'Two Angry Moms,' One Important Cause

August 8, 2007 — -- Susan Rubin sounds passionate and angry as she describes the junk-food free-for-alls she has seen at schools across the nation.

Students are often surrounded by foods that "are loaded with so many artificial ingredients and additives that you need a Ph.D. in biochemistry to figure out what's in them," says Rubin, a mother from Chappaqua, N.Y., with three school-age daughters.

"Real food doesn't come from a science lab. It grows in the ground, flies in the air, swims in the sea and walks on the ground," says Rubin, 47, one of the stars of Two Angry Moms, a new documentary film about a parental war against the sale of highly processed, sugary foods in U.S. schools.

The other angry mom is the film's producer, Amy Kalafa, 48, of Weston, Conn., a veteran independent filmmaker who has two daughters. She was inspired by a state agricultural official who once said that it would take 2 million angry moms to change school food in the USA.

The women are fighting to remove foods such as chicken nuggets, french fries, cookies, candy, chips, doughnuts, snack cakes and sugary drinks from school vending machines and cafeterias.

The goal? To replace those foods with healthier offerings, such as fresh fruit and vegetables.

The film, which cost roughly $500,000 to make, was financed by Kalafa and her husband, Alexander Gunuey, along with some small grants and donations of $5 to $1,000 from hundreds of concerned parents.

People can buy 10 DVDs and a special information kit for $275, then host screenings in September at homes, school auditoriums and community theaters. In the fall, single DVDs will be available for $25. (See www.angrymoms.org.)

"The documentary is mostly inspirational, a how-to for anybody who watches it," Kalafa says.

"She's the filmmaker; I'm the troublemaker," says Rubin, a dentist-turned-nutritionist who is the founder of the advocacy group Better School Food.

Rubin started on her campaign about 12 years ago when her oldest daughter, then in first grade, came home with candy wrappers in her backpack.

"I was a dentist at the time, and I wondered what was going on. I was worried about cavities. It was before obesity hit the radar screen."