Food, Inc. is Coming to PBS!

Gather your family and friends. Set your DVR. Mark your calendars: August 9, 2011. That's the day Food, Inc. will be airing on PBS for everyone to see das part of their POV listings.

What is POV on PBS?

POV, or "Point of View" is PBS' way of supporting independent films and programming for the public audience.  Their tagline is "Documentaries with a point of view." They air new independent documentaries on Tuesdays throughout the summer and the fall (the Food, Inc. presentation is actually a repeat for POV, who first aired it in April 2010). The schedule may differ depending on your local PBS station, but for me the new films air at 10pm and usually re-sir on the following Thursday at 2:30am (this is where the DVR comes in very handy!). I high recommend checking out the POV website for your local listing, or, if you do not have access to PBS, merely for a chance to see some of th fantastic documentaries that are out there to be seen.

What is Food, Inc.?

In case you have missed the litany of posts that I have already written with some reference to this film, or you missed its Oscar nomination, then at least know this - the issues raised in Food, Inc., the people who made the film, are in the film and those who continue to fight the good fight for the issues in that film are the ones who largely inspire all that I write about here on the Searching for Sustenance blog.

The POV site give a nice synopsis of the film along with a trailer, and Food, Inc.'s official website is a fantastic place to go for information on the film and resources about joining the food movement.

Why You Should Watch Food, Inc. (again)

If you have never seen this film, then it is time to do so. While things are changing every single day, sadly not that much has changed in our food industry since the creation of this film. It is time to lift the veil and see what's going on. It is one thing to read about the food industry (which is how I began this search), and something completely new and different to SEE it.

If you've already seen this film and you are wondering why you should bother to tune in to POV in a couple of weeks, well I've got two reasons for you:

1. Notes on Milk ~ Apparently POV will be airing Food, Inc. along with a short film about milk. I'm curious! I've never seen it before, so why not tune in?
2. SHARE THIS FILM ~ Take this opportunity to share Food, Inc. with someone you wish to enlighten. Perhaps do dinner and a movie: plan and prepare a simple dinner created with great finds at the week's farmers' market, from the organic selection at your local store, or better yet, grown from your own land! Then watch the movie and discuss (the Food, Inc. Discussion Guide for teachers has some great questions you may want to adapt for a small group viewing!).

There are lots of documentaries out there about food in the United States and in the world. They each have their own point of view and relevance to our discussion. Perhaps Food, Inc. holds such a prominent place in my opinion of these films because it was among the first that I saw. However, I believe it is something a bit more than that: Food, Inc. is one of the most comprehensive food films I have seen. It gives a great view of the "big picture" - from a consumer's standpoint, a farmer's standpoint, from the perspective of animal welfare and human health, the politics and business involved and the activism that we can embrace to help to make change. I consider Food, Inc. to be Food Movement 101 - a prerequisite to all "courses" (films, books, articles, etc...) that come later, so go set your foundation to make a greater change and watch the film!

Related Posts

• Baby Steps Toward a Solution (post after my first-ever viewing of Food, Inc.)
  
• The Food Inc. Discussion Guide for Teachers
• 5 Movies to Nurture Your Eating Conscience

The Food Inc. Discussion Guide for Teachers

You've seen Food Inc. The message was crystal clear to you and so important. You want others to see it. You want others to think about it. You want others to learn from it. Well, you are not alone - the people at Food, Inc. agree wholeheartedly with you and, with that in mind, they partnered up with The Center for Ecoliteracy and Participant Media to design a discussion guide to use alongside the film in classrooms around the country and world.

Click the image to download.

I received an e-mail about this guide this afternoon and as soon as I downloaded the the guide and started reading it, I knew I hit educational resource gold! The guide is separated into nine chapters, each to go along with a segment of the film. Each chapter has a focus question that the discussion for that lesson surrounds, multiple discussion questions, an activity and a reflection. The educational philosophy of this guide is to use the Socratic method - one that teaches through questioning. It is a fabulous technique, especially for such thought-provoking and discussion building topics such as food and its industry.

Here is a list of the nine chapters, with the corresponding film clip length and the focus question for that lesson to give you a little taste of all of the rich discussion material provided in this guide:

1 FAST FOOD TO ALL FOOD (running time of corresponding film segment 12:52)
Focus Question: Do animals have the right to a certain quality of life?

2 A CORNUCOPIA OF CHOICES (running time of corresponding film segment 7:54)
Focus Question: Do people have the right to know what is in their food?

3 UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES (running time of corresponding film segment 13:56)
Focus Question: Who is responsible for keeping our food safe?

