My good friend babalou recently told me about a film that's going to be showing at our local museum theatre called Food Inc. Well, I'm always up for a good indie/documentary film so I went to their website and checked it out...only to find myself completely consumed by this film that I've yet to see (it doesn't start showing here until next week!). I've already bought the book that goes along with the film. I've only read the preface because it seems that they encourage you to see the film first and use the book as an added supplement, so I'm just dying to see the movie so I can race home and really start the book. The whole premise of the film is about our country's food industry. Where our food really comes from, how it's treated, how far it travels, how it's genetically altered, and basically how it's making us sicker, fatter, and poorer and what we can do about it. Here's the description from the film's website:
In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.
Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield's Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms' Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising—and often shocking truths—about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.
Now I've always been a person who wants to eat healthy and be healthy, but until this film was brought to my attention I never was really good about actually following through with it. Of course I would do things here and there, but until now I've never really adopted it as a lifestyle. I'm happy to report that I can barely remember the last time I ate fast food...which in and of itself is a huge accomplishment for this mademoiselle. I used my busy life as an excuse to eat fast food for lunch and sometimes dinner and I blinded myself to the truth (I didn't want to know) that fast food is really bad for you not only in calories, fat, and sodium; but the quality of the food is so poor. I have found a new joy/love for cooking. I can't wait to find new exciting recipes to make. Even the drummer is on board for the new lifestyle! I go to the farmer's market for my produce and buy local fruits and vegetables; you would not believe the difference in quality. I had some tomatoes from the farmers market and one leftover tomato from the grocery store, when I cut into each of them you would not believe the difference in color, smell, and taste. Local is the way to go if not from your own garden! And if I ever need something in between I always try to buy organic.
I have a friend who just this week found out she has colitis. She's only 27!! My age! My dad has the same issue and he's 56! There is no better time than the present to start taking care of our bodies! You're only issued one in life. Please check out the Food Inc. website and see if it's coming to a theatre near you. Here's the official trailer for the movie. Check it out!
What are you're thoughts after watching this? Is anyone else eating local and organic? Or do you grow your own veggies, fruits, and herbs?
Just a Blonde's Take
In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.
Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield's Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms' Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising—and often shocking truths—about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.
Now I've always been a person who wants to eat healthy and be healthy, but until this film was brought to my attention I never was really good about actually following through with it. Of course I would do things here and there, but until now I've never really adopted it as a lifestyle. I'm happy to report that I can barely remember the last time I ate fast food...which in and of itself is a huge accomplishment for this mademoiselle. I used my busy life as an excuse to eat fast food for lunch and sometimes dinner and I blinded myself to the truth (I didn't want to know) that fast food is really bad for you not only in calories, fat, and sodium; but the quality of the food is so poor. I have found a new joy/love for cooking. I can't wait to find new exciting recipes to make. Even the drummer is on board for the new lifestyle! I go to the farmer's market for my produce and buy local fruits and vegetables; you would not believe the difference in quality. I had some tomatoes from the farmers market and one leftover tomato from the grocery store, when I cut into each of them you would not believe the difference in color, smell, and taste. Local is the way to go if not from your own garden! And if I ever need something in between I always try to buy organic.
I have a friend who just this week found out she has colitis. She's only 27!! My age! My dad has the same issue and he's 56! There is no better time than the present to start taking care of our bodies! You're only issued one in life. Please check out the Food Inc. website and see if it's coming to a theatre near you. Here's the official trailer for the movie. Check it out!
What are you're thoughts after watching this? Is anyone else eating local and organic? Or do you grow your own veggies, fruits, and herbs?
Just a Blonde's Take
2 comments:
We are definitely going to see this!
We are all about organic and local; we went to the Edmond Farmers Market a couple of weeks ago and found a HUGE disappointment. We flat out asked two different local farmers if they use pesticides in their produce (tomatoes to be specific)...and they said, "YES!" Their reasoning was that the pesticides make the tomatoes look more attractive to the consumer and the consumers won't buy the tomatoes when they look "normal". For some reason we think a perfect looking tomato is better when it really may not.
Sad. Even our local farmers have to use pesticides to get the sale. Needless to say, we didn't buy any and we left empty handed.
That really stinks! We Americans need to get it out of our heads, this idea of "perfection". Sometimes the most perfect things are not "perfect" at all.
Hopefully farmers will start realizing that what we really want is healthy pesticide free food.
They should teach a class in school about what fruits and veggies are supposed to look like, maybe then consumers wouldn't mind the REAL produce.
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