Food, Inc.: A Participant Guide: How Industrial Food Is Making Us Sicker, Fatter, and Poorer-And What You Can Do about It

by Karl Weber and Participant

Book Overview

Food, Inc. is guaranteed to shake up our perceptions of what we eat. This powerful documentary deconstructing the corporate food industry in America was hailed by Entertainment Weekly as "more than a terrific movie -- it's an important movie." Aided by expert commentators such as Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser, the film poses questions such as: Where has my food come from, and who has processed it? What are the giant agribusinesses...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1586486942
• ISBN13: 9781586486945
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Find out what you are eating--then vote with your dollar!

This documentary takes you on a tour of the major food corporations that control our food supply. You will be shocked-and-awed, no matter how much you already know. The film left me in tears at the end, not only out of disgust, but also hope. Naturally, Tyson and other companies would not let the film makers take a peek at how the chickens were living, but one did, and that was enough to give you some insights. In one scene we even see a man poking his hand into a hole created in a cow's stomach (one of them). He explains that grains are not the natural food of cattle, and this is causing the rise of the deadly bacteria E-coli. (One woman whose young son died of this was interviewed.) They compared this with a farmer that allowed his animals to run free and eat grass as opposed to grains. The animals looked happy and free. When they showed a worker killing a chicken, it happened so quickly that it was apparent the animal did not suffer much--it was nothing like at a slaughterhouse. (Though I wonder, did they also kill the cows and pigs there? They didn't show...) Then there is the issue with corn. Factory farmed cattle are fattened by cheap corn (cheap because the corn farmers lobbied to get their products subsidized by the government!) Corn fed cattle are high in Omega 6s, and this imbalance is passed on to the consumer, fattening him or her up as well. At the root of the obesity epidemic is an overabundance of Omega 6 fatty acids (as compared to Omega 3s found in wild animals, walnuts, flax and chia seeds). We are eating too much corn (as well as wheat and soy). Naturally, they interviewed Michael Pollen, the author of The Omnivore's Dilemma, who wrote about this in detail. Also presented were members of a family that was poor, despite working long hours, and had to eat at the dollar menu at fast food joints because it was cheaper to eat the subsided unhealthful food than to buy a pound of broccoli. The very low calories in a pound of broccoli would not sustain them -and yet it costs even more than a burger. Scenes from other countries were shown: poor farmers were forced out of work because they could not compete with the cheap subsidized corn imported from the USA . The movie touches upon the corruption of Monsanto and how they intend to control the food supply with their patented GMO seeds. Already, 90% of all soy is GMO. They prosecute even farmers who unknowingly get their seeds (from the wind blowing it to their farms from their neighbor's farms) because they didn't pay for it--even though they did not want it. The documentary also touches upon food laws. The Cheeseburger Bill makes it illegal for us to sue the food companies in the same way that we sued tobacco corporations. Nonetheless, they have laws (varying according to states) that enable them to sue anyone who says something bad about them! (This is how Oprah was sued years ago when she said on TV that she would never eat a cheeseburger again out of fear of Mad Cow Diseas

You really need to read this even if you did not see the movie!

I think if we all were more educated on the impact food has on the environment and our own health we would have a stronger voice with the food industry. This will give you tools to empower yourself to help change the food industry into something that is not a death machine set on destruction.

Absolutely perfect

This book is a perfect book for new comers to the food industry as well as a good first-read to those interested in helping with the current food crisis. It covers many different subjects and allows the reader to choose which subjects they would like to further pursue.

Food Inc.

Just saw the film and ordered book. I don't understand why people think organic is so expensive. It's not the same product as the nonorganic version. Scientifically speaking,. it's a different substance. It has more nutrition in it. And why do people think healthy food takes all this time to prepare? You just eat a peach, not a candy bar. Smart choices don't cost more time - they just require a different mentality than buying into the corporate-controlled marketing mindset. And staying out of the supermarket. You want to talk about spending too much - the supermarket is The Worst Place to go. It's ALL about making you spend money. On soda, on chips. Please also read The End of Overeating by Kessler about hypersaturated foods supermarkets always try to sell you. And those people featured in the film - the Hispanics who eat at McDonald's? I don't understand why they aren't buying food from the taco truck, like in my neighborhood. Bean burritos are filled with nutrition. And they're cheap. Nonetheless point made. Why are we paying for corn subsidies that line the pockets of giant agribusiness and THEN we still have to pay AGAIN for diabetics, etc. ...not only do we have the world's most ridiculous healthcare "system", the agribusiness corporate interests have given us the world's most ridiculous food system. Read Exposed and you will see how Europeans haven't bought into this toxic melange in healthcare and in food. It's a wonder we Americans are even living. Wake up America! We've got to act soon. Before we spend ourselves to death treating all the problems the food industry has created and the health insurance industry is only too happy to surgically intervene in. Frankenworld!