Food, Inc: A Fascinating Film

I just watched the film Food, Inc. I have been meaning to check it out for a while, and I finally did. Apparently quite a few people have been seeing it here in Alameda because Blockbuster only had one darn copy left! The lady at the counter said that a lot of people were renting it. Not a bad thing by any means. 

First off, if you didn't know it already, this is a documentary. I think that for a lot of people, especially around my age, the word "documentary" is often seen as synonymous with "boring." Well not this documentary! Unlike some I have seen it was quite well done and moved at a good pace. 

Although Food, Inc. covers many aspects of our modern food industry, I think it really excels at showing footage and facts on the meat industry. That is what stood out most in my mind. This might be because I have read Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and it talked a lot about corn and soybeans. Basically, I didn't find the parts in Food, Inc. on those crops as shocking as the parts on the animals. I think that this movie is great because it shows us, not just tells us in writing, where our food is being produced and what some of the consequences are.

Both Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser (author of Fast Food Nation) are featured in this movie. I thought Michael Pollan summed up our food system well when at one point in the movie he said:

"We have had a food system that has been dedicated to the single virtue of efficiency. So we grow a very small number of crops, a very small number of varieties, [controlled by] a very small number of companies. And, even though you achieve efficiencies, the system becomes more and more precarious. You will have a breakdown eventually."

Pollan makes an excellent point, because when you focus so intently on efficiency (which is directly related to profit for these large agribusiness companies), the system will eventually have a breakdown. When profit is the sole motive, companies (and stockholders in these companies) want to see profit now. They aren't worrying if these methods will be viable, five, twenty, even one hundred years down the road. 

 I'm going to try and convince both my parents to watch it before it is returned to Blockbuster and I highly recommend you watch it too. Here's the trailer for the movie. 

Book Review 1: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

Part of what inspired my passion for locally grown food, sustainable agriculture, and more broadly, food that is good for people and the planet, has been reading books on this subject. I have decided to do a project where I write posts about some of the books that really inspired me or taught me in some way. Of course I am focusing on just the books that have to do with food. 

Book Review Number One: 

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle

By Barbara Kingsolver

This is the book that sparked my passion. Barbara Kingsolver is a clear, interesting and witty author. This book documents the struggles and rewards of her family eating only "locally grown" food for a whole year. Essentially they try and eat as much food grown in t

heir backyard and on neighboring farms. Her family lives in rural Virginia and has a large garden, their own chickens, and eventually their own turkeys. Her description of trying to get the turkeys to mate was hilarious. 

In the book there are recipes and meal plans written by Kingsolver's teenage daughter, Camille Kingsolver. These provided insight into the seasonal changes in the food they ate and it also gave a teenage perspective on the challenges the family faced. I found this part particularly interesting since I am around Camille's age. Barbara Kingsolver's husband, Steven Hopp also wrote blurbs with facts about our current food system and other information. 

Overall, I learned a lot from this book. It was very entertaining and inspiring to read. I would highly recommend it. 

The Hibernation Ends

Well, it has been quite a while since I last posted anything. In fact, it has been so long that I actually forgot my username for my blogger account. Lame? Yes, I would say so. Luckily it didn't take me terribly long to find the right combination. 

Why has it been so long since the last post? I could come up with many reasons. None of them all that good. Yes, I was busy, I had some big essays to write and lots college application related stuff. In fact it felt like I was doing a lot of writing. Maybe that is my excuse, that all my writing energy was going into writing essays for classes and for college apps. Well, now the college apps are all in and I am only taking science / math courses at community college this semester. Which means... I should have lots of writing energy to expend on this blog! 

Although I have not posted recently, I have had multiple ideas for posts bouncing around in the back of my head. Hopefully I'll actually be turning those ideas into actual posts!

This is actually a rather pointless post other than to say that I AM BACK. My blog was in hibernation, like a big bear, and it now wakes from its sleep. 

Side note: January 2010 marks the one year mark since I started this blog. Slow Food Junior is now 1.