Food, Inc.

I saw Food, Inc. last night. It didn't tell me much that I didn't already know - especially after reading Michael Pollan's excellent In Defense of Food (Pollan also appeared in the documentary a few times). And still, it disturbed and angered me - specifically the things I did not know. I won't write a lengthy post about it now, except to say that (Oops, looks like I did write a lengthy post about it after all!) After spending 90 minutes at the Charles avoiding all the Brüno traffic, I now have better insights into:

• Just how many things have corn products in them (diapers!?!?);
• Perdue and Tyson (and probably the other one or two megacompanies in "Big Poultry") do a pretty good job of mistreating not only its chickens - to make them much bigger in half the time - but also its chicken farmers - who have to go into hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt to upgrade their chicken houses, even though they make about $20K a year;
• I now know why unionizing workers at Smithfield's Tar Heel, NC, plant are so pissed off;
  
• I also now know about food safety advocate Barbara Kowalcyk and her efforts to pass Kevin's Law, named after her son who was killed by E. coli tainted beef that was recalled - a month after her son ate it, and two weeks after he passed;
  
• And after finding out how thoroughly Monsanto - the same chemical company that holds a patent on a genetically modified soybean - harasses those independent soybean farmers who refuse to use their soybeans, and considering how pervasive soy products are in the American food supply, I don't know if I can ever drink soy milk again (not that I did very much to begin with);
• If you want to grow corn or soy in this country, you pretty much have to roll over for the big corporations and do what they want;
• The organic food folks are pretty torn on corporations like Wal-Mart starting to sell organic food, even though it is the very type of change they are seeking. The documentary features one Gary Hirshberg, maker of Stonyfield organic yogurt, who points out that most formerly independent organic companies are now owned by the Big Guys. Tom's (that you see often at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods)? It's now owned by Colgate.
  

Of course, the film points out some things that both Pollan's book and Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation already discuss that I already had realized:

• The fundamental changes in the food industry over the last 50 years in order to quickly make cheap, tasty, though not always sanitary food (again, Kevin's Law);
• The pervasiveness of high fructose corn syrup and other many and varied corn products and soy products in our food;
• Because we'd rather prosecute illegal immigrants instead of the corporations that hire them, a lot of food corporations are getting away with some very bad things;
• Our nation's FDA and USDA are much more ineffective than they ever were, especially since food industry big wigs have served in the upper echelons of both organizations on and off for decades, under Democratic and Republican presidents;
  
• Perhaps the most important thing in the movie for me: so many people are too impoverished to even be able to buy the more expensive produce - they only have enough money to buy the junk food, keeping them trapped in a cycle of obesity, diabetes, unhealthy food and - again - poverty.

Mind you, it's not a paean to vegan eating. The movie visits Polyface Farms, an independent farm in the Shenandoah Valley where chickens, cows and pigs are roaming around eating the grass and not being cooped up. One guy traveled for five hours just to buy some of this farm's poultry! You will see owner Joel Salatin slit a chicken's throat on this farm. Of course, if you're a vegan you will never consider this humane. Apart from the slit-throating bit, though, this is more humane for the animals, for the workers, and for the consumers.

It's also much more expensive. Which made me realize as I left the Waverly Farmers' Market today: if you are able to buy this kind of produce, you are paying more for quality and humane farm conditions, especially for the meat, which you shouldn't be eating that much of anyway. But spending more for it will probably force me to both buy less of it, and to waste less of it. And this will probably work out to be less expensive for me in the long run, because I'll be buying less (albeit pricier) food at a higher quality, which is therefore more conducive to my health. Will I still stop at Wendy's or the Fractured Prune? Of course, but not often. And Eric Schlosser comes right out at the start of the movie and admits: it's not going to be easy to avoid all the crap in our food in this modern day and age (unless you take up a life of hunting and gathering). This goes for everyone from the ravenous meat-eaters to the uber-zealous vegans.

So what do we do? The movie may be preaching to the choir. Nevertheless, it urges the viewer to do a few things:

• Write our Congressmen and Congresswomen to get the gears moving to change the system (the producers use the regulations on Big Tobacco as an example);
• Go to farmers' markets and independent farmers much more often - and ask them to accept food stamps, so it's not just open those who can afford to go;
• Grow your own damn food! That justifies my new upside-down tomato grower hanging off my porch railing.
• If you know people that hunt, fish or crab, get some of what they bring back with them.

