Food Inc is all the buzz this week

So, I'm assuming as a self-respecting Greenie, you've heard of the new documentary Food, Inc. Following in the footsteps of such media as the documentary SuperSize Me, the book and movie Fast Food Nation and Michael Pollan's recent best seller The Omnivore's Dilemma, Food, Inc. seeks to make sure we're all aware of exactly where our food comes from...and in most cases, how gross it is.

I want to be excited by the film, but check out its About the Film basic description:

In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.

Or check out their About the Issues page. Valid issues all. A huge page of them. And animal issues comprise one throwaway reference to "inhumane conditions". Two words out of that entire page reference the animal issue.

Still, as this is my green blog, not my vegan blog, I think many of you will find their About page a very powerful argument for a very different approach to food in this country.

Martha Stewart gives a shout-out to Food, Inc on her blog. (Will she do an episode on it, though, I wonder? Her show often addresses both health and green issues, so how can she not!?)

Here are some prominent reviews of the film:

Roger Ebert, in the Chicago Sun-Times, actually does emphasize the animal issues, right from the top. The first two paragraphs of his review are powerful:

The next time you tuck into a nice T-bone, reflect that it probably came from a cow that spent much of its life standing in manure reaching above its ankles. That's true even if you're eating the beef at a pricey steakhouse. Most of the beef in America comes from four suppliers.
The next time you admire a plump chicken breast, consider how it got that way. The egg-to-death life of a chicken is now six weeks. They're grown in cages too small for them to move, in perpetual darkness to make them sleep more and quarrel less. They're fattened so fast they can't stand up or walk. Their entire lives, they are trapped in the dark, worrying.

The review headline in the Atlantic Monthly says it all: Yes, You Have to See Food Inc. (Their site seems to be having problems today, FYI.)

The NY Times feels like there are multiple documentaries nestled inside this one 93-minute attempt to cover the issues. And the Times, too, notes that the movie may expose the animal abuse inherent to our system, but that it focuses much more on the human cost.

One human cost I'm very glad is being covered is how crappy, unhealthy food is way cheaper and more accessible than healthy, fresh food. This is a different kind of divide. May schools and libraries are at least somewhat equipped to address the digital divide. But who is working on overcoming the nutritional divide?

I don't know if I have the stomach (pun intended) to see Food, Inc. But I definitely think all of you should! ;)

Will you?