Editor’s note: During the month of May 2011, Daniel Klein is “traveling from Minnesota to Louisiana to Portland to Florida and back again, once again creating weekly videos about Real Food”. This is his most recent dispatch from the road:

As we set off on our Real Food Road Trip last Monday, we were excited to say the least. Within our first two days we had filming planned with Seed Savers, a forager in Northern Iowa and plans to stop for a moment to meet Francis Thicke of Radiance Dairy.

We were going full speed: filming, uploading, editing in the car… I was trying to find a story thread that would capture the feeling of our journey and start the Real Food Road Trip off with some punch. We kept pushing our visit to Radiance Dairy off as more things came up. When we finally arrived, it was right during the evening milking. After a few words from Francis Thicke, we knew we had the centre piece to our first episode. It wasn’t his multiple degrees or his run for Secretary of Agriculture in Iowa that had us, it was the kindness and humility in which he treated his cows. The thing is there are a lot of great farmers out there, and not to say what Francis is doing is perfect, or even replicable, but the fact that he makes an effort to let his cows live out there lives is moving to say the least.

After learning to cook at his mother’s bed and breakfast, Daniel Klein (The Perennial Plate) went on to work and train at many of the world’s top restaurants. His culinary education brought him to Spain, France, England, India and New York, where he has worked and trained at top Michelin starred restaurants. After graduating from NYU, Daniel also pursued a career in film.