Food, Inc. Review

The documentary Food Inc. was one of the best made and effective documentaries I’ve ever seen. I felt the way that they set up their points with clear categories and titles helped viewers to better understand the direction in which they were about to be taken. I felt that the directors and producers touched upon all topics that they could’ve… even some which I didn’t even expect (that corn is in practically everything).

I was shocked to learn that the food industry has so much control over what we eat. As they said in the documentary, I felt that by walking into the supermarket, I had lots of choices and variety in the food that I was buying. Surprisingly that is not the case. I had no clue that only a small handful of major companies play a role in the food business, and that they’re mainly parent companies to the others. By watching the film I felt almost stupid, and duped by the government into having us think that we’re getting high quality food at the stereotypical farms that we see in pictures.

I love food. When I saw Supersize Me I immediately craved chicken Mc Nuggets. But this film had me appalled. There were certain scenes where I felt like I had to put the film on pause, immediately stop watching, or fast forward to happier parts. We’ve all seen the film clips of workers treating animals badly at slaughterhouses and farms. But the news stations censor and cut off the parts which they deem too violent for the masses. Not Food Inc. I had no clue that chickens were stuffed into large coops and never see the sun. I didn’t know that farmers have formulated chickens to be twice as large and to be killed half as fast. I didn’t like seeing cows being kicked around and pushed as if they were soccer balls. I found it absolutely inhumane for them to be standing knee-high in their own feces. I mean, these are animals that we eat. It made me want to almost become a vegetarian… so that I wouldn’t be supporting these farms.

After watching the film, I feel like we the consumers actually do have more power over these companies than we think. If we sit here and think about it, if we started buying local and organic… then these companies would need to switch up their business motto and adjust. After all, companies who adjust, survive. Without the consumers, these companies would not have a job. The only problem is, getting the word out there so that we force these companies to make changes to their logic.

I don’t think that this documentary can scare people into immediately changing their eating habits. But I think that this documentary helps us to make little changes in the things that we buy at the supermarket. Maybe the next time I want to eat chicken, I won’t reach out and grab something from Tyson… I’ll elect to go to Wholefoods and buy from there. With the economy being as down as it is, it’ll be even harder for people to dig deeper into their pockets and pull out more money for organic and local goods.

One thing that resonates in my mind (beside the brutal treatment of the animals) was when the documentary focused on the eating habits of one family. They said that it was cheaper to go out and buy a hamburger than a head of broccoli. I’ve never put things into perspective in that way… and it’s true. It’s sad that we can buy more for unhealthy calories which are essentially salt and sugar than we can for the good ones- fruits and vegetables.

I would recommend this film to everyone I know. As people… and consumers of food, we’re all affected by these major corporations. It is truly sad that our own government is deliberately hiding these issues from us. I guess we’re considered to be the land of the free… only up to a certain point.