Photo credit: mactabbie from morguefile.com
You've probably noticed that I'm getting crunchier. Eating locally. (Well, trying to. Not easy in February. In Iowa. But I did forgo those bananas on Thursday when I did my weekly shop, so that's gotta count for something...) Composting. Gardening. (Thinking about gardening, anyway. Still February. Still Iowa.) Raising chickens. Taking the pledge. Making my own yogurt, even. (Had to get that last one in there...we're almost ready to make Batch #2.) We're making progress, crunch-wise.
Last night, our little family sat down for an educational movie night. (Those of you who know me well should catch the significance of this event: I've probably managed to sit through 3 feature-length films in the past 10 years. They don't call me ADD-Girl for nothing...) The feature? Food, Inc, the eye-opening documentary from Robert Kenner. There's a conspiracy theorist in our house, and people, it ain't me. I'm usually the one grasping at straws, Pollyanna-ing on about how probably the Twin Towers were structurally unsound to begin with, and maybe Lee Harvey Oswald was just cleaning his gun....but this flick had me ready to swear off processed foods altogether. I was gratified to have ordered the seeds for our garden-to-be, and fired up to build that chicken ark once and for all.
I'm pretty squeamish, but the carnage and filth didn't get to me. I believe animals should be treated humanely, but I'm not naive enough to expect that they will. It was the footage of 2-year-old Kevin Kowalcyk, who died after eating E. coli tainted beef, that did me in. Kevin's mother, Barbara, shares her struggle to reinstate Kevin's Law, which would give the USDA power to shut down plants that repeatedly produce meat contaminated with E. coli or other deadly pathogens. I'm not getting why this is a struggle. It's distressing to think how "bought and paid for" the food industry is.
Right. Hopping off my (borrowed) soapbox now...the point of this post would be simply that the Hubs and I are in agreement that we'll be cutting (further) back on processed foods. We'll be making more of an effort to feed ourselves locally. We're placing an order for kosher grass-fed beef today. And of course, we hope to rely on the bounty of our impending urban homestead to fortify our family. Stay tuned...
I think ignorance is bliss...it's a lot easier to make your way through life that way.
ReplyDelete/sarcasm
Seriously though, I think there are a lot of good issues raised by the film (I haven't seen it yet, just the press kit and the reviews pro and con) and there's no excuse for repeatedly allowing contaminated plants off the hook.
Forgot to add - give the conspiracy theorist a big hug and hello for me.
ReplyDeleteyou really are going crazy!!!
ReplyDeleteWish my hub, who viewed the film, would figure it out. He still loves those coupons and sales- for whatever they may be. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteAnd the GMOs. Oh that is something else he viewed, and nary made a dent in changing his opinion on what we buy and consume. Sigh.
And my son? He who asks when I tell him to eat a piece of fruit before a cookie, "It's always nutrition with you. No one cares but you". Great.