Food Inc, the Movie

Jo Hunter Adams

Food, inc. was recently playing at Kendall theatre.

My starting point: I've been a meat eating Market Basket shopper for quite a while (Market Basket is the super-cheap grocery shop here in Massachusetts), but our family also has a Community Supported Agriculture Share. It's tough to balance frugality and eating responsibly.

What Food Inc. showed me was that eating responsibly should take a higher priority than some of these other priorities (saving money, living simply). Why?
1) I am what I eat. Literally. Perhaps by empowering myself to know what I'm eating, I can make it less of a luxury in US society.
2) You vote every time you buy a product. You can change the system by choosing organic and/or respectfully produced food, by not eating processed foods, and by supporting local agriculture.

How do I eat responsibly?

For Eug and I, we're investing in small changes. We took the plunge and pay the extra dollar for free range eggs. We survived, and they're awesome. We're gradually rediscovering vegetables through our CSA. They taste great-- I was shocked by how different fresh garlic is. We finally ordered the Grass Fed beef at Wild Willy's And since the movie, we haven't been to our favourite butchery to stock up on meat.

I realize that there are real financial burden associated with certain choices. That said, the burden is at least partially caused by artificially low processed food prices-- prices that are incredibly low because of the scale and nature of much of the U.S. food industry. These artificially low prices are good for our budgets in the short term, but in the long term, they encourage entire communities to subsist on foods that are making them fat and tired.

Below are two links that may be helpful for some of you, brave readers.

Eat Well Guide

Eat Wild Massachusetts, has details on various farms in the area growing and raising great food.