Membership questions? Log in issues? Email info@brewersassociation.org

Author Topic: Eye Opening Documentary  (Read 13385 times)

Offline blatz

  • Official Poobah of No Life. (I Got Ban Hammered by Drew)
  • *********
  • Posts: 3513
  • Paul Blatz - Jupiter, FL
Eye Opening Documentary
« on: December 04, 2009, 01:10:36 pm »
My wife forced me to watch Food Inc. last weekend. 

One word.  WOW.

If you have any inkling of wonder or curiousity about where your food comes from, you should watch this film. 

I know I personally complained about the cost when my wife has us buy everything organic and from farmer's markets, etc.  Never again.  And I can't say never as the situation may dictate, but I will try to never eat at a fast food restaurant again.
The happiest people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything they have.

BJCP National: F0281

Offline denny

  • Administrator
  • Retired with too much time on my hands
  • *****
  • Posts: 27070
  • Noti OR [1991.4, 287.6deg] AR
    • Dennybrew
Re: Eye Opening Documentary
« Reply #1 on: December 04, 2009, 01:17:56 pm »
Blatz PM'ed me to see if I thought this topic would be too political and offered to delete it if it was.  At this point, I'm willing to let the post stay.  Please be courteous and respectful in your discussion, or it'll be gone in the blink of an eye!

Personally, we either grow a large % of the veg we eat, or buy organic, local stuff.  Chicken is about the only meat we eat, and we buy locally raised (within a few miles, actually) chicken.  Besides any potential environmental or health benefits, it simply tastes better to me.  I eat fast food only maybe 2-3 times a year when I'm stuck at work with a short break and have no other choice.
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

www.dennybrew.com

The best, sharpest, funniest, weirdest and most knowledgable minds in home brewing contribute on the AHA forum. - Alewyfe

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell

Offline ndcube

  • Brewmaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 612
Re: Eye Opening Documentary
« Reply #2 on: December 04, 2009, 01:19:01 pm »
So it's about general food from the grocery store like regular canned corn vs orgranic canned corn or mainly about fast food?

Offline dbeechum

  • Global Moderator
  • I spend way too much time on the AHA forum
  • *****
  • Posts: 2913
  • Pasadena, CA
    • Experimental Brewing
Re: Eye Opening Documentary
« Reply #3 on: December 04, 2009, 01:40:49 pm »
So it's about general food from the grocery store like regular canned corn vs orgranic canned corn or mainly about fast food?

Its real focus is the giant scale industrial food production system we have going in this country, both meat and veg. If you've read any Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma), it won't  come as any surprise. (Particularly since he was a consultant and narrator as was Eric Schlosser - author of Fast Food Nation)

On the one hand you can see it as a scathing indictment of the impact of the whole massive "cheap" food chain we have going here and on the other you can see it as yet another "hippie" attack on American businesses.

Personally, I think what's happening in food is scary from a health, ecological and even flavor perspective. About the one good thing you can say is: "at least it's cheap!"
Drew Beechum - Maltosefalcons.com
- Vote in the AHA GC Election! - http://bit.ly/1aV9GVd  -
-----
Burbling:
Gnome is in the Details
*Experimental Brewing - The Book*
Tap:
Peanut Butter Jelly Time
Tupelo Mead
Farmhouse Brett Saison

Offline blatz

  • Official Poobah of No Life. (I Got Ban Hammered by Drew)
  • *********
  • Posts: 3513
  • Paul Blatz - Jupiter, FL
Re: Eye Opening Documentary
« Reply #4 on: December 04, 2009, 01:51:04 pm »
So it's about general food from the grocery store like regular canned corn vs orgranic canned corn or mainly about fast food?

thanks denny - I hope we can keep it from being derailed (and deleted).

ndcube - its actually about both - its really amazing to see how the advent of fast food has driven the industrial manufacturing of food, meat in particular.  but as a result of the powerful hand of fast food, it has also changed the way the food is grown that we buy at the local grocery store.  

unfortunately, this change has made the wrong food choices very cheap (dollar menu at McDs) and has forced the hand, so to speak, of a lot of lower income families.  the increasing frequency of diabetes is one negative result.

I'm going to check out Omnivore's Dilemma and Fast Food Nation next - the authors of those books contributed/narrated the movie.

I encourage everyone to at least watch it - and take what you want away from it.  I know I personally am very concerned about what I eat, so this has naturally swayed me in one direction, but others may have a different perspective.
The happiest people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything they have.

BJCP National: F0281

Offline ndcube

  • Brewmaster
  • *****
  • Posts: 612
Re: Eye Opening Documentary
« Reply #5 on: December 04, 2009, 01:59:14 pm »
Yeah, for example I saw a show on discovery about how they raise chickens/turkeys in mass quantities which was not too pleasant (I won't go into details).  On the other hand my Thanksgiving turkey was something like 29 cents a pound.

Offline tubercle

  • Senior Brewmaster
  • ******
  • Posts: 1639
  • Sweet Caroline
Re: Eye Opening Documentary
« Reply #6 on: December 04, 2009, 02:01:28 pm »
My wife forced me to watch Food Inc. last weekend. 

