Movie Review: Food, Inc.

I have been doing such a poor job keeping up with this blog!  I was doing well for the first week of January, but it has been almost a week since my last post.  Shame, Lauren, shame...

I have about 8 posts lined up in my "queue" to work on taking from draft to an actual post, so stay tuned!  Until then, I wanted to let you guys know about a movie Matt and I recently watched together:

Food, Inc.

Food, Inc. (2009) is a documentary that provides an unflattering look inside America's corporate controlled food industry.  This movie doesn't just talk about the meat industry, but that is a large focus of the documentary.  Another cornerstone of this documentary is the industrial production of grain and vegetables, primarily corn and soybeans, as well as the use of chemicals and pesticides in agriculture.  And, of course, you can't forget the movie's heavy focus on the political powers involved in our nation's food production.

I had always heard how poorly animals were treated in the meat industry, the unsanitary conditions of their housing and the slaughterhouses, as well as how our corn and soybeans are genetically altered and how relatively every food in our grocery stores contains something that will either give us cancer or kill us!  But I threw all of those "rumors" to the side and ate Tyson chicken nuggets and drank diet sodas religiously... until now.

In Food, Inc., there are incredibly real and moving video clips and interviews from farmers, politicians, authors, and investigative journalists that share in the horror of how far gone our nation's food industries really are.  It is now all about the "business" and "politics" of the industry, rather than the compassion and health-concerns of the public and even the animals involved.

Now, before you read more or watch this movie, I want you to know that since this movie is "from the same company that brought us An Inconvenient Truth," you can expect some slight political influence to pop up every now and then.

DO NOT LET THAT TURN YOU AWAY FROM WATCHING THIS DOCUMENTARY!

I personally did not feel as if there was too much suffocating liberal bias for it to be a turn-off and did ultimately enjoy and learn from this movie.

Here is what I'm taking away from this documentary:

• Reduce meat consumption, especially from companies such as Tyson, Smithfield, and Perdue - heck, try to eliminate meat altogether
• Read the ingredient labels on ALL foods at the grocery store before buying
• Incorporate more locally grown fruits and veggies

I encourage everyone to watch this documentary.  No matter if you're male or female, young or old, vegetarian or carnivore, Republican or Democrat... you CAN benefit from the information in this documentary.  Even something as simple as choosing to buy more local fruits and vegetables can be a decision that improves your health and well-being and helps support a local farmer.

I have embedded the trailer below for you to watch.  If you are an AmazonPrime member, you can watch this movie for free, or you can rent it for 24 hours at $1.99 otherwise.

Feel free to let me know if you have decided to watch this documentary and your thoughts on it - I'd love to know!