As I’ve posted about before, I’m really into books about food issues. Everything from food marketing to organic to how messed up the food supply is… bring it on. I read this stuff to make me more aware, I don’t necessarily change my ways but I like to be informed about what I’m consuming and what it’s doing to my body.
When I heard about Food, Inc. I put that on my list of must sees. Food Inc., is a documentary that explores various issues with today’s food supply. We’re talking everything from the crazy cramped conditions under which animals are raised, to how chickens have been engineered to grow bigger faster, the higher incidences of E.coli, reasons as to why corn is in EVERYTHING etc. Really happy stuff.
The movie features interview with some interesting experts in the field include Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food) and Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) whose books I’ve all loved. For me, the issue was I felt like I’d heard it all before. Chickens with ginormous breasts? Check. Cows standing knee deep in manure? Check. HFCS in about everything in the supermarket? Check. So for me it was a bit like preaching to the converted.
If you haven’t read a lot of books about the food industry I would definitely recommend that you check Food Inc. out. It summarizes and in a way humanizes what I’ve been reading in these books for years. It’s one thing to read about the conditions under which chickens are raised but it’s entirely different to actually WATCH it. Sure, in the books you can read the interviews with the farmers who have contracts with these large food companies but to actually see the pained looks on their faces? It’s pretty intense.
The movie as a whole felt like a series of mini-documentaries that only give you a taste of the larger issues. Sort of a Cliff Notes version of the issues. There are some sections that I would have loved to know more about like the section on Monsanto and the responsible pig farmer but at least it but the two on my radar for further research.
Overall, go see Food Inc. whether or not you are familiar with the issues. Spread the word.
The film is in limited release (playing at The Cumerbland in Toronto) so visit the website for more details and check out the trailer below…
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