Events

“You’ll never look at dinner the same way:” that’s the tag line of Food, Inc. and it is particularly true if you live in the US and you shop at a conventional grocery store.  Produced by Eric Schlosser of Fast Food Nation and directed by award-winning filmmaker Robert Kenner the film is a sobering, infuriating exposé of the industrial food racket in America. 

Narrated by Schlosser and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto) the film’s three parts explore factory animal farming, the consolidation of grain and commodity crops, and the corporate interests that have come to dictate food policy in Washington. 

From the window-less, overcrowded chicken coops contracted by Perdue Farms and Tyson Foods, to the manure-ridden, bacteria-breeding feedlots of Smithfield Farms, we get a horrifying look at the inhumanity and foulness of industrial animal “production”.  Down on the farm, the filmmakers give a tutorial on the market distortions caused by the commodity-heavy US Farm Bill that subsidizes soybean and corn at rates that cause massive overproduction and require ever more ingenious and scientific uses for said crops, and its influence over the American diet. And if you are not already appalled and infuriated every time you hear the word “Monsanto”, a look at what this mega-corp has done to the livelihood of Midwestern farmers and small business owners who have eschewed their “patented seed technologies” should make you run out and join the Organic Consumer’s Association in it’s Millions Against Monsanto campaign.  

At the heart of the film is the central message:  all of this is making us sick.  Whether it’s the rampant presence of E.coli in industrial meats or the high-fructose corn syrup found in everything from Coca-Cola to Salad Dressing, the film reveals the hidden costs of cheap food and the billions of dollars spent each year to conceal them.  A trip to Washington, DC illuminates the corporate control of food policy and the commandeering of such important public agencies as the FDA and the USDA. 

Food Inc. is an important film for anyone concerned with food safety, animal rights, nutrition, health or sustainability.  And it’s a must see for anyone whose New Year’s Resolution is to go veggie (it’s like a nicotine patch for the recovering meat eater).  One warning, though, in the words of Eric Schlosser, "The industry doesn't want you to know the truth about what you're eating - because if you knew, you might not want to eat it.”  You may never be able to shop in your chain grocery store again.