Food, Inc.
Food, Inc.
Director: Robert Kenner
Film website: http://www.takepart.com/foodinc
Images: google search
To open my mind I decided to watch a documentary per week, the first one was Food Inc. the idea of this documentary was to show the public the truth about the food industry, the truth that is being deliberately hidden from us. Over the past fifty years the industry has changed more than the previous ten thousand, but “the image of our food is still the image of Gregorian America”.
Learning about sustainability, I was taught that you must think about it as a pure solution, meaning it must be socially just, economically just as well as environmental. A product is not sustainable if it is cheap and doesn’t harm the planet, but those who make it are treated poorly or underpaid.
This documentary is broken into related chapters that discuss how this omission of truth is perpetuated throughout the food industry. First in Monopoly of Food you learn the basics of how the assembly line being integrated into the food industry, enabling them to grow and grow into a power, absolute power. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
One woman, Carol, works as a chicken farmer for Perdue. Even with open windows, it looks and feels like a concentration camp—thru the screen into my NYC apartment. The chickens are all bocking and running but nowhere to go. But there not running, the rapid growth of their breasts does not match with the normal rate of their bones and internal organs so they can only take a few steps before they collapse.
She talks about her own lack of control—the initial agreement with a company is an “initial investment” into t a chicken house, but then you have to pay for new equipment, upgrades and maintenance as said by the company or lose your contract so you just go deeper and deeper into a financial hole. She feels degraded, Perdue declined to do an interview for this film as many others and ended Carols contract when she refused to “upgrade” to windowless coops. I guess she didn’t want to degrade her chickens.
On the other hand we have Vince, a chicken farmer for Tyson. He comes on before Carol with sweet light country music in the background and more than a bit of hillbilly in his voice. He talks about how the chicken industry saved his neighborhood when the tobacco industry left and proudly shows off the coops of his and local farmers. But what gets me is where his heart is; ““if you could grow a chicken in 49 days why would you want one you gotta grow in three months—more money in your pocket. These chickens never see sunlight, they’re pretty much in the dark all the time”. On screen a message comes up
Vince had offered to show us inside his chicken houses. But after multiple visits by Tyson representatives, he changed his mind
Carol feels degraded, Vince is in the dark.
But it’s not just how the people are treated that is deplorable or how animals are treated beforehand that make them unsafe, it is also how they are processed after. CAFO short for Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation deals with both the before and after their death.
The true deplorable outcome is seen with the death of two-year-old Kevin Kowalcyk who died due to as explained to his parents Hemorrhagic E.Coli (you know Hemorrhagic, internal bleeding, like Hemorrhagic fever also known as Ebola) from eating a hamburger contaminated with E.Coli. His mother, Barb, in a meeting with her Colorado State Representative Diana DeGette, tells that while her son was already in the hospital when the plant that processed the hamburger was inspected, it took another 16 days after he died for it to be closed. That delay is inexcusable. Now, Barb is meeting with her representative in her fight for Kevin’s law which would give the USDA back the ability to close down plants that repeatedly failed inspection, a responsibility and job taken away from them when sued by Supreme Beef. In December 2001 the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that the Agriculture Department does not have the authority to shut down a meat-processing plant that repeatedly failed tests for salmonella contamination. This makes me question that USDA organic stamp of approval, and as Barb says
“we put faith in our government to protect us, and we are not being protected at a most basic level”
The Dollar Menu
I remember seeing this clip in school, and it’s a great additive to see things from a different perspective of understanding the situations of the poor; and a very, very hidden cost of food. Maria Andrea Gonzalez talks for –and she can go on for much longer. She feels guilty, now that she knows that the food is unhealthy for her children and her husband who is very sick and takes many, expensive, medications. But they work hard long hours and she would love to feed her children better. But they can get 5 hamburgers, 2 chicken sandwiches and 3 drinks for $11.48. The pears and broccoli are $0.99 and $1.29 per pound and it won’t feed them. Candy is cheaper, chips are cheaper soda is really cheap and when you only have a dollar to spend to feed your kids—you don’t want them to go hungry. They are not the only ones in their community that are facing these problems, and there’s is not the only community facing these problems. There are people in your community who deal with this too, you included. Maybe you just don’t know
What would you find if you calculated the cost of multiple fast foods, stomach cramps, diabetes, extra health insurance extra tests and so on and so on into your monthly budget of fast food? Would it really be cheap?
