Fresh, a movie that was produced in 2009, and similar to Food Inc., shines a light on the American food system. The spin that Fresh takes on, which I found refreshing, is the positive focus on what individuals are currently doing to transform what is at the moment a broken cycle. The movie confronts many issues that exist such as food contamination, environmental pollution, obesity, and affects on our natural resources.
Some of the highlights I have from the film are as follows:

• Through industrialization we have lost 90% of our crop diversity as the majority now focuses on corn and soy beans

• Of those crops, 70% are grown to feed farm animals, which should be noted are herbivores (eating grasses and herbs)

• Back in the day animals roamed free on farms. Through industrialization, livestock has become big business and thousands of animals are now housed in tight quarters, commonly referred to as “Animal Cities”.
  

In a June blog article written by Heather Ashare, our Yoga expert and daily contributor to DietsinReview.com, she wrote about Food Inc., a film that took a hard look at food production and consumption in the U.S. I wanted to share some interesting facts I learned from seeing the movie in no particular order, but all equally astounding to me:

• On average our food travels 1,500 miles from the farm to our plate

• Because of the long distances that food travels, we no longer eat with the seasons and therefore eat produce that does not provide our bodies with all their nutritional benefits

• Grocery stores now boast over 47,000 products to choose from – most of which can sit on shelves for weeks or even months
  

Food Inc. is the just-released movie, by director Robert Kenner, unveiling the dark and dirty underbelly of our food industry. As the movie’s byline suggests, “you’ll never look at dinner the same way.”

The documentary-style feature shows how the majority of the food we consume is controlled in the hands of just a few giant food manufacturers whose sometimes deplorable and shocking processing practices have not only been hidden from the American consumer but have had the consent of the government’s two food regulatory bodies, the FDA and USDA.

The movie, which features interviews with In Defense of Food author Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser of Fast Food Nation, is more than just a jaw-dropping expose that graphically shows our food travels from farm (or machine) to fork, but it also motivates all of us to think twice before we order a hot dog at the baseball stadium, grab a box of sugar corn popped cereal or select a few tomatoes from our mass grocer for a summer salad.