4 THE DOLLAR MENU (running time of corresponding film segment 5:12)
Focus Question: Should access to healthy food be a right for everyone?

5 IN THE GRASS (running time of corresponding film segment 13:44)
Focus Question: When deciding what to eat, how much should we consider the workers who pick, process, and transport it?

6 HIDDEN COSTS (running time of corresponding film segment 8:00)
Focus Question: Does it matter to you which food companies produce your food?

7 FROM SEED TO THE SUPERMARKET (running time of corresponding film segment 10:07)
Focus Question: Should companies be able to own the DNA contained in plant seeds?

8 THE VEIL (running time of corresponding film segment 7:59)
Focus Question: Should a company have the power to decide what information to give consumers about the food it produces?

9 SHOCKS TO THE SYSTEM (running time of corresponding film segment 7:07)
Focus Question: What individual or collective actions are you willing to take to improve our food system, and what would be their impact?

 Writing as a teacher in this moment, I can tell you that one of the fantastic things about the design of this guide is the flexibility of it. Each chapter is a lesson in and of itself - there is nothing saying that these nine chapters must be done in order, or that they even have to all be done if your schedule/curriculum does not allow. After reading this all the way through I can imagine it in so many different realizations - a two-week unit, a long-term class project (Food Fridays for nine - ten weeks), or even an after school activity for an environmentalist group! There is nothing more powerful to students than activities that a re RELEVANT - how much more relevant can you get than what they are eating every single day?!

I know of many teachers that love  to teach using the film Fast Food Nation, I also know that many of my students were getting kind of sick of "the McDonald's movie" because they had seen it so many times! This is why I really like this guide: 1. it is something different, and 2. it takes the time to truly focus on the issues raised in the film in a way that is so much more powerful than watching the movie, beginning to to end and then having a discussion about it!

So here it goes:

TEACHERS DOWNLOAD THIS GUIDE NOW - IT IS FREE!!

PARENTS! I KNOW SPRING TIME PARENT-TEACHER MEETINGS ARE COMING UP!!

Download this guide and give it to one of your kid's teachers that you think would appreciate it!

STUDENTS! 

 Download this guide and bring it to a teacher that you think will respond to a request to teach more about food (even if they can't fit it in this semester, think of what a great thing you are doing for the students who come after you!)

EVERYONE ELSE!  

I haven't forgotten about you!! Check out those focus questions!! Intrigued?! Well, have you ever been to a book club meeting where people sit down and discuss a books major points together? Why not download this guide and set up a Food Inc. Club to discuss this movie with a group of food-conscious friends who then can decide, together, what kind of actions you can take for food!

...I think I made my point.

Enjoy the guide. Enjoy the film. Enjoy the discussion. Enjoy your food!


Here's my reaction after The First Time I Watched Food Inc.

Which focus question/chapter do you think is the most important one to discuss? Why?

5 Movies to Nurture Your Eating Conscience

Being a conscious eater may translate, for some individuals, into a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, for others it may mean buying less processed foods, or buying more organic foods, but whatever it ultimately translates to on your plate, it all begins the same way - someone starts thinking about food. If you've begun thinking about food, or are looking for reasons why you should be thinking about your food, here are five films you should watch that will nurture the conscious eater in you.

Food, Inc.
No conscious eater has missed this one. It received a lot of press coverage when it was nominated for an Academy Award, so most people, even if they have not yet seen it, have at least heard of it. The tag line on the official movie website is "Hungry for Change?" The fact of the matter is, you will be by the time you finish watching this movie. Here is the trailer for the film so you can see for yourself

Food Matters
Where Food, Inc. focused mostly on the food industry and the impact it has on our diets and culture, Food Matters comes back to looking at the actual food and its affects on our health. The film begins with a quote from Hippocrates that pretty much sets the stage, "Let food be thy medicine." While the message seems to be pro-Raw diet, which I am not 100% sold on (see my post on Vegetables: Raw or Cooked?), the discussions of the nutrient deficiencies in our diets, the lack of nutritional education for most medical students and the cancer studies were all equally fascinating. The official website of this film is packed with all kinds of resources and communities, so if you are intrigued by what you find in Food Matters, there is plenty of stuff to keep your curiosity satiated. Here's the trailer for you to check out:


Tapped
Do you drink bottled water? Do you think it is better for you than tap water? Do you think it is different than tap water? If so, here is a film to get you to start reevaluating some of your choices. I was first awakened to the true horrors of the water industry when I watched Blue Gold: World Water Wars last Spring (see my post here), but Tapped managed to take that global perspective and make it incredibly personal for me. Their official site is also jam packed full of information from the movie and beyond. This is a must-see film for anyone who carries a bottle of water with them. Cue the trailer!


