Movie Review: Food, Inc.

I went to see the movie Food, Inc. today with my friend Chris. I give it 4.5/5. I didn't really learn anything new in this movie about big agriculture or the mega-slaughterhouses that I didn't already know. If you're someone who is already really excited about this movie without seeing it, I think it will only be a reminder and not a lesson. But, if you're trying to educate someone about what is going wrong with food in this country, or if you yourself are new to the idea that there even is something wrong with food in this country, it might be a good movie to use as an introduction to those ideas. Food, Inc. has a decent sampling of many food issues, including what is happening with our meat supply, with genetically modified foods, the side-effects of the dominance of corn, the growing prevalence of food safety short-comings, and the increased intermingling of big agribusiness with the people in government who are supposed to be regulating them (a.k.a. soft-fascism). In my opinion, it is like most documentaries, with a lot of facts presented without always citing the sources along with them (though this movie is great for first-hand accounts from farmers). But also as with most documentaries, I plan on investigating some of the information presented (such as the validity of the stories of from the farmers), from which I will probably learn more than if they had just been directly cited in the movie. In this regard it was a very thought-provoking documentary, which gives it the 4.5/5 for me.

There are also a couple of tasks that have fallen out of this movie for me. I usually shop at Sunflower Market for meat because they always have very fresh looking meat that turns out to be delicious. After seeing this movie, I want to investigate where they get their meat supplied from to check if it is from one of the "Big 4" meat suppliers they name (think ConAgra). I also plan on trying to find out if there is a classic-style butcher shop that sells locally raised meat. If anyone knows of one in Tucson, please let me know about it.

Finally, this movie is pretty much a summation of why I want to start a permaculture homestead. If everything that this movie claims is true, I feel like all of the issues raised in it can be addressed by following the permaculture ethics while designing my homestead. Once I become productive, I feel that following the 3rd ethic of permaculture (sharing the surplus) will help address those issues for other people as well, and hopefully introduce them to a lifestyle that can solve it for them.