architects of the Food Network show “Chopped.” But, while her fellow producers were captivated by the chefs’ stories or their creative recipes, Sorenson always found herself yearning to dig even deeper into the meal.

“I was always the one saying, ‘Well, what about this ingredient? Where does it come from? Let’s make sure we’re sourcing it correctly,’” Sorenson told Variety at the inaugural Skyfire Environmental Film Festival. As the show platformed the chefs, she was interested in learning where the food comes from. “But in a format of television show, honestly, there’s only so much you can do.”

Sorenson gets her curiosity and her social consciousness honestly. “My grandparents were social justice organizers, and then my parents were both conservationists and protectors of wilderness,” Sorenson said with a laugh. “I was taught from an early age: ‘Here’s the baton, go do something with your life.’”

With that in mind, Sorenson and her co-director, Jonathan Nastasi, set out on an eight-year journey to craft “Fork in the Road,” a documentary that takes audiences inside the growing movement to rethink our food system. The film, its logline explains, puts a spotlight on the farmers, chefs and advocates working to “rebuild a healthier relationship between the land, the table and the communities they feed.”

Sorenson’s movie is populated with small-scale farmers and environmental activists, as well as one A-list agitator: Nick Offerman. (He couldn’t make the special screening because he was in England shearing sheep and lambing.)

Working with the actor, author and humorist — whose filmography ranges from “Parks and Recreation” to “The Last of Us” — was special because he came to the project organically. Offerman is a massive fan of novelist, environmental activist and farmer Wendell Berry, whose work inspired elements of the film. (Berry and his daughter, Mary Berry, executive director of the Berry Center, are also featured in the documentary.)

Offerman appears throughout the film, reminiscing about growing up in the small-town farming community of Minooka, Ill., and voicing his concerns that that way of life is being threatened by industrialized farming. “He’s not the narrator of the movie; he’s another expert who has lived this,” Sorenson says.

Documentaries like this one and filmmakers like Sorenson were exactly what Mike McMahon and Dr. Joe Rosalle had in mind when they decided to launch the Skyfire Environmental Film Festival. The three-day event featured screenings of more than 100 documentary features, short films and student projects covering themes such as climate change, drought, wildlife conservation, agriculture, food systems, environmental justice, urban sustainability and Indigenous stewardship of land. Festival screenings and events were held in multiple venues across Phoenix, Mesa and Tempe, Ariz., with “Fork in the Road” closing out the lineup on March 29.

“Fork in the Road” was also connected to another documentary, Mark Decena’s “Farming While Black.” That film, which screened the evening prior, examines the historical plight of the Black farmer, and both documentaries feature Karen Washington, activist and co-founder of the Black Farmer Fund.

“She’s a powerhouse,” Sorenson said of Washington, whose work as an urban gardener in the Bronx began in the 80s. And Washington is just one example of the people who’ve dedicated their lives to promoting a healthier and more sustainable food system. “What we really want to do with this movie is not provide something that was doom and gloomy, but to really provide something where we shine a light on these experts and let them speak,” Sorenson said.

The title for the doc, she explained, comes from the idea that we are at a fork in the road when it comes to industrialized farming and its implications on the wider world.

“We need to decide right now what we are going to do,” she said. “Are we going to hang out over there with the large-scale capitalists while we all ruin our soil? Or are we going to, as they say in the movie, be a community? I like to say the party is here, come join us.”

Sorenson hopes the film inspires audiences to take action and to think about the health of our soil in particular. “Soils like our skin. We take care of our skin. Let’s take care of the soil,” she said. “We’ll all be better. Our health — the health of our planet, of our children, of ourselves — depends on it.”

For the full conversation, watch the video above.