King Corn
Two guys, friends in college, decide that, upon graduation they will move from Boston out to Iowa to farm an acre of corn crops. Why? Well, they found out that an inordinately large proportion of their bodily make-up was from corn! If you have read The Omnivore's Dilemma or been exposed to Michael Pollan in any way - other writings, interviews, etc, than this news is not terribly earth shattering, most of us in America would find the same thing. However, these gentlemen decided to explore it further - grow corn and follow it to see where it goes and what it becomes. This was a fun movie to watch with a serious message. Do they have an official website? Of course! Who doesn't - check out the King Corn official website, then check out the trailer:


No Impact Man 
An author and activist in New York City was thinking about what his next project should be, when he came up with a year-long endeavor for his entire family to undertake. This family of three went through an entire year, still living in the city, producing no waste, turning off their electricity, using bike and scooters, taking stairs instead of elevators, buying no new products and everything else in their power to make NO ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT on the world around them. This was a family that lived on food in packages before the project and then began to make use of the farmer's market, growing their own and eating in season. This is a compelling project that was documented on the No Impact Man blog and in a book No Impact Man: The Adventures of a Guilty Liberal Who Attempts to Save the Planet, and the Discoveries He Makes About Himself and Our Way of Life in the Process (holy moley! That is a LONG title!!). Take a sneak peek at the whole deal with this trailer:



There they are - five films to make you think. There are more, and there are books, too, but for today, we will stop with this early primer. By the way, if you have Netflix, then you are in super-luck, because ALL FIVE of these movies are availble for instant streaming (I just checked), so you can start watching them right now! Enjoy the movies, come back and let us know what you think and whether or not you feel these films have nurtured the conscious eater in you!

Remembering that Animals Aren't Human

If you watch enough Disney animated films and live with pets that are, inarguably, a part of your family, then you are probably a lot like me, suffering from a major case of anthropomorphism. Anthropomorphism is the term given to the act of giving human attributes and/or characteristics to animals (or any non-human entities such as plants, deities, etc.). I know I can't help it, I truly believe at times that my dog is being spiteful, or that the hungry birds outside are actually happy when I put out extra seed on my windowsill. 


I grew up adoring The Muppets (furry creatures that walked, talked, sang and did everything I did), and while I visited zoos and farms, and have lived right next to a nature preserve, in all my observation of animals in the wild, or in their natural habitat I would say that those times could probably be described as pseudo-wild, at best. The "wild" animals that I have learned about in my environment are those who have adapted to the herd of cars, have traversed asphalt to gain access to their major food sources: the discarded scraps of their human neighbors. They live with us, they live near us and live off of us... why wouldn't I begin to think that they live like us?


I am playing my role a bit too obtusely, because I know, in my heart of hearts that this is not exactly true and, to be honest, the more and more that I continue my search for sustenance, the more I see and feel the great divide. When, at the beginning of the month, I read a blog about sustainability as a very, very old idea in ..:recycled minds:..: Wade Davis on Sustainability and the Environment , the idea stuck with me. Throughout this month, I have often thought back to the ancient civilizations Mr. Davis spoke about in his talk and then, after watching The Cove, it occurred to me that we should not only learn from ancient civilizations, but also from animals. Animals can teach us to be kinder to our Earth because they are so "un-human." 


So I am learning. 


Then, last night, an article on the Internet caught my eye about animal cruelty. It was especially surprising when I caught the intro:

What's this? Joel Salatin, the most famous organic farmer in America, star of Food, Inc, the Academy Award- nominated polemic against factory farming, is being investigated for animal cruelty? (Full article: Organic crusader shares radical ideas)

How could this be? Joel Salatin was the perceived golden child of the farming community, was he not?! So I read on and found out that he still is. Animal control informed Mr. Salatin that he had a "people problem" - people who, like me, thought about animals in human ways. I am not sure if it was merely the tone of the article, or the tone of Joel Salatin, but it seems that the farmer was all too understanding of this misunderstanding. In fact, he even seems to turn it into a teachable moment, with a touch of humor. After noting that the misunderstanding is from misplaced anthropomorphism, the article continues:

The logical extension of that is the view that animals should not be killed for food. "Those people, they say 'Come on, isn't that really a barbaric act, haven't we evolved past eating animals to a new place of cosmic nirvana'.

"The truth is, everything is eating and being eaten. If you don't believe it, go lie naked in your flower bed for three days and see what gets eaten." (Full article: Organic crusader shares radical ideas)

And, as I read this last statement, I was reminded, once again, that animals aren't human. At it gave me pause. I find myself in a state of disequilibrium on the precipice of truly learning something new. (Disequilibrium, as defined by Piaget in educational psychology: When a child experiences a new event, disequilibrium sets in until he is able to assimilate and accommodate the new information and thus attain equilibrium.) That is literally one of my favorite states to be in... it is very exciting.

