Feed the Body, Nourish the Spirit
How chef and caterer Jenn de la Vega provided the cast and crew of independent film “Revelations of Divine Love” with healthy, flavorful meals.
It’s not every day that someone I personally know is listed in the end credits of the movies I watch. So it was a delightful surprise to recognize the caterer for Revelations of Divine Love, which receives its New York theatrical release this weekend at Anthology Film Archives.
Directed by Caroline Golum, the film is about the life and work Julian of Norwich, a 14th century anchoress whose collection of religious writings (from which the film gets its title) is the earliest surviving book in the English language authored by a woman. Made with just $100,000, it’s a bootstrapped production that nonetheless provides an expansive insight into a proto-feminist figure of medieval Christianity. (I’ll publish my cheeky little review of it very soon.)
A film about spiritual nourishment requires its crew to also be physically nourished. Craft services are an underrated consideration when making a movie—happy bellies beget happy attitudes.
Jenn de la Vega is a chef, cookbook author, and founder of Family Party Catering. (And she’s a big movie buff herself—she co-hosts a podcast called The Cinema Chefs.) Revelations of Divine Love was her first time providing craft services for a feature film, after having worked on a handful of indie shorts and student films. Tasked with serving breakfast and lunch for anywhere between 12 to 25 people for ten shooting days (over the course of five weeks), she resolved to make food that was not only affordable and easy to serve, but also healthy and flavorful.
Based on the menu, I think she succeeded:
I met Jenn earlier this year at my friend Annie’s birthday party/tart potluck1 (also known as a “tarty”). As a semi-amateur chef myself, I had so many questions about what goes into feeding a film set, especially for a scrappy project like this one. There’s a lot more I wanted to know about her work in general; perhaps we’ll have a separate conversation in the future.
In the Service of Craft
This interview was conducted via email. It has been edited and condensed.
What inspired you to get into craft services?
Crafty is usually an afterthought when it comes to making a film budget. When I was doing some cooking shows for an unnamed culinary TV pilot, I was given McDonald’s and a stale bagel over the course of twelve hours. (Which feels illegal?) I started doing this because any simple food I make would be better than a stale bagel.
I’m also a wedding caterer, so I have an ever-changing inventory and crafty is a great way to use everything up.
How did this particular job come to you?
I am old friends with Caroline Golum, who directed this film. We met when she was curating Cinebeasts screenings circa 2008 in cool, urban places. She is so magnetic and we found ourselves intersecting over the years in creative spaces.
The menu looks incredible. It’s certainly a far cry from the plain meals that Julian and the nuns would eat in the movie. What was your philosophy, both overall and for individual days?
Things you couldn’t get at Dig Inn or Sweetgreen, but still channeled in that format so there was no cross-contamination of allergens or dietary preferences. I rotated a grain, a cooked vegetable, a fresh veg or fruit, protein, and a cool sauce to make lunch bowl buffets. I tried not to repeat items within the same week so it always felt new.
Do you recall any particular dishes being a big hit with the cast and crew?
The harissa chickpeas, adobo pulled pork, and bún chả bowls!
Did you do everything on your own, or were there staffers to assist?
Staffers! Wow, I wish. To keep everything within budget, I did it all myself.
Tell me about your setup for serving these meals. What did you have to work with, and what did you have to bring to the set?
I coordinated with the producer, Kate Stahl. She had already set up a crafty table for all-day snacks and coffee. I came in on the first day with four Sterno set-ups2. Then I packed it away and put it under the table, bringing it back out each day for lunchtime.
I did all the prep and primary cooking off set. I would bring breakfast in the morning at call time, take the subway back home, cook lunch, then take a car back to set. Luckily I live in Greenpoint/East Williamsburg, so the drive was twenty minutes each way to the soundstage in Ridgewood. If there was traffic, I would feel like I ruined everyone’s day being five minutes late, but that was never the case. There was a sense of gratitude every time I was there. Folks were happy to have fresh, hot food.
Caroline did notice toward the end of the shoot that I had stopped frying the tortilla chips myself. You really can taste the love.
Revelations of Divine Love was your first time doing crafty for a feature production. What did you learn from this experience that carried forward to future gigs?
It’s okay to repeat some dishes from day to day. I didn’t need to be “extra cheffy” and that took a lot of pressure off. I can now pack up better, which makes all the difference for traveling with food. I have better, sturdier gear and figured out how long dishes take me to cook.
I’ve since catered for a larger feature—on location in the woods upstate—and about a dozen indie shorts.
Producing an independent film and running a restaurant—or catering business—share some fundamentals: in particular, the creativity and resourcefulness demanded when working within tight budgets and even tighter deadlines. Were there any nifty ways you stretched your budget?
Catering budgets are absolutely a creative challenge. I often buy in bulk and have a vacuum sealer for saving half a case of pork shoulder, for example, and freezing it for another day. But cold food storage becomes an issue if I buy too much up front. I stock up on various kinds of rice, quinoa, grains, and pasta so that I can mix and match with whatever produce is on sale. And a good sauce can really make a difference. I don’t do too many additions or multiple garnishes—microgreens are expensive!—and keep it simple with either a single fresh herb or crispy fried onions.
For breakfast, I mostly do scrambled eggs because every other preparation takes too long at 4 AM, and I need to be done quickly. I’m often the first one awake, besides the location manager or unit production manager, because I need to be RTS (ready to serve) before most people arrive to set.
Finally, is there anything else we haven’t covered that you’d like to share?
Caroline doesn’t do anything by halves. I walked around the set and could not believe they fit so much in that space. Some of the extras were my friends, so it was cool to feed them, too. I don’t think I ever told them, but I was also on deadline for a cookbook I was working on, so some of the dishes I made during this shoot were inspired by those recipes.
Jenn brought a sweet potato chai tart. It was, of course, not too sweet.
Sternos are those little flame units placed under chafing trays to keep food warm. You’ve seen these at buffets, weddings, and other catering events