With the rise of slow and local food movements over the last few years, America’s regional food cultures have become a boutique industry. So when filmmaker Andrew Beck Grace and his wife decide to spend a year eating only foods sourced and grown in their native Alabama, they understandably expect to rely on the state’s long history of small-farm agriculture for sustenance. But as Grace and a group of dedicated friends crisscross the state in search of fresh ingredients at a handful of farmers’ markets, their quest starts to prove inefficient, costly, and frequently hilarious. Along the way, Grace takes in the landscape that his grandfather once farmed, and ponders a way of life that’s all but disappeared. He is keenly aware that any attempt to resurrect this attachment to the land will be driven to some extent by nostalgia, and may be unsustainable to boot. Thoughtful without ever being dogmatic, Eating Alabama is a wry rumination on the South, American food consumption, and the hidden challenges of eating local.  RM