“As mentors and teachers of mine I would like to thank you again for all the knowledge gained over the past years. The creation of this documentary is a culmination of passion, observation and nutritional knowledge”.
When I moved to the Cayman Islands, I came across a shocking truth — this Caribbean country, with coconut palms lining the shores, had mostly abandoned cooking with coconut oil and instead had turned to the modern conveniences of vegetable oil. Why was this shocking? Because despite coconut oil being in harmony with traditional dishes, coconuts were being sent to the local dump and vegetable oils were lining the shelves of Cayman Islands grocery stores and kitchen cupboards.
I came to understand that convenience and westernization played a part in the diminished use of this local food. With modern research claiming that coconut oil is one of the healthiest foods on the planet, and warning people of the harms of highly- processed vegetable oils, I felt that there was no better time to educate and inspire people to re-embrace coconut oil. As much as this documentary is about getting people to change their oil so that they can change their health, it is also about, as Sally Fallon states in the film, “trusting our ancestors” and re-discovering foods that are whole, familiar, and nutritious.
If the coconut is the bright spot of the Cayman Islands, then surely there are other bright spots in the rest of the world. My belief is that by developing a collective health consciousness around coconut oil in the Cayman Islands, we will see a difference in the health of the people of this beautiful country. It’s time for an oil change.
I am ambitiously trying to get a large audience to watch it and I need your help. Please pass this along.
What’s really cool is that the Cayman media wrote great articles on the process and purpose of coconut oil. When you get the chance take a peak as I think you’ll enjoy some of them.
-The Tree of Life: The Coconut Makes a comeback: caymangoodtaste.com/pagecategory.asp?cat=246
-‘Bright Spot’ documentary focuses on precious oil resource: compasscayman.com/caycompass/2015/11/13/-Bright-Spot – documentary-focuses-on-precious-oil-resource/
-Local film shines light on Cayman’s “Bright Spot”: caymanreporter.com/2015/11/12/local-film-shines-light-caymans-bright-spot/
-The night of the première as it happened in the Cayman Islands: youtube.com/watch?v=dp18j9AUUKA
Learn more about Bright spot at https://www.facebook.com/BrightSpotFilm/
