Meet the irresistible duo behind Abbott & West Productions. If we hadn't shown you a photo already, you might think they were of an older generation, with a distinguished roster of films and PBS Series' in their portfolio. But pull back the curtain and you'll find Kate and Nora, whose collective vision for what media (of all kinds) can and should be is going to make it hard for you not to start watching immediately.
Nora: I grew up in a small town in Oregon, where my mother taught me how to tell the changing seasons by ripening berries, celebrated Alice Waters and the Moosewood cookbook, and baked German fruitcake (stollen) every Christmas. My father harvested cherries annually from our front yard, making jam for our friends, neighbors, and even the mailman; I especially loved spreading it on the Irish soda bread he would bake every Easter. Both of my parents made sure that my family was around the dinner table for home-cooked meals every night. They made cuisine, community, and cultural heritage inseparable, laying the groundwork for my devotion to celebrating healthy, good food. When I left rural Oregon to become a city girl in the Northeast, I realized that my way of connecting to my surrounds and my community was through food. I couldn't find my footing without it. Also, as a consummate explorer and cultural interloper, I found that my devotion to food was just the ticket to make friends and share stories around the world. So, I knew that my life and work would always involve food systems of some sort.
Kate: I've loved food for so long that it's only natural it would be part of my career. My aunt has worked in food and wine her whole life and, even when I was quite young, I remember her bringing a different new food to family events, so from a very early age I loved things like lox, and melon and prosciutto, and Indian curries. It's a family story that I would eat and like pretty much anything, and I maintain that attitude to this day.
One of my most definitive moments was discovering fresh mozzarella at age 11, when we were in Italy with my extended family. We were in a family-run place in some small town in Tuscany, with dried herbs hanging from low beams that must have been there for centuries. They made their own mozzarella in-house, the same way they had for generations. I took one bite of the soft, salty pillow of cheese and that was the beginning of a love affair with cheese that has continued ever since. So, perhaps, if I had an 'aha' moment, that was it. In that family's restaurant, as a child discovering the world, I realized how much there was that I didn't know, and how delicious it could be to learn. As I've continued to grow and explore, I continue to realize just how much more there is out there, and I can think of nothing better than to devote my life to that exploration.
We met at Nora's sister's bachelorette dinner party in the spring of 2011. While pan-frying crispy leeks, we bonded over our shared love of food, storytelling, and travel. We also lamented the fact that there were not enough fun, intrepid young women on food/travel television shows. A few days later, Nora emailed Kate about making a video series about culturally-specific restaurants in New York City and food in other countries, to which Kate responded with a definitive 'yes.' Over a planning session of soup dumplings at Joe's Shanghai in Manhattan's Chinatown, Kate suggested we take it another step further and actually form a production company that specialized in thoughtful, creative media. And thus, Abbott & West Productions and The Innocents Abroad were born!
We shot our first episode for The Innocents Abroad in February 2011 at the fabulous Venezuelan restaurant, Arepera Guacuco, in Bushwick, Brooklyn. From there we premiered the show at Housing Works Bookstore Café (where we also host a travel book club) and launched a successful Kickstarter that enabled us to shoot our first season. We are a bootstrapping, passion-driven project that truly believes in a need for quality content focused on international food and travel.
Nora: I realized early on that the best role in life is that of storyteller. Both of your own stories and as a conduit for others' stories. I was born an artist, but it has taken me many years to learn how to tell compelling stories through my work. And I still learn more every day. As a documentary photographer, I learned that you have to train your eye to see things that others may not find interesting, highlighting things through the use of composition, color, and light. But in photography, seeing is only half the training. You have to be inquisitive and you have to learn to listen. That is one of the reasons I wanted to take on producing a web show; I wanted to sit people down and make them really look and listen to other cultures.
As an artist and activist, my work has always gravitated towards farming, food systems, culture, and cuisine. I worked at an amazing non-profit named GroundWork Somerville that opened my eyes to the importance of school food and employing art as an educational tool. My time with Maya Lin and her What is Missing? Foundation further deepened my resolve to use multimedia as a means for storytelling and cultural connectivity. And my stints in food service made me confident that chefs and bakers are freaking awesome. My focus on exploring international cultures through their cuisine came organically. But I specifically remember a time after I finished a documentary photography project on farmers in Mexico and the U.S. Midwest - entitled CORN - when I realized I could only really make sense of the world around me through food.
Kate: Like Nora, I've always been a storyteller. I remember making up stories for my sister and our two best friends on long road trips, deciding in second grade that I wanted to be a writer, and discovering movies at age 13, realizing that this was yet another incredible medium for sharing stories. Travel and food just naturally fit into this - my passion for adventurous travel was born when I was 16 and spent the summer at a program in Paris, inspiring both a year abroad in college at the Sorbonne and a year traveling around the world after college. This love of connecting with people in other cultures has always been best embodied through food. Whether in rural India or cosmopolitan Istanbul, I've yet to find a better way to befriend people than sharing their food and the history behind it.
My experiences as a travel writer, filmmaker and internet start-up veteran have converged in a way I never could have imagined, and I'm so lucky to be able to be working on this amazing project.
Time! We have been incredibly lucky to have an amazing group of people around us that support and assist; special shout out to our cameraman, Andrew Baker, and our sound editor, Stephen Schappler. But starting your own business takes a huge amount of time, especially when there are only two of you producing, researching, editing, hosting, designing, and promoting. And for now, we both work other jobs on the side to keep our dream in motion. Creating Abbott & West and The Innocents Abroad is incredibly rewarding and we love to do what we do, but sometimes you just don't want to wake up on a cold Sunday morning and start video editing right away.
People's interest in quality content, whether that's the quality of their meat, beans, TV shows or cookbooks. It is really exciting to see a growing food movement that wants more than just fast food and mainstream television personalities. People want substance with their sustenance and we think this desire is just going to keep growing!
If you could be compensated for your work with something other than money, what would it be?
Nora: Tacos and plane tickets! I eat so many tacos, it is a little frightening. And then plane tickets, so that I can continue to feed my inquisitive culinary cabinet and create more episodes for The Innocents Abroad!
Kate: Plane tickets! That's what I always ask for as a gift, but have yet to receive. I'd also be happy with frequent flyer miles, so I can pick where I get to go. 2013 is supposed to be my Morocco year, so if any generous benefactors are listening?