Devouring Films: Food, Inc.

I watched Food Inc as part of a continuing effort to just disgust myself out of eating meat, but also to make full use of my Netflix subscription now that I haven't cancelled it so am still paying for it because I'm lazy. Having said that, I think Twin Peaks is pretty much worth Netflix for however long I have it so... yeah, mainly just the first thing! Anyway, it didn't so much turn out to be an anti-meat film so much as an anti- all the foods we eat film which just piled masses of unwanted guilt on top of me, just when I was feeling good about not eating animals! Damn...

The most eye-opening thing I learnt from this film was that human beings are biologically predisposed to crave sugar, salt and fat; because these are foods that aren't really available in nature. So, obviously in the olden days, finding a bit of sugar or fat or anything in the wild was a real real treat and people were all over it, but then when it was gone, they went back to their berries and occasional animals and stuff. Only now, we have foods with sugar and salt and fat in them, and they're readily available all the time, and yeah, they taste great and eating them is really nice, but also they're kind of killing us. And I heard this, and I essentially went 'Oh FUCK!' and swore off all processed foods forever (not really. But still, very very bad!)

So yeah, there was that. And there was some documented chicken torture that was mildly alarming, but the most alarming part of that whole thing was that the farmer to whom the chickens belonged had become allergic to ALL antibiotics, because of her close proximity to all of the antibiotics given to the chicken. And here's the thing with that- if chickens are being pumped full of all the antibiotics there are, because the way they live is so disgusting that they'd just be fully diseased ridden if they didn't have them; then that means that antibiotics become less effective as viruses and whatnot mutate to defeat them. You know what that means? We will all be very ill, and probably die. This isn't the first time I've said this recently, but chicken is disgusting. Seriously.

Anyway, as I said, Food Inc's main aim isn't to stop people eating meat, but I think to just give us more information about what's on our plates, and, more importantly, what happened to it before it got there. So, we have information ranging from the heartbreaking (a mother whose child died from E-Coli poisoning from a burger) to the ethically horrible and also heartbreaking (the man who is being bankrupted by Monsanto for daring to suggest that farmers shouldn't, or don't have to use Monsanto's genetically modified soy beans) and essentially, you don't walk away from the film feeling good about anything you eat unless you basically grow everything you eat yourself. And if you do, I'm pretty sure I want to know you, because that is awesome! Having said that, I don't think this is a reason for anyone not to watch Food Inc- I think it's important to have all the facts about exactly what you're putting in your body, so you can make an informed decision about whether to keep putting it in there or not (double entendre totally intended. *snigger* But seriously.)

So, anyway, Food Inc is pretty much the perfect documentary to shock me, at least, into questioning my eating habits, because of my massive mistrust of giant corporations in general, and especially when it comes to what we eat. There's no incentive for them to treat their consumers well, and so they don't, unless not doing so is going to lose them money. Their bottom line is always their profits, and so what is best for the general population (let alone animals) doesn't even come into it. I think it's worth watching so that people can make informed choices at the supermarket, and really think about what they're eating.

This is probably my last food preaching for a while. Be thankful for that, until I can find something else to read or watch and then preach about! And just be thankful you don't live with me- There was a thing on the news the other day about the price of eggs rising because it costs more to treat the hens slightly better, and I was like 'GOOD! THEY SHOULD BE MORE EXPENSIVE' and my mum looked a bit scared. Ahem.