The Truth About Food, Inc.

As the movie, “Food, Inc.” makes its way to cities around the U.S., the blogosphere is all abuzz with posts about it – and this is a good thing because it is a film you need to see!

Check out this YouTube video with Robert Kenner, the filmmaker of Food, Inc., and Michael Pollan.  It’s amazingly powerful:

And if you haven’t heard this information before, take notes!  If you are like me and have heard it many times, you’ll want to cheer at how well it is said!  (I never get sick of listening to Michael Pollan.)

A few of the extra juicy excerpts:

• “We’re spending less on food than anyone in history, only about 9% of our income, cheaper than anyone else in the world.  So we’ve got lots of cheap and abundant food, but…it’s making us fat, we have this tremendous problem with obesity and Type II Diabetes, and as it turns out, cheap food has many many hidden costs.”
• “One of the most shocking things for me was when we went to one state legislative hearing and were discussing whether we should allow labeling of cloned meats.  I didn’t even know there were cloned meats.  The industry representative said she thought it was not in the consumers interest to have that on the label, and I realized that time and time again this kind of information is being kept from us.  Whether it’s GMOs or trans fats and on and on…  In our society, if we’re going to make good choices, it should be based on proper information.”
• “Right now we’re subsidizing the least healthy calories in the supermarket. The HFCS that comes from corn, the hydrogenated oils that comes from soy, the animal feed for the animal factories, this is what we subsidize.  We don’t subsidize the health food.  We don’t subsidize fresh produce, so we have to change the playing field so that the healthy food can compete with the less healthy food, and that is really a matter of changing the incentives built into our subsidies.”
• “People are very concerned about what they’re eating, there have been a number of food scares…  I think it’s going to be mothers who are feeding their children who will help change this system.”
• “We’ve had these episodes, beginning with Mad Cow Disease, various food safety problems.  Every one of these episodes is an opportunity to peer behind the curtain, and people see things they don’t like and they are moving for these alternatives.”
• “Hopefully this debate will lead to more public discussion and political involvement on what is absolutely the most important thing – our ability to feed ourselves everyday and stay healthy.”
• “The health care debate is going to drive the food debate, because you cannot address these health care costs without addressing the food system.  More than half of what we spend on healthcare, of that 2.5 trillion, is going to treat preventable, chronic diseases linked to diet.”

Watch the official Food, Inc. trailer:

Now here are some excerpts of when Michael Pollan was on the Oprah show:

• “A lot of the food in a supermarket is not really food and does not deserve to be dignified with that label.  It is an ‘edible food-like substance’.”
• “In other parts of the world there are populations eating a variety of different types of traditional diets who are not suffering from heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. It is not about counting grams of fat or carbs, or how much meat or fish you eat.  It’s about whole foods and minimally processed plants, animals and fungi that our grandmothers ate.”
• He mentioned a population (I missed from where?) that eats a diet made up of 70% fats but they have no heart disease or diabetes.
• “Avoid food products that a 3rd grader cannot pronounce.  It’s not real food.”
• “Only eat food that will eventually rot.”  Oprah asked, “But I thought everything rots?!”  He said he knows of these little cakes stuffed with cream, golden in color that come in cellophane bags.  “Two years after I got it, it was as soft and spongy as the day I bought it.  Food is alive and it should die.”
• “Do you want to pay now for groceries or pay for a doctor later?  When I was a kid, we spent 18% of our income on food and 5% on healthcare.  Now we spend 9% on food, and 17% on healthcare.”
• “The low-fat kick made everybody fatter!  People thought fat was the only thing that could make you fat.  So they took the fat out and put more sugar in.  A 99% fat-free yogurt has more calories than full fat because of the sugar.”
• “Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.  Fries, cakes, and other baked goods are kind of a pain.  Don’t deprive yourself of any pleasures, but earn them by making them at home.”
• Oprah asked, “What do you eat?!”  He replied (and made me squeal again), “I cook a lot, I eat real food, cooking is the only way to take back our diet from corporations who want to cook for us.  Corporations don’t cook that well, and they use too much salt and sugar.  It’s not that hard, a little more time, a little more thoughtfulness, a little more money.  I only buy pastured dairy, it has more beta carotene, omega 3’s, and other good stuff.  I buy from farmers I know. I am picky about the meat I eat, I won’t eat feedlot meat.  I eat grass-fed meat, it’s a very sustainable product.  When cows are fed corn they grow faster but they also get sick, because cattle were evolved to eat grass.  Eat meat that has itself eaten well.”  Oprah said, “You’re not worried about saying bad things about beef?”  She got a good laugh from that.  🙂
• Oprah:  “We need a food revolution.  Now people want corporations to cook for them because it all boils down to convenience.”  Michael Pollan:  “But if you know what it takes to make food that cheap, you lose your appetite.”
• Oprah:  “But what about those that say, ‘We can’t afford to eat healthier.” Pollan:  “It’s amazing that you can feed your family fast food cheaper than you can feed your family fresh produce.  It’s because of our Federal Agriculture subsidy programs!  We subsidize corn, soy, and wheat, but no fresh produce.  We can get 1250 calories from $1 of processed food, but only 250 calories from $1 in the produce aisle.  We’ve made it rational to eat badly.  We need to change way we support farmers and encourage them to grow real food.”
• Oprah:  “The consumer really is the biggest voice behind whether there will be real food or not.” Pollan: “This issue is very empowering, we get 3 votes a day.  You don’t have to get everyone of them right, but if you get one right a day, buying sustainable food or food that’s humanely grown, whatever is important to you, as long as you vote with consciousness, things will change.”  (Yahoo!  Let’s all jump up and give each other high-fives!)

More you might like:

• Michael Pollan books
• What if SEX was bad for you?
• More Food movies to motivate you!  If you’ve seen any, tell us what you thought!
• Trying to lose a few pounds? Check out these posts on dieting with REAL FOOD!