You Are What You Eat

On Monday I finally watched Food, Inc. I say finally because I have known about it for a couple years and have been interested in watching it. The topic of the movie is definitely not something I am ignorant of. In fact, I think I know more about it than most. So the facts presented in the  movie were not surprising to me. It was being able to put a face to the problem. Seeing the farmers, the animals, and the families. That was how the movie impacted me.

I grew up in a cornfield. Literally. My childhood home was bordered on three sides by a cornfield. On one side was out road and on the other side of the road was another field (which rotated between corn and soybeans). I know farmers. I am from a farming family. To see how they are being manipulated by Monsanto made me angry. To see how these families are forced to defend their business and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal fees just to defend themselves made me incredibly sad. To know that upwards of 80% of the corn harvested in the United States is genetically modified (and as studies suggest, not all that safe for humans) made me sick.

To see how the big companies force poultry, beef, and pork farmers to treat their animals. To see what they put in to them. It made me sad. I'm not an animal lover by nature. But to make them suffer all because of our more for less mentality is wrong. What's funny is, we aren't really getting more for less. Sure, we're getting more in a quantitative sense, but we're getting much less in a qualitative sense and when it comes to food, quality IS more important than quantity.

These are just a couple of the thoughts I have had as a result of the movie. Fortunately, we have already been moving in the direction of better and more sustainable food. We shop locally when possible and frequent the Farmer's Markets during the 6 months of the year that they are open. I read labels and try to stay away from most things with unnatural ingredients most of the time. We buy milk from a local company that only uses raw milk from cows not given hormones. This year I am planting a garden and we are discussing splitting a grass fed cow with my husband's brother's family. I am considering planting a peach tree this month, which should bear fruit in just a year or two. I'm hopeful that this movement will catch on and more people will begin to think more about the quality of their food. I'm also hopeful that policymakers will begin to be more aware of the importance of this issue and structure policy to incentivize sustainable farming instead of how things are structured now. I supposed only time will tell, but it you want to learn more I would suggest checking out Food, Inc. and many other the other documentaries and books on this subject.