- Man is what he eats – to be fit and healthy one needs to eat good food
Most of us think that what we buy from our neighborhood supermarket or the fast food chain is good food. Whenever we shop for food, we are presented with the picture of an agrarian America which makes picking up those vegetables and fruits not only a delight but also a satisfactory experience. But is that the reality? Food Inc. takes us on a journey that changes all that we thought about the food that we eat; or in serious terms, the notion of the food that we eat.
Robert Kenner’s Oscar Nominated documentary opens by mentioning a very obvious but mostly unknown fact that our eating habits have changed more in the past 50 years than they have changed over the past ten thousand years. Stop and think about it for a moment. How, in such a short span have we changed the way we eat? Surely there must be a mistake. But the next time you walk into a fast food chain, before you bite into that burger or that chicken, don’t ask yourself if you ever gave a thought as to where it came from, ask yourself, have you ever asked that question to begin with? When taking a bite into that food, we didn’t give a moment’s thought that the particular vegetable in it has a season, example tomato, and we are eating its fresh version even while its season has long passed.
The documentary takes us on a revelation trip which shows us how farming has been industrialized due to the introduction of fast food. Many of us would be startled to see where that nice chicken breast we had for lunch came from or how they produced that ground beef we used for patties or in our burger. However, it’s nothing new for the people who have their eyes open and especially the people who work in these industries. If you have a weak stomach, don’t watch this documentary. The food industry especially doesn’t want you to know all this because if you know it you probably won’t eat it.
However, the documentary does say that the companies declined to be interviewed. We know that there are some evil corporations out there; I personally don’t like Monsanto for its deeds; but it would be unwise and unfair to reach conclusions before reaching any consensus before listening to their side of the story.
In a heart moving part of the documentary see how high corn diet affect the cattle and inadvertently results into the presence of E.Coli 0157 h7 bacteria which if enters the food chain can be really fatal to the consumer. Food Inc. shows us one such mother who fights for justice for her son who died due to consuming a hamburger at a fast food chain that contained the said bacteria. It also shows us how it is easy to get trapped in the circle of poverty simply by putting one’s self in a fast food diet when we meet a migrant family who is plagued by big medical bills.
But all is not bleak; there is still hope as the documentary mentions how Wal-Mart is selling organic food (even though purely for commercial reasons) and how some farmers are fighting the lawyers of corporations and still producing crops and meat the traditional way.
The film ends with a farmer promising that should the people demand, they will provide. It also advices to by at farmer markets and to buy products that are grown locally.
Yes, this seems to be the right thing to do, especially if we don’t want food ridden with E.Coli or antibiotics and food that is fresh and not just an idea of food. Food is our basic right, and we are paying so much for it, we really should demand it. Ask for food that keeps you, your family and the planet healthy.