In the Grass
Faster fatter bigger cheaper is the mindset of the industrial food industry, not of what process makes healthy, good food. The decisions of what we eat and how what we eat is handled and created is no longer done by farmers, but of corporations that are far from seeing the ugly truth. You can get arrested and fined for taking a picture of a food processing plant, because they want you to be in the dark. If the process, as we saw with Vince from Tyson earlier in the film, was shown the companies know that people would not be happy. The live off omitting the truth, survive off it, profit off it.
You hear a lot about how illegal immigrants take your jobs; but how?
Eduardo Pena, a union organizer, shows how illegal workers of Smithfield Foods slaughterhouse in Tar Heel, North Carolina are taken in the middle of the night with an agreement with immigration to avoid slowing of production by only taking a few each night instead of a big raid. No one arrests anyone Smithfield managers,
“We want to pay the cheapest price for our food, we don’t understand that that comes at a price” these workers have been here for ten to fifteen years, processing your bacon packaging your ham and now they are getting picked up like they are criminals and these companies are making billions of dollars”
Hidden Costs
We dive more into the hidden or displaced costs of our “cheap food” with David Runyon asking the main question
“Is cheapness everything that there is? I mean are we willing to buy the cheapest car?”
He likes where he is, he makes enough to live and supplies the customers that he has, for him if more and more people come well then he’ll see. But he fears that once you “go for that growth” how you see your customers and products and market changes. But that’s for him, a ‘corporate organic’ food company, is not an oxymoron.
I cannot speak for Gary Hirshberg, the CEO of Stonyfield Farm.But starting from scratch, an idealistic background and working on bringing organic to the forefront and not only an option but a preferred option for consumers; to have Walmart knock on your door to hear how you do it and have you two work together so your product can grow more must be a top ten if not the highlight my career so far.
In addition, Tony Airoso, the Chief Dairy Purchaser of Walmart confirms the old thought and expression that the consumers do have the power of the dollar even with the biggest companies and monarchies. They’re going organic, having it as an option because with every scanned product the saw a trend in their customers wanting organic and when they know it’s what their customer’s wants, “it’s really easy to get behind it”
But on the road to change in every battle there are peaks and there are valleys and even if you know nothing about the food industry, going organic, equal rights, the rights of farmers, I’m sure you now the company Monstanto
From Seed to the Supermarket
Here we meet Moe Parr a Seed Cleaner and Troy VP American Corn Growers Association. Both tried to continue their careers, unrelated to Monstanto, but we’re sued anyway. Both gave in, Moe who had spent over 25,000 dollars before even stepping foot inside a court room and Troy who had spent 400,000 was going to have to spend at least another million to go to court settled because they just couldn’t afford it
Another, more famous case not with Monsanto but similar, was when Oprah was sued due to the Veggie (ironic) libel laws when she gave her opinion about not liking a burger by texas cattleman for loss of profit. After six years and nearly one million in litigation she won—but really, who other than Oprah can do that
The food industry fights and fights to not have food labeled as being for foreign countries, as containing GMOs, the calories, so much that we now label things organic. But really think, why should it be labeled organic. A carrot is a carrot unless it’s not, why can’t we assume that a carrot is a carrot. Why isn’t is the other way around?
The documentary ends a few more shocks, but mostly tips and hope for us and the food industry, with “This Land is your Land” playing in the background. Because we do have the power, every conscious buy tells the food industry what we want and if Walmart will change and see’s it profitable to change; then we can get them all to change.
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I haven’t seen this episode yet but oh my, it’s glorious
Snarkiest Lines
1. Season Two, Episode Ten: Christmas Party (Ryan)
“What line of work are you in, Bob?”
2. Season Three, Episode Eleven: Back from Vacation (Angela)
“Did you try the petting zoo?”
3. Season Three, Episode Twenty-Three: The Job (Stanley)
“The same as the ratio of unicorns to leprechauns.”
