« Storytime in the Park, Part 3 | Main | Want to Balance Out Pinkalicious, Purplicious, Goldilicious, and Whatever Colorilicious Is Next in Your Library Collection? »
July 23, 2009
The Future of Omnivore’s Dilemma Inc.
A few years ago, I watched The Future of Food. It’s a documentary about genetically modified foods, one of those films that made me cry and want to hide out in the closet until someone made Monsanto go away.
The newly-released film Food, Inc. covers the same general subject matter, expanding its focus to include the evils of all industrialized farming, but it didn’t have the same emotional impact for me. I puzzled over why until I realized that the reason wasn’t the film so much as my own self. Three years ago, I hadn’t heard of Michael Pollen. I hadn’t read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Tammy and I hadn’t gotten this crazy idea to start canning. The Future of Food pushed me down a road that’s—gasp!—changed my behavior. It’s not too often a movie (or a book or even threats from various interested parties) can do this, so I guess it would be hard for Food, Inc. to compete.
So while the information in Food, Inc. was not new to me, the movie was still worth watching, mostly because of the interviews. Farmer Joel Saltin is highly entertaining, activist Barbara Kowalcyk is brave, and the founder of Stonyfield Farm made me glad I buy Stonyfield yogurt. As Mark Bittman noted in his talk at the Dryden last week (oh yeah baby, I saw the man IN PERSON), the film packages a lot of information a lot of us already know in a format that has a hope of reaching a wider audience. Matter o’ fact, if you can find one of these wider audience members and drag them to Food, Inc. with you, you can live vicariously through their shock and outrage and remember back to the day when you, too, were not afraid of food that comes in a box. If you aren’t ready to deal with what’s in that box of crackers yet, though, I’d recommend going to see Up or maybe that new Harry Potter movie everyone’s talking about (and NO I still haven’t seen it).
Book mentioned:
Kingsolver, Barbara. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2007. (HC: 9780060852559, PB: 9780060852566)
Posted by adrienne at July 23, 2009 12:48 AM
Comments
It was good to see a group of doctors recently called for a halt to GM food until long term studies for safety have been done.They pointed out various diseases they believe are caused by GM foods.Our current administration has a Monsanto rep.Its like,get out Monsanto! No one in the wotld likes you.Eat your own crappy crops!
Posted by: momster at July 22, 2009 07:54 PM
Last May the American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) called on "Physicians to educate their patients, the medical community, and the public to avoid GM (genetically modified) foods when possible and provide educational materials concerning GM foods and health risks." They called for a moratorium on GM foods, long-term independent studies, and labeling.
AAEM's position paper stated, "Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with GM food," including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system. They conclude, "There is more than a casual association between GM foods and adverse health effects. There is causation," as defined by recognized scientific criteria. "The strength of association and consistency between
Posted by: momster/this is actually what I read :-0 at July 22, 2009 08:17 PM
Adding these to my looooong list of movies to see when we get back to the US. Haven't seen either one. And I am bad with not having food awareness. Bad. So I am sure this will help. Thanks!
Posted by: Cheryl at July 23, 2009 08:05 AM
Momster, Genetically modified anything is just kind of creepy. It seems like a thing that could very easily get out of control, or so all the sci fi writers keep saying.
Cheryl, I suppose it will be kind of overwhelming coming back, eh? But cool. It seems like you've had such good experiences where you are; I love reading about them on your blog.
Posted by: adrienne at July 23, 2009 03:18 PM
OhIWantToSeeThat!
And I just added The Future of Food to our queueueueueue.
Posted by: Jules at July 23, 2009 06:39 PM
Incidentally, Jules, do you know how long your queue has to be before they stop letting you add titles? Because I do. I really need to watch some movies in my queue.
Posted by: adrienne at July 23, 2009 10:12 PM
Good question. I have no idea. I bet they let you keep going and going and going and going...
Posted by: Jules at July 24, 2009 09:43 AM
I was googling for large wiggly eyes & found this site- funny, as I have just written an 'eco-fiction' children's book that touches on this topic! And I am going to see Food Inc today. I've seen monsanto horror shorts on youtube- and they made me cry. It is unbelievable. Hence the book. I was speaking with someone the other day on the possible link of GMOs and the huge increase in children with severe allergic reactions. Ya think? Anyways, I have a costume for one of the book's characters & I need the biggest googly eyes that exist & your link isn't up anymore. Where did you get them? Ideally I need 60 mm but will settle for 40's. Thanks, Charlotte
Posted by: charlotte purein at July 27, 2009 11:54 AM
Charlotte, The largest ones I know of are the 25mm ones available from Oriental Trading. I'm not sure where to get ones larger than that, although if you find them, I'd love to know.
Posted by: adrienne at July 27, 2009 11:58 AM
It doesn't look like it's coming out over here, more's the pity - I work on food & environment issues so we could have had a work outing :)
Half an hour ago I harvested my first ever potatoes (just a handful, but lovely blue skins on this heirloom!) and am absurdly excited.
Posted by: emmaco at July 28, 2009 01:16 PM