Last night, I watched Food, Inc. It's a movie about the farming and livestock practices in the United States and the implications it has on animals, farmers, the environment and the people that consume the products. I cannot tell you how sick I feel about what I eat and where I buy it from.
A good portion of the movie was devoted to discussion around soy and corn farmers, which was very interesting. We have almost completely cut out soy and most corn products from our diets as Jude is allergic to both (along with eggs, citrus, chicken, dairy, wheat, peanuts, tree nuts and most recently we think tomatoes). Regardless, soy and corn are used in almost everything we buy and consume and farmers are either on their knees serving the biggest soy seed producer in the world or highly subsidized by the government for their crops that have huge implications on the environment and global economy.
The livestock practices were truly the most unbelievable part of the movie. How can we treat animals this way and then consume them. Yuck! Seriously yuck! Can this really be the way that 90% of our meat is raised and slaughtered, yet almost no one knows or cares?
If you haven't seen it, you should. I am going to do some homework over the next few days and see if I can fact check and hear "the other side of the story." I know there is one and I work with some people that have a very solid understanding of the industry. A small part of me wishes that I hadn't seen the movie at all. Ignorance is bliss, right? But I did see it and there has to be some truth to it.
So, have you seen it? Are you a believer or is it a bunch of Hollywood glamorized junk designed to make the producer a bunch of money?
A bunch of it has to be true. And while I think it may be blown out of proportion, we can't go wrong by knowing where our food comes from. Jason and I have joined a CSA this year for our produce. We paid one lump sum up front to a farm and as soon as there are crops, we will get a basket full of food every weekend. Direct from the farmers who grow it. What I am interested in is finding out how are diet changes by what's actually in season. So much of what we eat is shipped from whereever just so we have access all year. For instance, strawberries in January.
ReplyDeleteI don't eat meat for a variety of reasons but any of the food documentaries really reiterate things for me. I know people who try to buy locally raised, organizally fed meat. It costs more but tastes better. And because it costs more, they are actually eating the recommended amount of meat rather than the giant servings people are used to.