4. Season Two, Episode Six: The Fight (Pam)
“Could you practice on the forms?”
5. Season Six, Episode Three: The Promotion (Oscar)
“Where would Catholicism be without the Popes?”
6. Season Six, Episode Five: Mafia (Dwight)
"That’s why they call it Murder, not Muckduck”
7. Season Four, Episode One: Fun Run (Jim)
“One day Michael came in complaining about a speed bump on the highway. I wonder who he ran over then”.
8. Season Three, Episode One: Gay Witch Hunt (Stanley)
“I got them a toaster. They called off the wedding and gave the toaster back to me. I tried to return the toaster to the store, and they said they no longer sold that kind of toaster. So now my house has got two toasters”.
9. Season Five, Episode Four: Baby Shower (Dwight)
"Jan had the baby, and Michael wasn’t there to mark it. So the baby could be anybody’s. Except Michael’s”.
10. Season Two, Episode One: The Dundies (Pam)
“You know what they say about a car wreck, where it’s so awful you can’t look away? The Dundies are like a car wreck that, you wanna look away, but you have to stare at it because your boss is making you”
And some days--I can't handle it. Books are entries to other worlds, but sometimes the brain is just fried, and on those days I watch tv, just listen to music, or with recent trend, color.
To taking it easy!
Kevin Malone
Kevin’s Best Moment: Season Nine, Episode Fourteen: Vandalism When he stands up for Angela and Oscar to Senator Lipton. First, nicely thanking him for the food, then telling the Senator that he sucked, before complimenting him again on the food.
“You’re, like, a terrible person. These guys care about you, and you’re just using them.”
Kevin’s “Worst” Moment: Season Seven, Episode Nineteen: Garage Sale When he lets Darryl and Andy "play" him with his incomplete Dallas board game where they frustrate him by playing by whatever rules they want and he storms off. Only for us to see later that was all part of his plot to get the full $30 gamble.
Kevin’s Best Line: Season Six, Episode Five: Niagara Part 2. "The peeing is fast, Oscar. It's getting my tie back on."
Kevin’s Most Memorable Moment: Season Nine, Episode One: New Guys
Kevin runs over a turtle.
"Saves him" by gluing his shell back together with parts of his shell, part of a key chain, a spoon, bottle cap, yogurt lid, mini coffee creamer container.
Crushes him again by leaning on him with this knee.
Patches up the turtle again, mostly with a helmet.
Only to realize the turtle was probably dead the whole time.
The thing with telling “cliche” stories, but with representation, is… these stories aren’t cliche for us.
Picture this. The people at the table next to you have been getting chocolate cake as a dessert for YEARS. After every meal, they get a chocolate cake. Now, it’s been years, and the people at that table can barely stand chocolate anymore. They want maybe a cheesecake. Or lemon mousse.
But your table? Has NEVER had chocolate cake. Mousse is also good, but you are SO hungry for that chocolate cake, cause you never had it before, and it’s brand new for you, and you’ve been watching the other table eat it for YEARS.
That’s what’s like getting a “cliche” story that’s representative. Has it been done a million times before? Yes. Has it ever been done for US? Well… no. Maybe it’s the 500th chocolate cake in existence, but all the other chocolate cakes weren’t meant for us (girls/PoC/queer folk/disabled folk/etc)
So it being cliche is not a bad thing. You may not want chocolate cake anymore. But we want our slice too.
Practicality with Poise and Purpose
Libraries are becoming one of the only true public spaces in community, and not all communities have them. As we become more developed and cramped for space, parks are dwindling and most other places to explore and learn also cost money: museums, gallerys, etc. Libraries are also unique as they not only provide education access to books, movies, or night classes sometimes they also are public spaces that hold discussions and talks where those who are not as connected to the community or have a unique or newly peaked interest can explore and connect.
