Food, Inc.

Before you read any more of this post, go watch it! Okay, good. It's been sitting in my Netflix queue I think since it came out and I finally got around to watching it last night. If you've read Omnivore's Dilemma and/or Fast Food Nation then there isn't going to be a lot more in it that you don't already know (both authors are interviewed and Pollan was a contributor). What it will show you that a book can't, is what your meat looks like before you eat it. Interestingly, the filmmakers were not allowed to film cattle feed lots (we get a lot of drive-bys and flyovers), pig farmers, or inside chicken "coops". One woman, who had a more humane chicken coop, allowed the camera crew in, and promptly had her contract with Perdue pulled.

What you come away from the film understanding is that industrial agriculture is all-powerful, has people in the highest places (USDA, FDA, Supreme Court [Clarence Thomas, surprised?]) and you, the consumer, are basically without rights. Either the right to know what is actually in your food, or the right for recompensense when things go horribly wrong and you end up with salmonella poisoning from your peanut butter (really, a poultry/reptile disease in legumes??). Scary stuff. Even the organic companies aren't blameless since most of the big ones are now owned by the huge food conglomerates (Dannon owns Stonyfield Farm yogurt, for example, Colgate owns Tom's of Maine). Better than conventional, but still not great.

What is the solution? Of course, the best solution is for us all to have sane jobs that allow for lots of home cooking (including yogurt, bread, etc.) and sourcing the majority of your foods from within reasonable driving distance (100 miles, for example). Eating within the season helps a lot too, even if you're getting your winter oranges from Florida and you live in, say, the Pacific Northwest. (confession, I bought an organic mango from Peru today to share with my son. We've been doing so well on local apples and pears for most of the winter, I needed a taste of summer.) This isn't always possible, but the more people who do it, the better it gets as local farmers suddenly have local clients. More on this tomorrow!