Has anyone seen "Food, Inc."?

[BettinaAuSucre]

So, I finally got around to seeing this film last night.

For those that don't know, Food, Inc. is a documentary about the "real" side of the food industry. If you are familiar with Michael Pollan and his notoriously honest books, then you understand what the movie was about.

I have read Pollan's book " In Defense of Food" a month ago, and it was really eye-opening for me.

As a culinary student, I felt like it was my duty to learn everything I can about my artistic medium. Even the dark nasty corners that are hidden from the consumers.

It made me sick to my stomach to watch that movie, especially the "kill field" part. I had a few tears in my eyes a couple of times while watching. I had always felt it was best to support local famers and honest practices. But i still shopped at Publix and purchased items that were manufactured with less than honest practices.

Once I get my partner moved in with me, our living expenses will decrease as we are sharing all expenses. Thusly, giving us more money for food. And we have both whole heartedly agreed to only purchase food from farmer's markets and stores that support them, like Whole Foods and Trader Joes.

I have become cynical of the food industry and fear even in my attempt to eat healthier and more conscoiusly, that it will be in vain. So much of the handling and farming of our food is hidden and until recently, like the past 10 years, it's been a complete mystery.

I'd like to educate myself fully, or as much as I can, on organic and non-scientifically created food. Anyone have any good resources they can share?

[elus0814]

I've seen the movie and read Pollen's books as well. We've been trying our best to eat organically and ethically but we live in a costal area where options for organics, especially meat, are very limited. Right after I saw the movie I went through several weeks where every single thing I ate was organic, which meant no meat at all since I can't get it around here and am not able to drive several hours away to pick some up with all the kids. It became fustrating to have such limited food choices so I have brought some conventional foods back into our diet. We are now about 80% organic and we have a nice variety. I cook a lot more from scratch because organic breads, rolls, cookies, and such are hard to come by here but organic flour is available.

[laohaire]

I can't watch the movie, in fact I skipped over the traumatic parts of your post.

I'm glad it's out there, and I'm living the message (eat local, humane, etc.).

There's another one coming out, Fresh. Looks like I won't be able to see that either (I can't deal with the trauma). I would enjoy seeing these movies very much if I could get the trauma edited out.

[Gingercat]

Originally Posted by laohaire

I can't watch the movie, in fact I skipped over the traumatic parts of your post.

I'm glad it's out there, and I'm living the message (eat local, humane, etc.).

There's another one coming out, Fresh. Looks like I won't be able to see that either (I can't deal with the trauma). I would enjoy seeing these movies very much if I could get the trauma edited out.

I'm like you laohaire! My husband has seen the movie but I refused to even catch a glimpse of it! I've been a vegetarian for many years and recently I've started eating some organic/grass-fed meat. I'm very emotional over animal abuse, I could cry for days and never get over it...

But I've read Pollan's book and I'm very much aware of what is happening in our food chain. That's why I try to shop locally at my organic farmers' market and cook from scratch.
We eat a lot of legumes so meat is not a big issue for us.

[BettinaAuSucre]

For those that were already eating healthy and vegan, i understand why you opted to not see the movie. even as a carnivore, it made me incredibly sad to see animals treated cruelly for my own personal gain. I would prefer to see animals humanely treated and support any organization that does so.

[laohaire]

Originally Posted by Gingercat

I'm like you laohaire! My husband has seen the movie but I refused to even catch a glimpse of it! I've been a vegetarian for many years and recently I've started eating some organic/grass-fed meat. I'm very emotional over animal abuse, I could cry for days and never get over it...

But I've read Pollan's book and I'm very much aware of what is happening in our food chain. That's why I try to shop locally at my organic farmers' market and cook from scratch.
We eat a lot of legumes so meat is not a big issue for us.

Me too! I was vegetarian for 10 years (and DH for about 15 years) until I learned of some better alternatives to CAFO meat. Honestly I don't feel 100% great about it either but it's all a process. (And we still don't eat meat every day, but maybe a couple times a week).

