Earlier this week, I saw the movie “Food, Inc.” It’s a documentary about the food industry in this country and how it has all gone terribly wrong for us, the customers, and fantastically well for the handful of large corporations that essentially supply what we eat.
Truth be told, if you’ve followed the growing food awareness movement for any length of time, much of what the movie shows isn’t really new. Authors Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food, which I wrote about here) make appearances in the movie. What the movie does do, through some graphic imagery which meat processors don’t want the public to see as well as interviews with these authors and even some organic farmers, is send the message that each of us should care where our food comes from and what we are eating.
Check out the trailer at the movie’s web site and then go see the movie.
6 users commented in " And Now a Little Something About our Food "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackThat was quite a documentary, Miles. Kind of like a reprise of Upton Sinclair’s muckraking book about meatpackers a century ago, only updated for the 21st century. What would we do without the Cedar-Lee, the only moviehouse to show these kinds of films? This weekend I saw an equally important movie there, The Stoning of Saroya M., about how women are treated in some parts of the Muslim world. Simply shameful, but I hope everyone will go see it.
Interesting comparison to Sinclair’s book, John. Although I think this time around there are other concerns beyond worker safety and even food safety, namely the way these farm animals are treated by the meat industry and also the larger environmental impact of the way we grow our food these days.
And thanks for the tip on the Stoning of Saroya M. I’ll have to see that as well.
And congratulations on your poem “Spice Rack” being included in a new installation. Quoting from the announcement: “We are proud to announce the contributors to the 2009 Poetry Installation at the East Cleveland RTA Sculpture Garden. Stay tuned for information on the unveiling of this amazing collaboration between The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, NY Art Projects, and The LIT.” Looking forward to reading it, Miles. Can you share it with us now, or is it embargoed until then?
Thanks John. I’m really excited to see the finished result myself. You know I’ll post something as soon as I find out when the unveiling will be.
You rule, Rock Star. Some day soon we’ll have to erect some kind of public art about you, rather than by you.
Oh, I wouldn’t hold my breath for that, bud.
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