What I know:

• Animals are not human
• Animal behavior is quite distinct from human beings
• Humans do have the responsibility of treating animals under their care humanely
• Many animals raised for food in this country (and probably the world) are not treated humanely

Where my disequilibrium lies (I realize some of these questions can not be answered):

• Is it inhumane to eat animals that are raised humanely?
• Is it inhumane to keep pets when there is no one home for most of the day due to work obligations? (My husband and I have spoken about this one a lot.)
• Can beagles be spiteful? (hee... hee... I still suspect this after living with two!)
• What kind of emotions do animals feel?
• Do dolphins experience joy when they surf?
• Will I ever have a turkey-less Thanksgiving?

As in all aspect of life, there are always more questions than answers. My search continues and my learning curve is steep.

Blue Gold

I, unfortunately, have some familiarity with dehydration. Due to the medication I take and the conditions I have I am constantly reminded by doctors, "Drink plenty of water," or "You should ALWAYS have a bottle of water with you," and, finally, "Nicole, when you don't drink enough, you lose your precious electrolytes - it can be VERY dangerous for you." I heed their advice, of course, but there are times when I simply can not keep up with the chemical or physical imbalance my body presents on a particular day or two and those times I find myself thirsty, weak, dry and, most of all, fragile.

It seems to me, especially tonight, that I would be remiss in my search for true sustenance without taking at least one blog moment to discuss that from which all life spews from: WATER.

Why tonight, you ask? It began with a thunder clap, then I heard the downpour. This was in the middle of my husband and I searching through Netflix to find something to rent. This did not matter to me, though, when I hear a deluge, there is only one thing I can do: run to the front door, with my two dogs to watch. It is a wonderful sight, smell and experience at this time of year. When the rain hits the cement a small fog evaporates, only in the first minutes of the downpour, then the smell finds you - a clean, fresh smell of the earth getting a clean rinse. Then, finally, I love to watch the trees sway in the wind, rocking back and forth ensuring every leaf gets a shot at its very own raindrop, they look just like the ladies in the shampoo commercials. And, then, shortly after, it quiets. Not that the storm ends, but the water is calmer now, the winds have slowed, because the tempest is tamed and falls into a rhythm. At that point, my show is over...

As I get up from sitting in front of the door I think to myself, I wish I had some buckets out there - that was so much water! I have been reading the special edition of the National Geographic on Water this week and, needless to say, it has raised some concerns.

And so, it was with this on my mind, that I came back to the couch, where my husband had a movie suggestion, "What about this one?" on the screen was, Blue Gold: World Water Wars. Does this man have the ability to read my mind? I instantly start spewing facts that I had read from the National Geographic, "Did you know that 97% of the water on Earth is salt water and, therefore, undrinkable? Did you know that of the remaining 3% of water only 1% IS drinkable?!" I pulled out my iPad, "You have to see these pictures of people buying baggies of water! Or spending FIVE HOURS A DAY walking to get dirty water!" He insisted I stop and we watch the movie, but there was one more thing I wanted to show him, one page of the National Geographic that just struck me - not a picture, but a few statements, here they are:

(National Geographic, April 2010)

"Wow, that's scary," he said, I agreed and we watched the movie. And, as for the movie - Wow, that was scary. This is another MUST SEE. Put it on your list with Food, Inc. This is a very important movie to see (or maybe you would rather read the book?). While Food, Inc. opened my eyes to the sins of industry, Blue Gold slapped me (HARD) in the face with them. I am forever in awe of the world created in the post World War era. I pray that we are not too far gone to grasp some semblance of sanity (or at least my version of it (: !!) again.

I am still processing much of what I saw in the movie, but I know this: water is not free, fresh and sent to us from the skies - it has been privatized on a scale so much larger than I ever imagined. Water is being traded on the stock market. People are dying because of water, not just because polluted, diseased water, but because of assassinations, suicides and gunshots in a water wars all over the world. I know that bottled water is a joke, but that joke is no longer funny. I know that we won't see ads about this problem, we probably won't hear anything on earth day about this... The powers that be have already begun their game of chess - strategies have been made, pieces have been placed, pawns will be sacrificed and too many of the players are still living by the mantra, "the man who dies with the most toys wins" without a care in the world about the devastation left in their wake. What does it mean when a dollar is more valuable than water? In other words, what does it mean when a dollar is more valuable than life?

