Back To The Land Makes An Appearance In New Web Series, ‘Eat Our Feelings’

The ladies of Eat Our Feelings, a relatively new web series that’s a scripted comedic cooking show, really get around. They’ve shot the series all over Brooklyn — they tackled brunch in Ditmas Park recently — and, just in time for Valentine’s Day, they’re in our neighborhood, causing awkward, but loving, vibes in Back to the Land (142 7th Avenue).

“Do you have any veggies that look like wieners?” one of the series co-stars, Emma Jane Gonzalez, asks a beleaguered employee (Greg Hildreth), who eventually provides her and Sasha Winters an appropriately impressive, if bent at the tip, parsnip, which they don’t actually use for the recipes they make in the episode, but no matter. When you’re cooking up bites for a bachelorette pub crawl — for the two gals, neither of whom is on the way to the altar, to celebrate/drown their sorrows in singlehood — parsnips are definitely optional.

Doug Anderson, the show’s producer and a Park Slope neighbor, told us that, when looking for places to film, he found himself in competition with none other than Robert De Niro for neighborhood locations. To celebrate the release of the locally-shot episode, we asked Doug a few questions about the shoot, why it’s hard to film at the Coop, which local bars you might reenact the ladies’ bachelorette party at, and more.

Park Slope Stoop: How’d you end up shooting at Back to the Land? And what was the experience like?

Doug Anderson: The first time I set foot in Back to the Land was to scout it out as a potential shooting location. It was a lot bigger inside than I had imagined. The produce all looked really fresh, and I knew the colors would really pop on screen. At first, it was hard to get a word in with David (the owner), because he was so engaged with his customers. As soon as I introduced myself, he was very friendly and open-minded. He mentioned that Robert De Niro had just been in the neighborhood scouting locations for a movie. My heart sank when I heard that, because I thought this guy thinks we have a Hollywood-style budget! Luckily he was still willing to work with us even after he found out how tight our budget was.

David agreed to have his manager Damian stay late on a Friday night to let us shoot. The store closed at 9pm, and we had it for three hours after that. Damian was really helpful in answering our questions, and he mostly just let us do our thing, which was fantastic. Between principal cast, extras, and crew, we had 16 people in the store. It all went really smoothly, and we were out by midnight.

As a Park Slope resident, do you shop there regularly — or are you more of the stereotypical Coop shopper?

I suppose I should come clean and mention that I’m a member at the Coop. As much as I love the Coop — I actually tend to evangelize about it — there was absolutely no way we were going to try to shoot there; there’s just too much bureaucratic red tape. As a budget-minded shopper and a hippie at heart, I love the co-op model. But as a producer/location scout, all I want is a mom-and-pop business where I can walk up to the owner and get a yes-or-no answer.

How long have you lived in the neighborhood, and why’d you decide to settle here?

I’ve lived in Park Slope for more than three years. I first moved here because a friend let me rent one of his rooms. Since then I’ve moved to a studio near the park. I love the neighborhood, my block, and the park most of all.

What are three local bars where you would hold your own bachelor[ette] pub crawl?

1. Union Hall for bocce.
2. High Dive for popcorn.
3. Barbès for live music.

To see Back to the Land play its starring role in Eat Our Feelings, you can go here, and to find out more about the show in general, you can visit the its website, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.