Having rollicked tongue-in-cheek in reviewing Jennifer's Body, we turn now to a real horror story: the beef and poultry industry.
Food Inc is worth watching, even for those who don't believe that E-Coli will ever end up in their stomachs. The expose, done Michael Moore style, takes us inside the true world of how our food is made. The flick is not for the squeamish.
Without going into details that will steal the film's thunder, just think of cows standing in their own feces, then being slaughtered with their hides still full of excrement. Like Upton Sinclair more than a hundred years ago, the film takes us inside the slaughterhouse and gives us images that make us heave at the thought of eating chicken or beef.
This reviewer, a believer in capitalism, and big business too, cannot go along for the critique of how large companies control and sometimes eliminate private farmers. The little guy is always eating it--no pun intended--in our awesome capitalistic machinery.
But I may never again eat a hamburger....and I will never give into the temptation of stopping for a Big Mac on the way to the gym.
My advice: Have one last burger or chicken treat before watching this film. It's a creep-fest, unfortunately based in reality, that you may never forget. It's the ultimate gross out.
Bon appetit!
My last year teaching high school I taught The Jungle and showed Fast Food Nation, which also details an actual slaughterhouse in Mexico. My own literary journey has changed my eating habits. Of course, at first I couldn't look at meat AT ALL! Then, slowly, as the time between reading/viewing and eating increased, the graphic truth blurred, and I slowly introduced more meat to my plate. However, that enlightenment along with more and more medical research has changed my diet. I eat very little meat, especially red meat, and pretty much my consumption comes from In-N-Out, where they use only local slaughterhouses and Chipotle which is renowned for free range grass-fed single site ranches. So, we make small changes for the better. I make more conscious decisions. Yet every once in a great while, I just gotta have a lean petite filet mignon when my body is telling me, "give me protein!"
ReplyDeleteDid not know you taught The Jungle. I read it years ago, but i still remember the passages about human parts entering beef grinding machines! I'm with you, Valerie. We've cut out most meat. The most convincing argument I've ever read had to do with human vs. lion intestines. Since the lion is designed to eat meat, it has about 10 times as much intestine, thus digestive power, than humans. We humans were designed, I think, to eat what grows out of the ground and possibly what swims in water. Like you, I get a beef craving...which is when we go to Capital Grille, blow a fortune, and gobble down as much filet as possible!
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