And yeah, I can't handle animal or child abuse, I even have some things in my mind I heard about as a little child that stay with me all these years. I have learned to go to lengths to avoid it (but unfortunately even here on MDC I sometimes unwittingly read something traumatizing without warning).

I only skimmed The Omnivore's dilemma (too terrified to read it fully), but I ate up In Defense of Food. I also found Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle to be wonderful.

[Gingercat]

Originally Posted by laohaire

I only skimmed The Omnivore's dilemma (too terrified to read it fully), but I ate up In Defense of Food. I also found Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle to be wonderful.

I did not read The Omnivore's dilemma either although I bought it and my husband read it!
When I was living in the UK I was a member of many animal charities (e.g. PETA) but I'd never read their newsletters or emails, too cruel for me to handle. I honestly find it really peculiar how some people are informed about animal abuse and choose to ignore it...

(I'd not even get into the subject of child abuse; I made the mistake last year to follow the news regarding Baby P's abuse and death in the UK and the memory of it is constantly torturing me.)

[Sativarain1]

I've heard good things about the movie, I'd like to see it.

[Oh the Irony]

So much of the handling and farming of our food is hidden and until recently, like the past 10 years, it's been a complete mystery.

I don't know that I agree that it has been hidden. There have always been things written about the meat/factory farming.

Upton Sinclair wrote about conditions in slaughterhouses in 1906. Diet for a New America was also a great book.

I became a vegetarian 25 years ago after reading about animal treatment so I don't really think it has been a "complete mystery".

I do think things have gotten more complicated though in the last 10 years or so between the seeds and with big business buying up small organics companies.

I liked the movie--not much I wasn't aware of though. And I actually think the visuals of animal treatment just scratched the surface.

[ambereva]

Originally Posted by Oh the Irony

. And I actually think the visuals of animal treatment just scratched the surface.

I agree. The images of the CAFOs and slaughterhouses were quite tame. I've seen far, far worse.

I wish people could grasp that every single dollar they spend on conventional meat is a vote in support of those horrifically inhumane and appallingly filthy practices.

[Punchy Kaby]

Originally Posted by ambereva

I agree. The images of the CAFOs and slaughterhouses were quite tame. I've seen far, far worse.

I wish people could grasp that every single dollar they spend on conventional meat is a vote in support of those horrifically inhumane and appallingly filthy practices.

I just saw Food, Inc today and I think that every food dollar we spend on packaged foods from the big companies makes a vote for their farming practices. Big industry has made certain foods 'cheap' to the consumer (think soda, fast food, etc.) but the actual costs are hidden. It makes me sad that most people think they cannot afford to eat truly healthy foods. The whole food system is frustrating!

[Jill0905]

I watched it last month and it completely open my eyes. I am in the process of finding local farms to help change our eating habits. I have to say that is tough and I seem to be little lost but we are trying.

This past weekend I sent dh out to the grocery store for some eggs and because of the snow storm, all that was left was free range eggs. So he got them and we thought we notice a difference in the taste. It could be because we paid almost twice as much as we usually pay and in our mind wanting to taste something different or it actually was good.

[es1967]

I saw the movie a few months ago. Here is the thread I started:

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...light=food+inc

Glad to see people are still seeing it.

[ILoveMyBabyBird]

yes i just saw it a few days ago, may not have seen it had i not been snowed in these past few days, and ds had a stomach bug, but nonetheless, it was great, and helped me remember why i stopped eating beef and pork, i just wish i could give up animal products completely, but i definitely limit them since i've become more aware of the farming erhh, factory farming practices. My number one goal was to get debt free and after that point we would be able to eat more organic foods, but it is taking a lot of time to get debt free, but with dh probably getting a settlement from an accident, i feel that debt free beside the mortgage will definitely be this year, so I am upping my food expectations (it's my new years resolution), and will be trying slowly to convert our foods to more natural and organic. I know there is definite black and white areas for our family ie beef/pork=black, but there are so many grey areas for us, like especially poultry products, i don't think dh could give them up, and we mainly eat them eating out/fast food, so it seems that may be the worse kind of poultry out there... Last year we had a small garden that be no means sustains our family, but it definitely helped out in the summer months. I am a major amateur, but that i actually so many squash and tomatoes is better than i thought i would do, and it came straight from my backyard.

but seeing this documentary made perfect sense, no wonder why americans are so sick, they are eating sick animals. In our family we don't eat meat and limit poultry and dairy and we don't get sick much either, wonder if there is a connection?

