Food, Inc.

When I was in college I read Fast Food Nation for my political science class and I became a vegetarian immediately after finishing the last pages of the book. I wrote at least three term papers on the deceitful nature of the fast food industry and its negative impacts on children. My altered diet lasted only one year, and the Peta stickers faded off my car, but the loathing of all things fast food seemed to burn into my brain. I do love fast food though- it tastes great-but I hate the way the big companies brainwash people into believing certain things are healthy, or even edible!

Tony Bordain wrote Kitchen Confidential giving a clear view into the underbelly of NYC's culinary industry and Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation did the same for the fast food industry. After reading that book you'll think twice about fast food. Not only will it shock and disgust you but the history of fast food is charming one that eventually turned rancid. Fast Food Nation was made into a movie that Hollywood ruined with cheesy characters and a love interest. It should have been a documentary. Michael Moore would have been great at that.

Writer Eric Schlosser must have been disappointed in the movie too since he's been working collaboratively on another film: Food, Inc.

"Filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that's been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of e coli--the harmful bacteria that cause illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield Farms' Gary Hirschberg and
Polyface Farms' Joe Salatin, "Food, Inc." reveals surprising--and often shocking truths--about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here. "

Care to read the book before you see the movie?

Food, Inc. opens in LA and NYC on June 12. For tickets visit MovieTickets.com.

Just from watching the trailer I'm convinced. I'll be making some serious changes at the grocery store. And I hope this movie changes the way other people shop for food. We do have the power to change the large companies; each item we buy at the store is a vote. What will you vote for?

Food is Love,
Hilary