I watched Food inc. last night, and I didn't find it that ground breaking. I think what I was more shocked by is the idea that people STILL don't know this stuff?! The idea that the mass production of food for cheap all the while abusing animals and other humans is not a new idea, so why is this still a discussion? Things need to change, that has been the point for a very long time so why after all the messages we've been receiving is nothing being done?
I know that our food habits are ingrained in who we are but I think that that fact alone would encourage us to think more about what we're eating. When I was 12 years old I ate my last fast food burger, I remember biting off a piece, chewing it and it going down in a lump. I wasn't enjoying it, it didn't taste good or appeal to me anymore and I haven't eaten meat since, I'm almost 26. My point being we can all actively choose what type of food we put in our bodies, whether you eat meat or not, it just takes a litte bit of work.
There is a very big battle going on in this country, it couldn't be more obvious at the moment with Jaime Oliver's Food Revolution, Food inc, and all the food recalls we've been having right at the forefront of the media, cheap fast food and it's detriment to ones health vs. good wholesome cooked food and how expensive it is. This is something I think we've all known for a long time...right? The boy and I live in an town with a high proportion of families in lower economic brackets and on every block, every single block there is some sort of cheap fast food restaurant, don't tell me that you think this is coincidence?
These messages that we see in movies like Supersize Me, or Food inc or read in books like the Omnivores Dilemma are not new messages but we watch or read these ideas and stories and vow that we will change the way we think about food and how we eat it but then we slide back into our old ways and nothing gets done. Why is this? Why is it that even though we know whats in our food, how its processed and how others (farmers, workers, animals even) are affected by it we still don't fight for change and see it?
What's going on?
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It's so easy to get fast food when you're starving/rushed/short on money. I think people have to start by caring about what they're putting into their bodies. I didn't want to watch Food Inc. because I thought it would gross me out, lol. But Food Revolution looked good. How was it so far?
ReplyDeleteI'm right there with ya girl. I really enjoyed Food Inc. and I still have to show it to my boyfriend. He really needs to see it...although he's so darn stubborn...grrr! I think that's it really. People are stubborn in their old habits and ways :(
ReplyDeleteThe boy didn't want to watch it either. The secret was to take him out to dinner encourage a few beers and then by the time you get home he doesn't care what you guys watch. He actually liked it a lot, I think I even saw a tear near the end (I covered my eyes during the animal cruelty parts I can't handle that stuff) and afterward he looked me right in the eye and said we needed to go buy more vegetable plants and grow our own produce in the backyard. I was shocked. Shannon, do you think that girls care more than boys?
ReplyDeleteKarisa-food revolution was good, but it made me sad, because there are parents out there who want to feed their kids good nutritious food but they can't afford it so they fill them with junk and it becomes a learned behavior for the children (who end up being like 100 lbs overweight). Try to see if you can find footage of when Jaime does the chicken nuggets experiment with the kids, I'd like to know what you think.
I watched Food Inc with my guy the other night. He's conscious about these things - only buys vegetarian fed/cage free eggs, for example - but he doesn't find it as big of a problem in the US as I do... I really would like my parents to watch it however; they don't eat fast food, but they eat red meat almost nightly, frozen egg rolls, never organic, barely any greens....
ReplyDeleteGreat idea. I'm gonna warm him up with some beers first! Ha. Hope it works. The Netflix dvd has been sitting on our tv foreeeever and I think he's afraid to watch b/c it will depress him. How cool that your boy had such a reaction. And I do really think that girls care more than boys...sadly. At least in my circle. But it's hard to say!
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