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?