If anyone is interested in seeing Food, Inc. (go here to watch the trailer), which I highly recommend if you are at all interested in learning about industrialized, processed food, where our food comes from, and the impact that it can have on people, it is airing tomorrow, Wednesday night, at 9pm on PBS. This is a great opportunity to see this film without having to buy it or rent it online, because it's not widely distributed right now. I will be watching it again, because it was so interesting the first time and there was a lot that I want see again. (and some stuff I don't want to see, like the meat processing!) The thing I liked the best about this film is it's positive message - it ends with hope that things can and will change in our food processing industry, and that we have the power to change them with the decisions and choices we make in regard to our food.
Here's a link where you can check your local listings. http://www.pbs.org/pov/foodinc/
If you've already seen the movie, or if you watch it tomorrow night, I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
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Totally changed the way we eat! Thanks!
ReplyDeleteAnd right after I purchased the DVD of course! I think I was most surprised to find out that the beef industry has lowered it standards so that most meet could be served at the Golden Arches. We were already on the no-more-processed foods path and this film is a good education and motivator.
ReplyDeleteWow! That is alot to "process" - I will have to watch that again. Thanks for passing that along!
ReplyDeleteThis just validates my decision to buy meat from a local organic farmer. We need to get documentaries like this out there for the people to see--maybe at schools or something. I mean you know majority of people do not watch documentaries that need to, it is mostly people that have already started to make a change. I wish people would wake up!
ReplyDelete@Tan @ tan/green & @ Talisa - I am planning to buy the DVD so that I can watch it yet again, and I would like to be able to share it with others when the topic of food comes up and I can explain about how and why we eat the way we do and then say, "Here you should really watch this," and loan it to them.
ReplyDelete@ Rita - I agree, it definitely can be overwhelming at first. That's why I love baby steps. You know you're making changes in the right direction but you don't have to do it all at once.
Another thing I was struck by as I watched this again is the harmful effects that our way of eating have on people - the increased diabetes rate, especially among minorities, the immigrant workers who are being exploited and abused (gives me a whole new outlook on the immigration problem, but that's another topic that I won't even attempt to get into) :), the farmers who don't have the freedom or money to run their farms against the large corporations, the people that have died or lost loved ones from food-borne illnesses, and the list goes on. We have to start putting people above corporations, above profits, above "science" and "engineering". This is a big reason why our family is working on changing the way that we eat.
Love hearing all your thoughts!
Hey Emily! Shelley's friend here :) So, we watched Food, Inc. too and have also decided to do what Talisa's fam is doing which, for us, will involve going mostly vegetarian. Here's our dilemma: Karl, you may know, lost his job after Christmas and our grocery budget has been cut from $400 a month to $250 a month. We were barely making it with the LARGER budget with healthy, partially organic, choices. Have you found it's possible to do it for even less? I'm worried about this summer where the two school-age boys are home (8 & 7) AND the 1 & 4 year old! It's not fair to buy food that hurts others, and yet I don't want my kids to be really hungry either!
ReplyDeleteHey Danielle! I'd love to give you a more in depth answer than I feel like I can here in the comments. The short answer is no, (I'm sorry!) I have found it to be more expensive to try to eat more locally and "healthy". If you want to send me an email at emilymcclements(at)yahoo(dot)com, I'd love to share some of the things we do to try to stretch our dollars as far as we can, though.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love the way you stated it - It's not fair to buy food that hurts others - that is EXACTLY how we feel about it. It is the impact that our food choices have on other people that really convicts us to choose a different way of eating. And I guess here's a little bit more of an answer - we are not perfect at it, and still have a lot of changes that we would like to make. We do what we can, but we have a limited food budget too. We are taking baby steps, but I think that even small changes, and lots of people making small changes, can add up to BIG changes over time. So, we don't get down on ourselves if we can't buy the exact or "perfect" foods we would ideally like to buy. We work to do the best we can with the resources that we have.
Blessings to you and your family!