What's eating me....

It's no secret that my brain and body harbor a little lot of anxiety. About creepy men hiding in the backseat of my car. About whether or not I remembered to unplug the hair straightener and if my house is going to go up in flames. About freak work place accidents happening to people I love. Except nobody that I love works in dangerous industries. (Although I think my Dad may wish he was part of the crew on The Deadliest Catch...) The last thing I needed to worry about was bacteria laden hamburgers and how my cheez-its are going to give me cancer. 

This anxiety is the reason I have, up until this point, resisted watching Robert Kenner's documentary "Food, Inc". I assumed that the film was going to disgust me and cause a full fledged hunger strike on my part, based in fear. I was wrong. 

"Food, Inc" is a documentary inspired by Michael Pollan's "The Omnivores Dilemma" and Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation". The documentary is billed as "exposing America's industrialized food system & it's effect on our health, environment, economy & workers rights" This description doesn't do it justice. The film is enthralling & enlightening, but not in a way that is belittling.  It is not a walking PETA advertisement, doesn't foster guilt about eating corn-fed beef or not eating locally or organically. I highly encourage everybody to watch it, especially if you feel skeptical about the slowly growing movement of eating locally/organically (it's on Netflix's direct instant stream!)

Let me share with you some of the more shocking things I learned about where exactly our food comes from:

- Cows are not designed to digest corn. However, we feed them corn anyway because corn is cheap, easy and makes cows VERY fat. And what happens when cows are forced to eat corn? Their stomach becomes a breeding ground for E. Coli bacteria.  To combat this? Logical answer- switch back to a grass diet, which kills E Coli in only FIVE days. Nope.  Meat plants are "washing" ground beef in ammonia and chlorine before packaging. Sounds delicious, right?And not foolproof- just ask Barbara Kowalcyk, whose 2 1/2 year old son DIED from E Coli he contracted from ground beef. And WHO has authority to shut down meat packing plants for selling tainted meat. Not the USDA. In fact, not anyone. Awesome. 

- Twenty years ago, there were thousands of slaughter houses producing the meat that we eat. Now? There are 13 gigantic, mass-produced slaughter houses. And these mass-produced cows are often left standing knee-deep in their own manure. And productivity does not allow time for washing them after they’ve been slaughtered. Add that to the fact that each single hamburger generally contains meat from over 100 cattle- and that’s a whole lot of grossness. 

-The majority of mass-produced chickens are raised in complete darkness. Their breasts are so large they can’t even walk- although, they wouldn’t be allowed to anyway. The antibiotics that keep them breathing and alive in these conditions- are in every. single. bite. of your sandwich. And these chicken farmers contracted to companies like Tyson are forced to invest up to $500,000 a year to keep up with their “standards” or risk losing contracts and generally see returns less than $20,000. 

-In 1972, the FDA conducted over 500,000 food safety inspections. In 2006- there were only 9,164. During the Bush Administration, the head of the FDA was the  former executive VP of the National Food Processors Association and the chief of staff of the USDA was the former chief lobbyist of the beef industry. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but that feels a little fishy to me. 

-70% of processed food contains genetically modified ingredients. And there are no regulations that require documentation of this. Whatever your position on genetic modifications, we should have the right to KNOW what we’re eating. Currently, the FDA is debating whether or not to label milk & meat that comes from cloned animals. Right now they don’t. It just makes sense to me that consumers should be able to choose whether or not they want to eat a cloned steak. 

The most telling, chilling aspect? The silence. Not ONE major company- Tyson, Perdue etc would even TALK to the creators of Food Inc. And over 50 of them were contacted. 

I know it is difficult & inconvenient to change our ways. Economically- eating locally, organically- it’s not always easy or even possible. However, my hope is seeing this film really makes you think. Even if your thought is "I still don't care". The most common thing I hear when I start talking about these issues is "Well, we ate like this and we all turned out fine". Not really true. 15, 20 years ago...you weren't eating genetically modified food. And local farmers were able to make honest, decent livings without being strong-armed or steam-rolled by giant corporations who care more about profit than safety & workers rights.(These same companies also have a history of hiring illegal immigrants because there is no one making sure that they are treated fairly- but that is another soap-box conversation for another day). And this statement is also dependent on your definition of "fine". A nation-wide obesity epidemic because of the availability and affordability of processed, junky food. Diabetes. Even (some claim) autism.E Coli outbreaks everywhere-in peanut butter, spinach- the list is endless.  Doesn't seem so fine to me.  And although the information I've provided here is clearly one-sided and biased, "Food Inc" tried really hard not to be. As much as was possible with zero compliance from major food processors. 

I can't afford to eat exclusively organically or locally. I wish I could. So what's my plan? Shop on the periphery of the grocery store, as the most processed and modified foods lie buried in center aisles. Make informed, educated choices about what I chose to eat & feed my daughter (organic doesn't always equal BETTER). Actually look at the ingredients of my food.  Learn what fruits and vegetables are in season in this part of the country and chose those over strawberries in January (that's going to be a tough one). Visit some local winter's farmers markets and see what is affordable for me, so I can support local farmers and foster my community's economy at the same time. Making cooking fresh meals more of a priority, over convenience (also tough). If we got rid of the apathy and more people cared about these issues...perhaps local agriculture and organic food companies would be able to be more affordable. Seems simple, right?

So instead of feeling scared or anxious after watching this film- I feel empowered. To make healthy, safe choices. To educate other people, urge them to just watch & form their own opinions. Talking about this movie with people I know has sparked great, exciting & interesting conversations all on its own. I know where my food comes from- and although I may not be happy about it- knowledge is power, right? Organics is the fastest growing food segment, growing 20% annually- and if you listen hard enough, ignore the abundance of tie-dye and peace signs (got to love stereotyping, right?), forget the political views you may not share, a lot of what these people are saying just makes sense.

A good friend of mine pointed out to me, as I was spewing the virtues of this film, that I probably care so much because I have more than just myself to worry about these days. And it is very true. Plus this girl?

She loves some organic blueberries, flash frozen & ready to eat in November :)