This is an interesting documentary done in part by the guy who was behind Fast Food Nation and the author of In Defense of Food: The Eater's Manifesto. I think this will be an important film that will really open the casual American's eyes to how "safe" a lot of the food they consume on a daily basis really is. I'm sure it will have a certain political agenda as most documentaries do, but I'm more interested in the facts they present, and how they go about exposing what the big multanational companies don't want you to know about the food you eat every day. They will also discuss the Factory Farming atrocities as well the state of many workers who have been reduced to virtual slave labor to keep producing Fast Food produce year-round. It comes out in limited release over the next few weeks, I'll be catching at the Angelika where it comes out on the 26th. Synopsis from the website http://www.foodincmovie.com <object width='480' height='295'><param name='movie' value='http://www.youtube.com/v/c2sgaO44_1c&hl=en&fs=1'></param><param name='allowFullScreen' value='true'></param><param name='allowscriptaccess' value='always'></param><embed src='http://www.youtube.com/v/c2sgaO44_1c&hl=en&fs=1' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' allowscriptaccess='always' allowfullscreen='true' width='480' height='295'></embed></object>
Isn't this really old news? Most of us with 1/2 a brain already know most of what we shove in our pie holes is crap. The other 1/2 won't watch the movie anyway.
These films actually do have an effect on corporate practices. Super Size Me caused McDonald's to do away with their "supersize." Fast Food Nation, both the book and the film have also been influential. If this raises the eyebrows of just a few more people, I don't see the harm in another "know what you're eating"-type awareness movie.
This looks great by the way. My ultimate dream job would be in the writing and production of these types of documentaries.
If by "doing away with their 'supersize'" you mean they just made the "supersize" the large and what used to be the "large" now the regular, then, yes, it did have an effect. When McD's started the combo menu, the standard was the small fry. In a sense, they've actually gotten worse since the movie.
From the reviews I've read of this documentary, it is actually quite even handed and doesn't go out of its way to push any specific agenda. For the most part it just states facts and shines a light on the production of some of the food we eat everyday and don't think about. I'm very curious to see this myself.
Ok, but they added more healthful options right around that time as well. Even if they upped the portion sizes, the mere fact that they did away with the term "supersize" means the film was at least somewhat influential, IMO. I think the MAJOR point of this movie is to show how certain lobbyists make it ILLEGAL for the FDA to require truthful labeling. For example, rBGH has been banned in Europe, but here not only is it still legal and widespread, but it's illegal to label milk "BGH-free," last time I heard. It's about keeping the American public out of the dark.
This goes beyond fast food though, a lot of Americans remain in ignorance about the amount of pesticides in our supermarket produce, the meat that is basically mutant chickens and cows on steroids, the immigrants basically working in slave labor in Florida to make tomatoes for Taco Bell, and of course the horrible Factory Farming practices which makes your gut wrench. To me, this is about making better healthy choices. We should all be concerned about what we're putting in our bodies, and what the Big Companies are trying to shield from us.
There are gonna be some big names in the restaurant industry there, if I'm not mistaken. Should be a good time. Yogi Berra-esque.
But, Faos is right. Many people know that what we're eating is bad and how it's made is wrong...but...what are the alternatives? Where are the CHEAP healthy alternatives? You would think there's a huge market for healthy "fast food". I hate to be Obama-esque but we don't need concern we need CHANGE...and I don't see that happening until some company takes a chance and is willing to take less profit for the better good of society.
A change in demand is the only thing that will change the landscape of food and nutrition in the U.S. When enough people care enough, we will see a change in demand. Change has to start somewhere. I suspect that is the motive behind these exposés.
Where do we get good chicken/cow meat?? I know we can get our produce from a farmer's market but not sure about chicken/cow meat.
1.) One of the things this movie is going to point out is how a family in LA rationalizes eating at Burger King all the time because it is "cheaper" than buying fresh fruits and vegetables. A big myth is that eating healthy costs a lot more money. The truth is that it is the big companies trying to push "healthy" products are the ones charging a premium for so-called "organic, wholesome" food. 2.) You're acting like awareness isn't the first step toward change. How can we expect big changes to be made if the general population is still largely in the dark?
There are alternatives like buying a cow direct from a farmer who keeps his cows grass-fed, but it remains less economical at this point, given that a cow is a large animal. Some people on this board have mentioned that they usually buy a cow this way with another family and split the cost.
Here's a review of the movie. ------------------------- June 8, 2009 ‘Food, Inc.’: Watch what you eat By Marshall Fine http://hollywoodandfine.com/reviews/?p=1023 “Food, Inc.” is a hard movie to enjoy. Not that it’s not well-made. Just the opposite: It’s so convincingly compelling in its depiction of our industrialized food production that you’ll either stop eating altogether – or you’ll binge on fat, salt and sugar, despairing that, since we’re doomed anyway, you might as well enjoy yourself. A bucket of doughnuts and French fries ought to do the trick. Working with writers Eric Schlosser (“Fast Food Nation”) and Michael Pollan (“In Defense of Food”), director Robert Kenner hits all the high – or high-calorie – spots in his tour of what’s wrong with our food. There are so many points of entry that you hardly know where to start. Let’s jump in with cheap corn – government-subsidized so farmers grow lots, other farmers and manufacturers can buy it cheaply and it becomes an integral part of everything we eat. It’s not just the high fructose corn syrup that’s so ubiquitously making us fat – it’s the corn-fed beef and chicken, raised on feed lots and in lightless chicken coops. Corn, it turns out, marbles the beef but also leads to production of the kind of E. coli bacteria in cows’ digestive tracts that, ever more frequently, hops into the food chain and sickens (and kills) us. That’s not to mention the inhumane, unsanitary conditions in which the livestock is kept and slaughtered. Or the fact that the people running the agencies regulating food safety most recently have been plucked from the very industries they’re supposed to regulate (a favorite gambit of the late, unlamented Bush administration). What is depressing is how tied together this all is, how seeming impossible to solve. So few companies control so much of the food production. So much of the food we eat has virtually all the nutrition processed out of it – and sugar and fat processed in – because it’s cheaper to do so. Which has the ripple effect of causing obesity, particularly among the poor, for whom cheap crap is more affordable than fresh vegetables and fruit. Which leads to spikes in diabetes and increased pressure on an already overburdened healthcare system. It’s a vicious circle, one that the food manufacturers ignore until a movie – such as “Super-Size Me” or this one – comes along to rouse public awareness and put pressure on the food companies themselves. Publicity from “Super-Size Me” was the only reason McDonald’s suddenly started offering healthier kids’ meals and other less sodium-and-fat-laden choices. Meanwhile, the average American consumes more than 200 pounds of meat per year. It’s one of many frightening statistics in this eye-opening movie that should be required viewing for anyone who, well, eats. But “Food, Inc.”’s bad news will keep people away from it for exactly that reason. Better to hide one’s head in the sand than face the depressing reality and try to change it.