Growing up in a wealthier neighborhood, my local library expanded to introduce scientific talks with epidemiologists, chemists, pharmaceutical companies where these guest lectures would visit and speak, but then give us the ability to ask questions, and have discussion among ourselves. Overtime, similar topics brought similar people together and you got to meet those in your community that you became more attached to that you otherwise wouldn’t have known. Similar to more common library activities such as Mahjong, these events allowed that connectivity in diverse groups, with diverse ages and unique topics. It is important to remember that libraries as public spaces are not just for education or history knowledge, but future growth and exploration, discussion, a diverse community engagement and equality.
Instant “kids’Classics
Wall-E (2008)
I loved Wall-E, so so so much. It’s accurate portrayal of the future of planet Earth, the emotions Wall-E developed for work, the planet, it’s survival and mindset and of course for EVE. Most important to the story, that’s done in a way kids and adults can understand and see, is how Wall-Es development is all done by personal growth and kindness and effort. But this movie is overall for the benefits of kids, to see how automation can destroy them in the future both by not going out or connecting with others but also by relying too much on technology (that tries to keep the humans under their control).
Along with the overall notes to humans, I love that so much of this film has no words. The lack of words isn’t because Wall-E nor EVE speak a particular language other than robot either, but because a good portion of it is in solidarity or confusion there isn’t much we can understand by words—but we see their actions which show to be just as important as words, if not more
Up (2009)
Yo! Yoooooooooo, this film was a lot darker than expected. Forget the first few minutes of pure heartbreak, where the hell did this villain come from? I know Scar tries to kills Mufasa and Cruella De Vil captured people and pups for a coat, but still—this guy could have jumped out of the screen to get us—Ring style!
This was an instant classic for kids and adults, because it’s hysterical Carl and Russell are both funny on their own, but they also thrive together as two people who would have the same relationship regardless of their individual ages. Carl is trying to hold onto his youth and have some peace and Russell is trying to be an adult while also having an adventure. While they will usually have opposing ideas and views about things based on their own agendas they do have a similar mindset and will continue to be friends long after this adventure.
PS—Minions (2015), I love, love, love this film. It’s not particularly clever or emotional, just so funny. Even for the fact that the main food they like…is food that looks just like them—what?
Parts Unknown
Libraries are not just about books and education; sometimes a connection doesn’t come from a written word or common experience but the opening up of one’s experiences and becoming vulnerable. Libraries have all different mediums for these connections and sometimes the break in the sentence, flutter in the eye you experience directly adds to the depth of the spoken word that cannot be expressed by their writing. Diversity in writing, community and stories includes diversity of media.
Ugh; Anthony Bourdain’s Buenos Aires episode. I hope you can hear us all now, you did so much more than just shove food in your mouth.
Highlighting the significance of how the food is prepared to the culture and history and individual--it’s why the show wasn’t called something generically--food “Unknown”, but parts unknown.
Parts of diets we don’t know of, parts of the world we don’t know of, parts of ourselves we don’t know of.
Thank you, I miss you--> I’ve been missing you
The Prince of Egypt
I love a good “Fuck you” in a film, and for children—this one delivers.
This story of Moses was my first musical and had a soundtrack I was obsessed with and portrayed the important teachings of the story without the harshness and lack of forgiveness I expect from the Catholic Church. Along with the soundtrack, I remember the story to be about freedom, peace and the complications of doing the right thing
Living a couple blocks away from a church is the closest I am to religious, and I haven’t been in a religious building in years, but I remember the story to be about freedom, peace and the complications of doing the right thing and how opinions of what is right, can differ. Two brothers, one who didn’t know he was adopted, would still be expected have the same understanding in life but as seen more common in today’s world—family doesn’t always think or believe the same thing. Separating the aspect of power and God, a majority of the conflict is still an ability of Moses and Rameses to speak to each other and creating an understanding with each other.
For me the “Fuck you” of the film, as with many stories of racism and elitist beginnings, is how Moses comes to his success out of opposition to the actions of those in power both with how his birth mother sent him down the river and he became part of the King’s family, and in why he flees and returns to Egypt—trying to live a righteous life and have all people be equal.
This story is also a great portrayal of a mother’s love both with the mother who has to give their child up and with the mother who adopts another’s child as their own, both sacrificed so much for their son. Along with the soundtrack, also a shout out to the art department, I too remember the beauty of this whale shot.
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