[GreenGranolaMama]

Originally Posted by laohaire

I can't watch the movie, in fact I skipped over the traumatic parts of your post.

I'm glad it's out there, and I'm living the message (eat local, humane, etc.).

There's another one coming out, Fresh. Looks like I won't be able to see that either (I can't deal with the trauma). I would enjoy seeing these movies very much if I could get the trauma edited out.

I tried to get DH to watch it with me, but this is how he is with a lot of traumatic documentaries. I have a degree in public health and was fortunate enough to have some very passionate nutrition professors so I was already aware of much of the information presented in the movie.

[ILoveMyBabyBird]

another thing that irks me about the way these animals are treated is that if this were dogs, people would be up in arms about it. I've been to a puppy mill before and by no means was it as bad as what they do in those chicken houses. It's as if because they are going to meat, they have less rights than other animals, why is that? We undervalue these animals, they are nourishing us and giving their lives for us to live and yet it's okay to treat them so awefully.

And then the illegal immigrants issue, I was seriously upset about this issue too, if they are illegal, then they are undocumented and if that is the case if something happens to a worker, ie dies in an accident, who's not to say that it is just covered up and no one ever hears from that person again?

This movie is available on instant watch on netflix now, btw.

[Pepper44]

I already knew a lot of things from the documentary, but the visuals of the chicken houses are hard to forget.

I raise chickens (just for eggs) and we love them as pets. I saw some nasty diseased looking birds in that movie. I knew factory farmed chickens weren't healthy or humanely kept, but I didn't consider that they were actually diseased.

Once my entire flock got a disease and we had to humanely dispose of them. There is no way I would EVER eat meat from a diseased bird! *shudder* They have tons of foul mucus and diarrhea. But apparently the chicken I buy at the store is the same thing, I might as well have eaten my diseased flock! I seriously cannot convey how much this disgusts me.

[Sayward]

It breaks my heart that the message people seem to take away from that movie is that there is such a thing as 'humane meat', 'humane milk', 'humane eggs'. What a sad untruth . . .

[Pariah]

Is this available online to watch for free anywhere? I really want to see it, but I don't have $ for Netflix and such.

[laohaire]

Originally Posted by Sayward

It breaks my heart that the message people seem to take away from that movie is that there is such a thing as 'humane meat', 'humane milk', 'humane eggs'. What a sad untruth . . .

I don't see everything as black and white.

Would it truly not make a whit of difference if people were eating meat from animals that were not abused until their deaths?

I'm with you on the milk thing, though. I have trouble with that.

But zero trouble with eggs from pastured hens. ZERO. Not the so-called free-range ones from the grocery store, but the ones from the farm where I see how all the hens live. They are truly free-range, able to forage all over the farm. They lead very interesting lives. Yes, they were bred to lay their eggs more quickly than their ancestors, and that sucks, but they live for years doing what chickens love to do: scratch for bugs, check things out when they see a commotion over in the pig pen, roost up high in a shed they have free access to and put themselves to bed at night.

To me, black and white thinking is totally nihilistic. As much as you may wish it, people will continue to eat eggs. To me, the scene I just described is light years away from the scene you see in a factory with all the hens shoved in cages and yanked out when they keel over dead. I don't see the benefit to closing your mind to the difference. Sure, I totally support you if you don't eat eggs, but to tell others that there is NO DIFFERENCE is not going to make people stop eating eggs, but simply to say "what the hell, if there's no difference I'll just get the cheap stuff and not worry about it."