Food, Inc.

So, as this blog is devoted to our culinary delights, both homemade and found out and about, I felt I had to talk about the movie I watched today, Food, Inc. If you haven't seen it, please do. Not because it's amazing (which it is) but because it is essential. Ryan and I are your typical food consumers- we buy what we see in the store, and we trust that our food is safe, regulated by the FDA- but it's not. Exposing the corruption and deregulation, the mass industrialized production of food- and the dehumanizing work practices- I think we're going local, and I think I'm ready to make some long-lasting changes. Between what I've learned about climate change of late- and food production- I think it's time to make a commitment to long-standing sacrifice and change for sustainable eating.

1. I'm willing to eat meats less frequently, pay a little bit more when I do, and KNOW that the product is high quality, from a REAL farm and not a factory, and produced by workers who are treated with respect.

2. I'm willing to go local, and eat seasonally.

It's not gonna be easy. I like bananas. I LOVE tomatoes. But I think it might be time to admit that the winter tomatoes I get- from halfway around the world, grown in hothouses, not in soil, and ripened chemically. They never taste like a good ol' jersey tomato anyway.

3. Farmer's markets RULE.

So how come I don't shop them more often? I want to support the ma's and pa's, sustainable agriculture, and the local economy. And they are SO fun.

4. I haven't been feeling good lately about what I've been putting into my body.

Weight watchers? Lean cuisine? All these companies are marketing "healthy" food- but let's read the labels. It's all chemicals. Blech. I'm done with those! I want to make my "vote" count- and use my power as a customer to show the food industry the type of food I want!

See Food, Inc.