Food, Inc., the powerful, and slightly depressing, documentary about our modern food industry is out on DVD today. You can buy the movie from Amazon.com here. If you didn’t have a chance to catch this movie in theaters earlier this year, it is highly recommended.

The documentary touches upon many aspects of the modern, industrialized food system, whose quest for efficiency and economies of scale has led to cheap food for everyone. This, at a high cost to the environment, farmers, animals, and our health.

The first part of the movie examines meat and poultry “production” by taking the viewer to CAFO – concentrated animal feeding operation – basically a huge factory for building the biggest, fattest, animal in the shortest amount of time and with the cheapest feed possible.

The next segment focuses on corn and how this single crop, heavily subsidized by the US government,  has completely changed the food industry. This, mostly through using it as cheap feed for animals, and even cheap sweetener in the form of high fructose corn syrup.

The last part discusses food safety, or rather unsafety that is the result of the huge factory farm systems. A mother who lost her two year old son to e-coli, from a hamburger he ate when they were on a family vacation, is now crusading for improved safety standards. Unfortunately for her, she and the few congress-people on her side are facing a massive, well-funded food/ag lobby that likes things just as they are.

The movie is presented straight forward without the over-dramatizations of Michael Moore’s works, yet it is this lackluster narrative that drives the message home.

Some critics view the movie as a one-sided attack on the food industry that does not provide real alternatives to feeding a planet with 6 billion people. The producers stated that they invited all the large food manufacturers to share their views and participate in the movie, but that they had declined.

We’ll let you be the judge, but don’t base your decision on just one movie. Read more about the food you’re eating, how it got to your table, your supermarket, your country.

For us, one big question looms after learning the issues: Is there an inherent conflict between economies of scale and sustainable food production?

What to do at the supermarket:

You’ll certainly view the food you eat and buy differently after watching Food, Inc. While some people may take an extreme approach and revamp their entire pantry, most of us can make slower gradual changes in our eating habits.

Here are some of the changes the movie’s producers suggest:

Stop drinking sodas and other sweetened beverages. You can lose 25 lbs in a year by replacing one 20 oz soda a day with a no calorie beverage (preferably water).

Eat at home instead of eating out. Children consume almost twice (1.8 times) as many calories when eating food prepared outside the home.

Tell schools to stop selling sodas, junk food, and sports drinks. Over the last two decades, rates of obesity have tripled in children and adolescents aged 6 to 19 years.

Meatless Mondays—Go without meat one day a week.

Buy organic or sustainable food with little or no pesticides. According to the EPA, over 1 billion pounds of pesticides are used each year in the U.S.

Make a point to know where your food comes from—READ LABELS. The average meal travels 1500 miles from the farm to your dinner plate.

Remember that whatever small upgrades you choose, you’ll be affecting not only your health, but also impacting the environment, and all the people, animals, and crops along the food chain from farm to the fork.

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Last week we got a refreshing email from the Fruit Guys, who run a fresh fruit (and vegetable) delivery service in key metropolitan areas across the country. here’s their story:

The Fruit Guys is a green and sustainability-focused company that delivers farm-fresh, organic & conventional fruit to offices across the country. The FruitGuys recently launched their home delivery service, making it easy for everyone to access the best locally produced fruit. Each fruit crate delivered includes a delicious mix of bananas, oranges, apples and seasonal fruit. During peak season 70-90% of the fruit mixes offered are locally grown within the regions they serve (East Coast, Midwest, West Coast) and literally go from the farm to home or office within 3-4 days.

And in the San Francisco Bay area they do veggies too.

Would we want to try out a fresh crate?

Who could refuse.

We had the box shipped to faithful reader Zack S and his family, and here is what they said. Read more…

Image via Wikipedia

Ever since the term locavore was coined in 2005, there has been a lot of excitement around the prospect of people enjoying fresher, tastier foods, with less of an environmental impact because they travel less. We have come to appreciate farmers’ markets, contemplated food miles, and argued endlessly over what’s better: organic tomatoes or local tomatoes.

It was only a matter of time, then,  until the big food companies understood the potential of the term “local”. Once they caught on to the trend, they started using it in their own creative ways to market the same old products, but with a twist. A very enlightening article on this subject appeared in the New York Times:

Frito Lay is … kicking off a marketing campaign that is trying to position the nation’s best-selling brand of potato chips as local food.

Five different ads will highlight farmers who grow some of the two billion pounds of starchy chipping potatoes the Frito-Lay company uses each year. One is Steve Singleton, who tends 800 acres in Hastings, Fla.

“We grow potatoes in Florida, and Lays makes potato chips in Florida,” he says in the ad. “It’s a pretty good fit.”

For the entire article…

What you need to know:

Organic junk food is still junk food, and similarly, the fact that a manufacturer calls it’s products local does not contribute to your health.

The real meaning behind the local food movement is to promote small farms, enable people to eat in an ecologically responsible manner. This means eating food in its season and not shipping it halfway around the world. It means minimizing waste in petroleum, used both for gasoline and fertilizer. It means keeping the soil healthy so it can continue to provide crops fro decades and centuries to come.

And it means less processed food. it means smaller artisan manufacturers. Which is exactly the opposite of the American way of doing business in the past 100 years (bigger is better, no?).

Watching huge food corporations jumping on this bandwagon is like listening to a bad joke. Don’t get us wrong, there is definitely room for a bag of potato chips and some Dunkin’ Donuts here and there. But please don’t BS us about local…

What to do at the supermarket:

If you want local food, farmer’s markets are usually a good place to go. Some of  Whole Foods Market’s fresh products also state where they were produced, in many cases not too far. But for the most part, a supermarket is the antithesis of local. It could never have grown to offer 40,00o items uniformly and regularly otherwise.

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flickr photo: Jason Riedy

From the New York Times:

Misshapen fruit and vegetables won a reprieve on Wednesday from the European Union as it scrapped rules banning overly curved, extra knobbly or oddly shaped produce from supermarket shelves.

“It makes no sense to throw perfectly good products away, just because they are the ‘wrong’ shape.”

Read the article…

Remember the old adage “don’t judge the book by its cover”?  Similarly, people judge food with their eyes. Marketers and retailers get it. That’s why, at any given supermarket produce section, fruits and vegetables seem like soldiers standing at attention. They are stacked neatly one on top of the other, uniformly shaped, big, bright, and shiny. Perfect. Except, that is, for their flavor. This is because supermarket produce is bred for transportability, long shelf life, and of course, the eye-candy factor.

What to do at the supermarket:

For exceptional flavor, some people bypass the supermarket and head to the farmers market, where deformed, usually small fruit and vegetables await. Not always sightly, but one bite into an heirloom tomato is enough to convince folks that tomatoes were meant to taste like this.

For those of us who do prefer the convenience of the supermarket, check out the organic section. Although the produce may not appear as sexy, in many cases it packs a flavorful punch.

Lastly, choose produce in season. Tomatoes do not grow year round near your home. When you buy them in winter, they have been picked green and traveled many miles and many days to get to your plate.  Apples may have been picked months ago and chill stored until their time came to dress the shelf at your local A&P.

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The New York Times reports:

Supermarkets are beginning to compete with farm stands and farmers’ markets for a wider variety of fresh fruits and vegetables.

What this means:

More fresh choice for consumers, assuming the price difference is negligent. Local produce is sold closer to date of harvest, providing a fresher flavor for you.

What to look for at the supermarket:

If you haven’t been to a farmer’s market yet, go. It’s a great way to spend a weekend morning. Wherever you buy, learn to find the produce that tastes the best, not necessarily look shiny and perfect.