Food Inc.: A Review

Yesterday I finally had a chance to see Food Inc., the new movie that talks about where our food comes from and how it is affecting our health, the animals and the environment. The movie features Eric Schlosser (author of Fast Food Nation) and Michael Pollan (author of The Omnivore's Dilemma and several other great reads) who take us through the industrialization of food in our country. This film shows us the inside view of factory farming practices, the over abundance of corn in the American diet, and the appearance of genetically modified foods in the marketplace, among other ideas. I thought the movie was interesting, well put-together, and full of great information (as well as some serious gross-you-out scenes). However, I have read Fast Food Nation, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and have seen several movies on related subjects (namely The Future of Food and King Corn), so I personally did not walk away from this film with any new information. It was mostly taking the information from the aforementioned books and rearranging it into an educational and entertaining film. But, it was awesome none-the-less and I will plan to show it to my environmental science class as soon as it is available on DVD.
The problem with films like this is that, for the most part, they are preaching to the choir. The majority of America is not interested in seeing an "environmentalist" movie that is going to scare us silly about the food we put into our bodies each day. Most of the people in that theater had likely already read Pollan's book or know about the dangers of genetically modified foods. In fact, in Portland, a town of liberally minded people who are very geared towards eating local and organic, this movie was only playing at one theater. Sadly, this is the type of film that is perfect for mainstream America, for people who don't know that they unknowingly eat genetically modified food every day, for people that buy food based on the monetary cost and not the cost to their health or the health of the environment. But, these are also the people who will probably never know that this film was made.
For those of us who are ready to learn about exactly what we are putting into our bodies every day, as well as the environmental impacts of our food choices, this movie is awesome, and if nothing else, will motivate you to start to change your own diet. So, in short, go see this film! Learn about what you consume and dare to change the way you eat. To find a theater near you, click here. And check out the website takepart.com and see how you can get involved with changing the world. One meal at a time.