Food, Inc. - “Tastes Like Success”

Directed by Robert Kenner


There’s an old children’s taunt that goes “you are what you eat”. Well if Robert Kenner held you to that, he’d say he wants you to stop being such a pile of disgusting chemicals and waste. Based in part on the books ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma’ and ‘Fast Food Nation’ respectively by Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser, Kenner’s brilliant documentary ‘Food Inc.’ delves into the scary notion of what actually goes on in the making of regularly consumed food in the United States, who is responsible, and how it got that way. The truth may surprise you.

The film shows us how the McDonald brothers introduced the factory system to food service, creating the world’s first “fast food” restaurants that could hire cheap, easy to replace laborers. This was a cheap system that also demanded sameness in the food that would be served, and so over time the factory system spread to the butchers and farmers themselves. The vast majority of all meat in America is now provided by one of four or five conglomerate companies including Tyson, Swift and Cargill. At one time working in a slaughterhouse was actually considered one of the best and most reliable jobs. Now, it is considered one of the most dangerous, and is responsible for employing countless illegal immigrants. While the vast majority of the issues raised are ones I was relieved to not deal with as an Orthodox Jew who exclusively eats kosher food, the issue of immigrant workers is still one that affects even kosher slaughterhouses as evidenced by the legal troubles that Agriprocessors faced last year. Still, your meat is gross and the widely used slaughtering methods are inhumane.

But this isn’t simply and attack on the fast food and meat producing industries. Corn, soybeans, and other natural resources that have gone from once being farm fresh to now being ruled by big business are also dissected with the same deft hand. A number of conglomerate food service companies declined to participate in the film, but their lack of participation just seems to assure their guilt. The one large company that is in the film, surprisingly, is Wal-Mart who come off as the type that will do whatever their public demands. In this case, it is a good thing because of the movement toward stocking more organic products like Stonyfield Farms dairy. This widespread move back to organic and local food is a sign of hope though the barrier of cost still remains. As illustrated in the film, it is simply cheaper and easier to order from a dollar menu at the burger joint than it is to buy fresh fruits and vegetables from a supermarket.

The film does a great job of showing that this isn’t some liberal anti-conservative movement, knowing that there could be people who would accuse them of this and write off the film completely. What’s discussed here is a problem that everyone in the country (and beyond) is faced with three times a day. Most of the people shown who are fighting the system are from middle-America or in the case of Barabara Kowalcyk, who is fighting on Capitol Hill for a bill that puts extra stringencies on companies that have E. Coli outbreaks like the one that killed her young son, Republican. Some of the interviewees who appear on screen are incredibly brilliant and thoughtful, especially Joel Salatin, who not only comes off as a great rancher but a real philosopher who has practical solutions to the issues the industry faces at this time.

Real solutions exist; we just need to implement them. Ultimately, I believe that our government, like Wal-Mart, will follow whatever is popular and demanded by their public. While the conglomerates may have seemingly unlimited funds to take down their opposition individually, they are still at the whim of the same masses who bought their services and products in the first place. The film ends on a series of text screens that encourage us as the consumers to demand changes and do what we can on a variety of scales. Once in a while a documentary comes along that actually feels like it can change the way people live. This is that film.


***** Five Stars – Definitely see this film

Food, Inc. is available now on DVD and Blu-ray disc as well as streaming from Netflix.