Thread: Food, Inc.

Food, Inc. came out a few months ago and started airing at our local state theatre, so we went out and watched it this past Friday.

It's a documentary about the industrialization of America's food supply and was actually quite well done. There was a dash of "the videos meat companies don't want you to see", most of which I've already seen, but it was much more informative documentary than shock documentary.

My wife read The Omnivore's Dilemma not too long ago so I was already aware of how corn became, and currently is, the dominant food in just about everything we eat. What surprised me most in the movie was the bit about soy production.

Monsanto is the leading manufacturer of Roundup, and they also genetically engineered a soy seed that would resist Roundup. Now some 90-something percent of all soy produced in America is both manufactured and patented by Monsanto. They speak in-depth about the pressure Monsanto puts on farmers to use the beans that are resistant to the herbicide that they also create. If a farmer cleans his seeds to regrow them next year, they violate the patent and Monsanto can, and will, sue them.

The movie points out how many past and current politicians, specifically tied to the FDA, were former consultants, lawyers, or employees of Tyson, Monsanto, and other mega corporations (shocker, I know). Advocacy groups are fighting these same companies over labeling laws. Do you think consumers should have a right to know if an ingredient (e.g. soy) is genetically modified by label identification, or is it detrimental and damaging to the corporate image?

If you've seen the movie, what did you think? If you haven't seen it then would you be interested in the content? Have your eating habits changed for the better in the past few years, and if so then why?

I haven't seen the movie yet, I actually didn't even hear about it.

I actually started growing a lot of my vegetables in the garden, without added fertilizers or pesticides, giving priority to heirloom varieties or stuff I can't find in shops. It is not that complicated, it doesn't take much time outside the initial setup and the final harvest... we're talking 10 minutes a week of actual garden work. The cost was really low as well, I only paid for the seeds.

This year's harvest included: cucumber (chinese long, japanese), carrot, salad (multiple varieties), cabbage (japanese and chinese), parsnip, onion, tomato, basil (regular, cherry-sized and beef heart), cilantro, squash, winter squash (kurikabocha, futsukabocha), beans (teepee and fava). The only seeds for which I didn't get to harvest anything were the zucchini... slugs ate them all but left my other cukes and squashes alone.

i can't wait to see this movie! it s sounds really good, we'll see i guess.

have you seen Food Matters? more based on diet for sure, but a very good movie.

Can't wait to see it as well, Seen the other movies and read the books, hear this is excellent

Very interesting. I'll look into it. Also, if you haven't seen it already, The World According to Monsanto is also very revealing about their crass business model.

Michael: That's awesome -- my European travels haven't taken me to Germany yet, so would you say that German culture/cuisine focuses more on regional foods, or imported industrial foods? We don't have a garden but we do have a local supermarket and a weekly farmer's market where we get most of our ingredients.

Chee: I've not seen Food Matters yet. Another book my wife read (she does the reading, I get the Cliff's Notes version) was Animal, Vegetable, Miracle which is a non-fiction story about a woman who got her family to only eat locally-grown foods for a year.

Dwarven: It is an interesting film -- probably even more so when you're a chef.

v76: Food, Inc. was my first exposure to Monsanto and I'd love to see The World According to Monsanto. I can't get it on Netflix so maybe bittorrent will yield better results.

It's on my to-watch list. Having seen similar films and read books on that theme, I'm aware of the rather nasty practices in the industrial food chain.

I personally try to practice "ethical omnivorism" -- any time I have the option, I purchase ethically/humanely raised meat. My reasoning is: the denial of my dollars to mega meat industry is just a drop in the bucket (ie if I were to stop eating meat altogether), it won't matter. But my dollars do matter to humane meat producers, so I seek out those businesses to support them.

It's actually pretty tough -- there aren't many certifying groups out there. Very few labels, and they all mean different things! Hopefully this will change in coming years with increased awareness by the public.

Originally Posted by bromion

I personally try to practice "ethical omnivorism" -- any time I have the option, I purchase ethically/humanely raised meat. My reasoning is: the denial of my dollars to mega meat industry is just a drop in the bucket (ie if I were to stop eating meat altogether), it won't matter. But my dollars do matter to humane meat producers, so I seek out those businesses to support them.

It's actually pretty tough -- there aren't many certifying groups out there. Very few labels, and they all mean different things! Hopefully this will change in coming years with increased awareness by the public.

i think we are in the same boat! luckily i have found one farm that i can get beef, chicken and goat meat from that are free run, hormone free, and though they don't certify it as organic, they meet all the requirements, they just don't see the point in paying for the certification. the problem is that they are small so i can't really tell everyone as they only have so much. it seems like people in my area are starting to support local meat and produce more and more which is a step in the right direction in my opinion.

Originally Posted by chee16

i think we are in the same boat! luckily i have found one farm that i can get beef, chicken and goat meat from that are free run, hormone free, and though they don't certify it as organic, they meet all the requirements, they just don't see the point in paying for the certification. the problem is that they are small so i can't really tell everyone as they only have so much. it seems like people in my area are starting to support local meat and produce more and more which is a step in the right direction in my opinion.

Ahh, that reminds me -- there is also an excellent segment in the movie about a local farm in Viginia called Polyface Farms. The farmer stated his case as clear as day; their animals (chickens, cows and pigs) roam freely and eat good ol' grass, and the grass they eat eventually fertilizes the soil which helps grow more grass to feed the animals. A beautiful cycle.

There was also an interesting bit in which they show the farm hands preparing chickens by snapping the neck, draining the blood, removing the feathers, and finally removing organs. The setup is outdoors and everything is visible. The interviewee speaks about how the FDA pitched a fit because they are handling/preparing fresh, raw meat in open air. I forget the unit of measure and the exact numbers, but the farmer said that when they compared their meat to that of, say, Tyson, the open-air prepped meat was like 10 times cleaner than the industrialized samples.

I want to see this movie too. What we have allowed industry to do to our food is really upsetting. Besides impacting our health and wallets, the experience of food has been compromised.

Jordan