Food.Inc
Since we arrived in Vancouver 4 weeks ago we have had lots of conversations with people about food. People in Vancouver appear, in general, to be more concerned about health and environmental issues. There are so many organic stores and yoga is huge!
Our housemates eat a mainly vegan diet, they avoid dairy, substituting cows milk for Almond milk. They eat a lot of raw fruit and vegetables and not very many carbs. So it's been interesting learning some of their recipes and the reasoning behind their diet.
When I was a teenager I became vegetarian for 6 years. This was in protest of how animals were being transported. But I have to admit since then I have become very apathetic about where my food comes from, only trying to, when I can, buy locally sourced food in order to cut down on air miles and eat fresher, in season veg.
So one of my goals in this area is to increase my awareness of what I am eating and where it has come from. As step number one I decided to watch this film (Film.Inc) and it was shocking!
First of all it took at look at where our meat comes from - huge industrialised farms, where hundred of thousands of animals are slaughtered each day. These places are disgusting both for the animals and the workers. The animals up to their knees in their own manure, which causes infection, for the animals and the workers, and is also in danger of spreading bacteria to the meat. In addition there have been very few checks on health and safety in these plants by the authorities in recent years. When you buy a pack of mince it could include meat from possibly a thousand different cows which again increases the chance of infection.
Chickens have been genetically engineered so they grow faster and bigger breasts, at a rate that their organs cannot always keep up with. The companies are forcing farmers to constantly buy new machinery and create 'better' more efficient, but inhumane living conditions for the animals.
The documentary then moved on to the corn industry. I had never realised how much corn is used for. It is in most products on the supermarket shelf in some engineered form. I have always wondered why it is cheaper to buy a ready-made meal or crisps/fizzy drinks than vegetables or fruit and it's because the corn industry is so heavily subsidised in the U.S. And of course the CEO's of several of the biggest food companies in the U.S. have government posts so that's not going to change. In this way the U.S. government have created this epidemic of obesity and are giving poor Americans little choice in what kind of food they provide for their families.
Another thing that I found out is that cows have been 'taught' to eat corn because it is so cheap. Of course a cows stomach is not supposed to digest corn so on this diet their stomachs are producing bacteria (e-coli) which is why there have been increased number of cases of food poisoning. This problem could be partially solved by allowing ths cows to eat grass for 5 days and this then reduces the amount bacteria in the gut again. But instead the plants are spraying everything in Immonia!
I was also terrified to find out how few companies actually produce and control the food we eat. In particular that one company,Monsanto, owns the patent on soybean seeds. Farmers that have allegedly been growing their seed or are carrying out the traditional practise of stripping seed and saving it for the next harvest, are being sued. So small farmers are being put out of business.
These companies have so much power. Even if you buy organic now, you can't escape putting money in the pockets of the global giants.
Below is a link to an article which gives a good summary of Food.Inc and the key points it addresses, in case you want to find out more.
Food.Inc article
Basically this documentary confirmed for me the importance of being aware of where you are buying your food from and supporting local farmers by buying from farmers markets. if people refuse to buy anything other than organic, the big corporations will be forced to listen to the consumer. The ideal, obviously, would be to go back to each community providing for themselves, but in the meantime....
Since we arrived in Vancouver 4 weeks ago we have had lots of conversations with people about food. People in Vancouver appear, in general, to be more concerned about health and environmental issues. There are so many organic stores and yoga is huge!
Our housemates eat a mainly vegan diet, they avoid dairy, substituting cows milk for Almond milk. They eat a lot of raw fruit and vegetables and not very many carbs. So it's been interesting learning some of their recipes and the reasoning behind their diet.
When I was a teenager I became vegetarian for 6 years. This was in protest of how animals were being transported. But I have to admit since then I have become very apathetic about where my food comes from, only trying to, when I can, buy locally sourced food in order to cut down on air miles and eat fresher, in season veg.
So one of my goals in this area is to increase my awareness of what I am eating and where it has come from. As step number one I decided to watch this film (Film.Inc) and it was shocking!
First of all it took at look at where our meat comes from - huge industrialised farms, where hundred of thousands of animals are slaughtered each day. These places are disgusting both for the animals and the workers. The animals up to their knees in their own manure, which causes infection, for the animals and the workers, and is also in danger of spreading bacteria to the meat. In addition there have been very few checks on health and safety in these plants by the authorities in recent years. When you buy a pack of mince it could include meat from possibly a thousand different cows which again increases the chance of infection.
Chickens have been genetically engineered so they grow faster and bigger breasts, at a rate that their organs cannot always keep up with. The companies are forcing farmers to constantly buy new machinery and create 'better' more efficient, but inhumane living conditions for the animals.
The documentary then moved on to the corn industry. I had never realised how much corn is used for. It is in most products on the supermarket shelf in some engineered form. I have always wondered why it is cheaper to buy a ready-made meal or crisps/fizzy drinks than vegetables or fruit and it's because the corn industry is so heavily subsidised in the U.S. And of course the CEO's of several of the biggest food companies in the U.S. have government posts so that's not going to change. In this way the U.S. government have created this epidemic of obesity and are giving poor Americans little choice in what kind of food they provide for their families.
Another thing that I found out is that cows have been 'taught' to eat corn because it is so cheap. Of course a cows stomach is not supposed to digest corn so on this diet their stomachs are producing bacteria (e-coli) which is why there have been increased number of cases of food poisoning. This problem could be partially solved by allowing ths cows to eat grass for 5 days and this then reduces the amount bacteria in the gut again. But instead the plants are spraying everything in Immonia!
I was also terrified to find out how few companies actually produce and control the food we eat. In particular that one company,Monsanto, owns the patent on soybean seeds. Farmers that have allegedly been growing their seed or are carrying out the traditional practise of stripping seed and saving it for the next harvest, are being sued. So small farmers are being put out of business.
Below is a link to an article which gives a good summary of Food.Inc and the key points it addresses, in case you want to find out more.
Food.Inc article
Basically this documentary confirmed for me the importance of being aware of where you are buying your food from and supporting local farmers by buying from farmers markets. if people refuse to buy anything other than organic, the big corporations will be forced to listen to the consumer. The ideal, obviously, would be to go back to each community providing for themselves, but in the meantime....
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