I've written a lot here. But please don't take my word for it, y'all. See the movie for yourself (the trailer is below). And if it's not playing locally (which it probably isn't for some of you), wait for it to come out on Netflix. It's a pretty damn enlightening documentary.

A few things I've noticed this week

Just a few thoughts about stuff I've noticed lately, but have simply had no time to post about:

1. On a friend's recommendation, I dragged Eric & Alan to Marie Louise Bistro, in the location that was formerly Gampy's.

The place looks nice and the service is friendly. But how we felt about it was mixed. Alan and I loved our French onion soups, and Alan seemed to be satisfied with his bouillabaisse, even though the kitchen had run out of one ingredient and had to substitute extra mussels for it. I enjoyed my rockfish in lavender sauce on a bed of caramelized Israeli couscous, but for a special dish of the night, I guess I expected more. It was satisfying but it didn't "wow" me.

Eric, on the other hand, was wow'd, but in a bad way. While I don't remember his reaction to his salad, he was pretty annoyed about his steak - something he doesn't eat often. He asked for it to be nice and medium rare. It comes out very well done. Granted, the waiter offered to bring it back, but Eric didn't take him up on it. It didn't taste bad, but he was still irritated that something as simple as the rareness of the food was messed up. Long story short: for a restaurant that's been open for a few months now, it should be working these sorts of kinks out faster. Especially in an economy such as this where you don't want to give potential patrons a reason not to come back.

2. The Amish have imposed a limit of two per household?

Um, Amish women actually wouldn't be doing stuff like this.
Come to think of it, neither would Amish men.

I kind of doubt the Amish really give a shit what we English heat our homes with out here in the freezing cold Devil's Playground. That idiotic ad, pictured above, caused three words to pop up in my head: "Amish slave labor." It's a scam, people. Please don't buy this.

And if anyone has one for me to try, the answer is no.

3. Man, I never realized how much I like Brussel sprouts. But I do! It's all in how you cook 'em.

4. Guess what's coming up soon? I don't think I can afford it this year, money or time wise. But if I can, it'll probably just be once.

5. Try to avoid peanut butter for a while - at least the kind you don't buy in the supermarket.

From the "Paula Deen ain't got NUTHIN' on these people" files

Every few months, a new "Secret Dietary Info That the Restaurants Hide From You" article comes out.

Here's this season's installment. It offers the first encouraging bit of news I've ever seen in one of these articles: that any restaurant operating at least fifteen locations must post caloric and other dietary information for its foods. The downside: this is only in New York City, which is three hours away by car or train (four hours by bus, Chinatown, Greyhound or the DC-to-NYC BoltBus that I've been reading about lately. Apparently it has wireless!). Still, it's discomforting to know that TGI Friday's Potato Skins comes in at over the entire recommended daily allowance for an average-sized adult: 2,270 calories (but only if you eat them all). Their Double-Stack Quesadillas and Pecan Crusted Chicken Salad are less obnoxious, coming in at 1,670 and 1,360 calories respectively.

As Leslie Ann put in a very astute comment a while back, this is why Americans are fat.

My left arm hurts just reading this.

Preggers? Wait on the fish (STILL)

I hate the CBS Evening News. They are airing a new story right now, echoed in the Washington Post, about a recent report saying that pregnant women should eat more than the 12 oz. of fish that the government and many scientists have warned them against before. This is according to a group called Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies

What I hate about this is that I heard on National Public Radio's All Things Considered just two hours beforehand that the group that came out with this report

1. is in the minority on this issue; and
2. got a big grant from the National Fisheries Institute, an industry-funded group - just coincidence, I'm sure.

Does CBS mention this at all? Nope. This is why I listen to NPR and not CBS News. NPR actually bothers to investigate.

Exterminate The Flab

The folks at the BBC don't know a surefire hit workout when they see one. But do sci fi villains really have these sorts of worries?

Dalek Workout posted, and presumably created, by TLTLTLT

Restaurant Ratings Online!

I wish we had something like this in Baltimore. Or if we do, I wish I knew about it! San Bernardino County, "the largest in the lower 48," has its restaurant health ratings online. The Papaya Bay, where I ate on Wednesday, got an A. In fact, most places scored that high in Yucaipa. LA County has the same system - and I'm a little ick'd out by Monterey Park dimsummerie Ocean Star's B rating. Doesn't appear that Riverside County shows this information online yet. I'll have to search Baltimore City and County websites for this kind of info.

Ooh, I just noticed that the City does have info on restaurants that have recently been shuttered due to health code violations, but that's it. Found nothing on Baltimore County's website.