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CBC's Doc Zone Kicks Off Season With A Different Take On Our Eating Habits

Two-part series Eat, Cook, Love airs on CBC-TV beginning Thursday, September 20th


These days, you’ve got to do more than eat right if you really want to feel right. Touching on everything from food obsessions to culinary contradictions, the all-new documentary EAT, COOK, LOVE invites viewers to reconnect with the joys of eating. Co-produced by CBC and Radio-Canada, this two-part season premiere airs on CBC-TV Thursday, September 20 and 27 at 9 p.m.

We are supposedly what we eat. But perhaps we’re also . . . when we eat, how we eat, with whom we eat and who prepares what we eat. This is the central theme EAT, COOK, LOVE explores as it delves deep into our eating habits.

The recipe for the good life is apparently quite simple - if you eat well, you’ll remain in good health and live longer. And you can’t really mess up the recipe nowadays, because never in our history have we been so well informed on our day-to-day food choices for the 1,052 meals we consume each year. We’ve become so obsessed with cancer-preventing foods and getting that perfect soufflé recipe, that we’ve thrown all the fun, natural, and sensual aspects of food out the kitchen window.

In Part 1 (Sept. 20), seasoned chefs remind us that the Mediterranean diet isn’t only a way of eating - it’s a way of life. Not stopping at red wine, garlic and olive oil, they also cite the happiness we derive from eating well, not to mention savouring mealtime and the company of the friends and family joining us. Our fast-paced modern lifestyle leaves us with less and less room for these rituals.

On the other hand, as NYC’s Mayor Bloomberg suggests, we want to fight the obesity epidemic by establishing a food police force and introducing measures to discourage people from eating junk food . . . But even junk has its supporters, who say they should be free to accept the consequences that come with their diet.

Then, on Sept. 27, the second part of the series observes that the proliferation of celebrity chefs on TV today has had little impact on what people eat at home. It’s called food porn, and much like the real thing, we’d rather watch than run off to the kitchen to play chef. Times have really changed since Julia Child was in her heyday . . . More and more, families are consuming ready-to-eat, frozen and take-out food. According to one survey, half of all Canadians eat one meal a day that they don’t prepare themselves. Even in France, 70% of the country’s 120,000 restaurants serve frozen appetizers. In this second part, we meet chefs in France, the US and Canada who are striving to get people back in the kitchen again.

Eat, Cook, Love is narrated by Doc Zone’s Ann-Marie MacDonald and executive produced by Jo-Ann Demers, Peter John Ingles, and Michael Claydon

TO GET COOKING, CLICK CBC - Doc Zone - Eat.Cook.Love. TODAY!

Visit us online at www.cbc.ca/eatcooklove to extend the TV experience with interactive extras. The site is divided into three themed sections: Eat is a questionnaire designed to help you determine what type of eater you are. Your profile will be served in under a minute. In the Cook section you’ll find an interactive map that lets you in on a host of culinary secrets uncovered by our team on their travels around the globe: enjoy videos of food experts, photos, and tons of useful information. Love is a discussion forum that puts you in touch with the series’ experts.

About CBC News CBC News is the source Canadians turn to, to keep them informed about their communities, their country and their world. Through regional and national programming on multiple platforms, including CBC Television, CBC News Network, CBC Radio, CBCNews.ca, mobile and on-demand, CBC News and its internationally recognized team of award-winning journalists deliver the breaking stories, the issues, the analyses and the personalities that matter to Canadians.

For further information, contact:
Melissa Prince, Veritas Communications
P) 416-482-2669
C) 416-704-8733
prince@veritascanada.com

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