Movie Review: Food Inc. (2009, Directed by Robert Kenner)

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about food. For the last couple of weeks or so, I’ve been on phase one of the South Beach Diet. As a result, I have eliminated all bread, fruit, and most sugars from my diet (temporarily, of course). Thus, I have been thinking a lot about my own eating habits, what I eat, how much I eat, how often I eat, etc.

Unfortunately, eating healthy foods is not as easy as one might think. I’m not talking about the intrinsic motivation needed to change one’s habits. I’m just talking about the challenges of navigating the complex market of food choices in modern America. As David Denby points out in his New Yorker review of Robert Kenner’s new documentary Food, Inc., “Those of us who avoid junk food, with many sighs of relief and self-approval, may still be eating junk a good deal of the time.”

The problem arguably stems from the fact that most of us have very little concept of where our food actually comes from in our complex world of huge corporations and food processing centers. According to the makers of Food, Inc., this problematic fact is at the center of many dangerous American trends, including food contamination, childhood obesity, and early diabetes among minority groups. Whereas we used to enjoy a much more diverse American marketplace in food production, processing, and distribution, the entire process of creating and distributing food is in the hands of a few corporations. Our cost structure is so warped that it is much cheaper to eat junk than to eat healthy. You can feed a family of four on the dollar menu at Burger King for less than $5. How far will $5 get you at your local market purchasing fresh fruits and vegetables? It’s no wonder, the film argues, that obesity rates are highest among lower-class American families.

I always struggle with reviewing a film like this. It is difficult at times to separate the content of an editorial piece like this from the way in which the information is conveyed. First of all, let me say that I find myself in sympathy with many of the ideas expressed in this film. I am troubled by the fact that I don’t truly know where the meat in my Big Mac comes from. Some of the footage from the film revolted me, as I’m sure it would any sane person. On the other hand, I feel that the issue is more complicated than this documentary lets on. Predictably, the companies under attack in this film, including Monsanto and Tyson Foods, have protested that it is too one-sided. They have set up websites providing a rebuttal to the claims made by the documentary’s makers. I think it’s good that this dialogue is going on. I just wish that the many facets of food production/ethics would have come to light in all their complicated glory in Kenner’s film. He is guilty of the same problem that plagues a filmmaker like Michael Moore. The problems and solutions are no doubt far more complex than either side would admit.

Nevertheless, I still enjoyed this film (if “enjoy” is really an appropriate term here) primarily because of the strength of its raw images. Authors Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan, who have both written extensively on the subject, provide the movie’s main narrative voice. Pollan was recently interviewed by Stephen Colbert. Pollan was discussing the problematic nature of processed foods, which contain a large quantity of high-fructose corn syrup. Colbert sarcastically commented that he likes to eat his Cheetos. Pollan replied, “how about just eating them every once in a while, not every day.” That sounds like a good start to me …