Food Inc.

Food Incompetence

The typical American Sunday morning breakfast that includes eggs, pancakes, a few strips of bacon, and a glass of milk might not seem as appealing after watching Rob Kenners documentary, Food Inc. The film takes aim at the food industry and the role of big business in controlling what agriculture we grow. The effective argument Rob Kenner attempts to get across is how secretive the food industry is about the origin of our food and what the real cost is to ourselves, society, and the environment by consuming the way we do now.

When a nation is coined the “fast food nation” it doesn't seem surprising that the country has a myriad of health problems related to the food we choose to eat. Food Inc. points out in its first section that we can easily trace most food back to a few of the largest farms in America, the same goes for the meat we eat stemming from a few enormous slaughterhouses. Kenner uses the film to explain that we have an illusion of diversity in food because of the amount of products we have available to us, when the reality is that most products are just reconfigurations of corn or soybean byproducts. Our grocery stores are filled with ten of thousands of products and ninety percent of them contain either a corn or soy product. The film suggests these same grocery items that are typically calorie laden and lack nutrition are part of the nation's obesity problem that cause heart disease and diabetes, both leading causes of death and high healthcare costs. This problem of pseudo diversity can be found in the meat and poultry industries as well, highlighted by the film's statistic that seventy to one hundred percent of ground beef will soon contain the same filler ingredient. The more information Food Inc. shares the clearer it is to see that we aren't as aware as we should be about what we are actually eating and where it comes from. Are we eating food or a combination of chemical compounds that simply taste good? I'd choose the...