Food, Inc.: Take someone who doesn't know
Think your friend won't be interested in Food, Inc. because he's not familiar with the subject matter? Think again.
- I didn’t know control of almost all of our food came down to just a few companies.
- I’m trying to understand why the government would hire people from these [major food] companies to run federal agencies [like the USDA and FDA].
- Our food system is contributing to our dependence on oil.
- What’s in the food we eat (and not just how much of it we eat) actually causes health problems like diabetes and obesity.
- Consumers lose by having to purchase sub-quality foods (and I’m being very generous by only calling it sub-quality).
If you’re someone who is familiar with the subject matter in Food, Inc., by all means still go see it. When you go, take someone with you who isn’t as familiar with the problems with our food system. If we each take one person who doesn’t know yet, we can double the number of informed people. When people have the information, then they can start to make better choices in their food purchases, and that is one powerful way we can make changes to the broken system.
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Comments
We can make a difference if we supported our local farmers market and educate fellow citizens to the perils of "corporate food".
The big greed machines like Monsanto will sit up and take notice only when they see a dwindling bottom line.
Good job, Rob. In case anyone hasn't seen it yet, Chipotle is hosting free screenings of the film in major cities all across the country. You can get the schedule from their web site or learn more at mine, http://georgiagreendiningguide.com/2009/07/07/free-food-inc.aspx
for the heads up - I'm passing this on to the rest of my readers in a blog post.
Honestly, I can't believe what people have believed before they saw the movie!
Where have you been the last 20-30 years !?
You had no cluse where and how the meat is produced?
I understand most of you probably haven't seen first hand like us, the kids in the 3rd world, how animals are slaughtered, skinned and butchered.
But not knowing what the colored and irradiated red piece of meat in the supermarker really is - shame! We are in XXI century! If you can find time and.... More
frog in a boiling pot of water type of thing. Just like a frog who is put in a pot of cold water and doesn't notice it's begun to boil after the flame is turned on until it's too late, we've not noticed the one small change after another to our food system. Fortunately, unlike the frog, it's not too late. We've noticed. We're doing something. We do care.
I saw the movie two weeks ago with 3 other foodie friends and the experience was eye-opening even for me. I've been in the food industry for over a decade and am passionate about "healthy" food for my family (organic, free-range, etc) but wasn't aware of the degree to which the big processors and Monsanto control what Americans eat. It saddens me. I wanted to drag people off the street and get their rears in that theater to learn more about the damage done to their bodies as a result of the.... More
and read your post on the film. Nice.
Wouldn't it be great if we could drag people off the street.
The Meat-eater who rides a bike as his full time vehicle leaves a larger carbon footprint than the vegan who drives a Hummer H1.
This is based upon the idea that all meat is equal. In fact, not all meat is equal. If a cow is pasture raised and finished using intensive grazing techniques then this argument of the meat-eater = hummer-driver very hard to defend. Intensive grazing helps to strengthen the root system of grasses, allowing the soil to become an enormous natural carbon sink. If you are strictly talking about the cows that are fed grain, who's manure is not used to fertilize the soil, and otherwise raised.... More
"I’m trying to understand why the government would hire people from these [major food] companies to run federal agencies [like the USDA and FDA]."
it only takes the realization that the government exists to serve the interests of lobbyists and their own inner circle and not the general public as they are propagandised to do to understand the part.
I was surprised and impressed with how many examples of the fundemental problems with the state were addressed in the film (the.... More
by the film that I didn't know about was the illegal immigrants who are bussed from Mexico to work in the factories by the food companies. The gov't punishes the workers but not the food companies who lure them here.
Yes, the film is very eye-opening on the governmental level.
Robin, it's so great that you (and your husband!) are making positive changes after seeing Food, Inc. Please remember that all farmed animals suffer. Those baby chicks at "cage-free" farms still face those debeaking machines and the males still are instantly and gruesomely killed. Whether a farm is big or small, steers are castrated without anesthesia. All animals face death frightened and alone at slaughter houses. And all animal farming hurts the environment. Working towards eliminating.... More
Ginny, I am a former vegetarian, but when I started visiting family farms I saw many cases where animals did not suffer. I'm not talking about "cage-free", I'm talking about FREE animals that existed as animals, beaks, tails, feathers, etc. intact. We are omnivores, we evolved eating meat over a million+ years.
As far as "facing death frightened and alone", that is attaching human emotions and sentimentality to animals.
If an animal does not suffer in life, and if the death is.... More
This argument (article quoted below) is based on the assumption that we are feeding our livestock grain, not grass. Grass, being what livestock (ruminants) are, according to evolution, supposed to eat, these numbers vary widely. The grain most livestock eat is corn, a very energy intensive crop. If the livestock was being intensively grazed on grass, thus strengthening the root system and the soils carbon capturing ability, and reducing the amount of CH4 the animal expels, what is the answer.... More
thank you for your respectful response. It's clear you're passionate about this.
Apparently, you don't know any farmers. You take one guy's opinion and just because it's in a movie, you think that makes it real or the whole story? Look at the other side.
I know many farmers and almost every last one of them is sending out emails or posting on their website for people to go see Food Inc.
If there are farmers who took it upon themselves to abandon tried and true farming techniques used for centuries that made the soil richer and treated animals, the earth, and consumers with, only to adopt the welfare crops (corn and soy), well, as far as I'm concerned, they made their bed.
This movie isn't anti-farmer, in fact, the hero's are the farmers. .... More
I'm willing to look at things from all angles, but you've got to give me more info than this.
The "Other Side" the poster is most likely referring to is most likely economics. As is usually the case in the U.S., all sorts of environmental and health related atrocities are justified in the name of the almighty dollar. That's probably why we're one of the least happy and least healthy industrialized nations in the world. Oh well. Keep on buying that stuff you don't need with all that precious money of yours!
I've seen other documentaries about our nations food, two that come to mind are "The Future of Food" and "Go Further"
It's amazing though how many people will still eat the crap called food after seeing this and other documentaries like it. There is a not a person in the world that thinks Fast Food is good for you, yet they consume it in abundance.
The preservatives and chemicals in our food are the cause of a majority of our health issues, yet no one seems to care because caring is not.... More
caring would be profitable - the cost of healthcare would go down, people wouldn't have to spend so much on medication. It would just take a long time to see a difference, and we're not programmed for delayed gratification anymore.
I am looking forward to seeing Food, Inc. It hasn't hit our area yet, unfortunately. Thanks for the update--it sounds like a worthwhile documentary.
I thought it hadn't hit my area yet either, but then I saw a small ad for it at a more art type movie house in Philadelphia. We had to cross the bridge to see it, but well worth the toll.
Haven't seen Food Inc yet -- got my eyes opened by reading " The Omnivore's Dilemma" and haven't bought supermarket meat ever again-- totally into local and sustainable now. Totally love this post:-)
the movie, and some of the subject matter is the same. But it's still totally worth it to see the film - it covers many things that aren't in Omnivore's Dillemma. And, where I could probably never get my husband to read a Pollan book before the movie, he just may grab my copy out of my office and read it now sometime.