So here's your homework:

1. Warm yourself up by watching The Story of Bottled Water. This is a short film on the Internet made by The Story of Stuff people (you should probably watch all of their videos if you haven't already!)

2. Check out the April 2010 Special Issue of National Geographic on Water. As usual, the pictures are breath taking, but the articles are also worth the time. Barbara Kingsolver wrote one article on water that I truly enjoyed (I always like her writing).

and, of course,

3. Watch Blue Gold: World Water Wars. It was originally aired on PBS, so you might actually find it re-run on there. We got it through Netflix, but you may find it in the library, too!

AND THERE"S AN EXTRA CREDIT ASSIGNMENT!!!

Extra Credit: Take the time to stop whatever you are doing to watch the next rainstorm you hear!

Drink up, enjoy, satiate your thirst, but be mindful. Appreciate your blue gold. :)

Baby Steps Toward a Solution

A number of weeks ago, a friend of mine, Jen, who had started to put the pieces together about my preoccupations (probably after entirely too many conversations about food), highly recommended that I see the movie Food, Inc.

In fact, I believe she said I needed to see it.

I believed her, and did want to see it right away, but without being able to drive anymore due to my vision impairment, I often feel guilty about asking my husband to drive me here and there even if it is only to the video store! Anyway, last night I had an epiphany: I have Apple TV - I can watch Food, Inc. without going anywhere. Needless to say, that is what I (and very quickly WE) did.

I didn't want to tell my husband, "You NEED to watch this," especially since I have been torturing him with various sound clips from my Eating Animals audiobook all week, so I just planned on watching the film alone. My husband was engrossed in his reading as I began the film, but approximately five minutes into it I heard him say,

"Wait a minute... What?"

His book was closed, placed down on the ottoman and not touched again until after the movie. We were both engrossed (and maybe I should emphasize the "grossed" part of that word) through and through. Everything I had been reading about over the years had been brought to life in film with farmers, families and pictures, moving pictures to support it all. At the completion of watching it all, I was overcome. I almost blogged again last night, but then I realized - I had much more important things to do.

I began first with spreading the word. I am a bit of a Facebook junkie, so I posted a link to the film's site and stated to all of my Facebook friends,

"If you eat in the USA, then you must see this."

I also explored the film's website for myself to see what they had on there - I was thrilled, of course, to find out they have a companion book. I futzed around on the site reading this and that, making a mental reading list for the future and began thinking about HOW I was going eat, HOW I was going to shop for food and if I truly had what it took to pull this all off...

But then I remembered - I am not sure I can afford (physically) not to. Hello rock... hello hard place... I guess I will be right here in the middle digging my way out!

And then, through a series of clicks here and there, surfing the web and getting tangled up in the process, I ended up back at a website I had visited earlier in the week - http://www.localharvest.org/ Of course! I typed in my zip code and clicked and read (on super-zoom, of course :) ) about family farm after family farm, about farmer's markets and about poultry farmers that have seasons (just like nature intended...) and with all of this I began to exhale.

HOPE...
POSSIBILITY...
maybe even some SUSTENANCE?

There were farms under 50 miles from my home, that would sell directly to me, where I could see where things come from because it is not shameful, it is natural.

I was so enthralled by what I found I was up until 2 am doing nothing but reading about farms. I went to sleep making a private commitment, hoping my husband would be on board, or at least supportive of my decision for myself. We will finish the food we have in the house (I do not want to waste, even if I have lost faith in the meats I have awaiting me here), and then we will pick one of our local farms to try out to get some eggs, chicken and, of course, produce. I was excited and I thought I would have a hard time sleeping, but my body knew better as soon as my head hit the pillow.

When I woke this morning, a surprise was waiting for me in my Inbox - two e-mails from another friend of mine, who, after seeing my Facebook Food, Inc outburst, also noticed I started a blog and read that as well. She has also become food-aware as of late and actually sent me .pdfs (I can SEE those!!) of two books she felt were really helpful The Raw Food Diet and The Raw Food Bible. Of course I have not had time to read them both yet, but after a quick scroll and stop here and there within each of the books I am already having some more paradigm shifts! Is my very delicious soy milk possibly working against me? What an intriguing possibility... these books are definite MUST-READS for me!

There is still so much to learn. There is probably even more I need to "un-know." My thoughts and ideas about food have been based, far too long, in blind, unquestioning trust in food distributors. I have a picture of a farm in my head - maybe the one I saw in Charlotte's Web as a child - and I have grown up believing that all of my food comes from a place that looks just like that. I know that is not true anymore, but, based on the baby steps I took last night and this morning, I think that can be true again. I simply have to agree to do something completely un-American: I must sacrifice convenience!