One word.  WOW.

If you have any inkling of wonder or curiousity about where your food comes from, you should watch this film. 

I know I personally complained about the cost when my wife has us buy everything organic and from farmer's markets, etc.  Never again.  And I can't say never as the situation may dictate, but I will try to never eat at a fast food restaurant again.

 

 It's on Netflix if anyone's interested.
Sweet Caroline where the Sun rises over the deep blue sea and sets somewhere beyond Tennessee

Offline a10t2

  • Official Poobah of No Life. (I Got Ban Hammered by Drew)
  • *********
  • Posts: 4696
  • Ask me why I don't like Chico!
    • SeanTerrill.com
Re: Eye Opening Documentary
« Reply #7 on: December 04, 2009, 02:02:37 pm »
If it's any consolation, when we run out of oil in a few years everyone will be eating local.
Sent from my Microsoft Bob

Beer is like porn. You can buy it, but it's more fun to make your own.
Refractometer Calculator | Batch Sparging Calculator | Two Mile Brewing Co.

Offline Kaiser

  • Senior Brewmaster
  • ******
  • Posts: 1797
  • Imperial Brewing Geek
    • braukaiser.com
Re: Eye Opening Documentary
« Reply #8 on: December 04, 2009, 02:09:22 pm »
I too am concerned about what I’m eating as well although we don’t buy much organic stuff for financial reasons.

I’m more concerned with where this is heading. The problem is that market forces themselves won’t correct the problem of overly cheap food. For that to happen, food needs to be priced correctly. I.e. producers of food that promotes health problems should pick up part of the future health care bill. If ground beef was $10/lb, many of us would reconsider having it as often as we do. And if the tax that makes it so expensive would be based on its fat content then you would see that the lean beef would be cheaper and farmers might have a stronger incentive to raise leaner cows and pigs.

In the end this means more government intervention with more taxes on things. I do understand that that is something that is not very popular with many but how else can we move the industry into a sustainable direction.

By nature we humans love to eat. It’s only our consciousness that helps us make the right choices.

Kai




Offline bluesman

  • I must live here
  • **********
  • Posts: 8825
  • Delaware
Re: Eye Opening Documentary
« Reply #9 on: December 04, 2009, 02:43:51 pm »
I'll have to check it out. It's not a blood bath type film...? I can't watch the slaughtering of livestock...it makes me ill.
Ron Price

Offline beerocd

  • Senior Brewmaster
  • ******
  • Posts: 1429
Re: Eye Opening Documentary
« Reply #10 on: December 04, 2009, 02:47:21 pm »
farmers might have a stronger incentive to raise leaner cows and pigs.

NOoooooooooo! (Just being dramatic) Bring back the heritage breeds before they were laboratized into what they are today. We don't need leaner meat, we need natural meat,grassfed, pasture raised ( not pasturized or irradiated) :D . Eat smaller portions of the real, natural item that is way more nutritous and we'll all be fine. If everybody chose the correct foods, the market would adjust. Unfortunately - cheap and plentiful is hard to get away from.

Fat is not bad for you. The wrong type of fat is, and for that matter too much of anything is not good for you.

-OCD
The moral majority, is neither.

Offline tubercle

  • Senior Brewmaster
  • ******
  • Posts: 1639
  • Sweet Caroline
Re: Eye Opening Documentary
« Reply #11 on: December 04, 2009, 02:57:53 pm »
I'll have to check it out. It's not a blood bath type film...? I can't watch the slaughtering of livestock...it makes me ill.

  No, its not really that but it touches on the topic somewhat but more from a perspective of quantity over quality.

  This film is basically about the fact that there are just a few top players that control the entire commercial food market and profit trumps safety and quality.

  The Corporate America way of business in a nutshell.
Sweet Caroline where the Sun rises over the deep blue sea and sets somewhere beyond Tennessee

Offline dbeechum

  • Global Moderator
  • I spend way too much time on the AHA forum
  • *****
  • Posts: 2913
  • Pasadena, CA
    • Experimental Brewing
Re: Eye Opening Documentary
« Reply #12 on: December 04, 2009, 03:01:25 pm »
Bring back the heritage breeds before they were laboratized into what they are today.

Absolutely... on this. I like the Pollan philosophy of "proper" eating - "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

And hertiage breeds are part of that. Of course, I ain't quite there yet.

The problem with cheap and easy is most folks (including myself) don't exercise (or have) much more control over the food intake process than our beloved dogs do. Cheap and easy just makes it easier to shovel more and more calories down your gullet.

Another great read is "Mindless Eating" - That book is based on the reasearch of the Cornell and Brand Lab. Among some of the experiments they've run is the "endless soup bowl" that hooks a soup bowl up to a pot of soup that invisibly refills as a person eats. The results of comparing how much soup people ate (both with the endless bowl and without) and how "satisfied" they felt were astonishing.
Drew Beechum - Maltosefalcons.com
- Vote in the AHA GC Election! - http://bit.ly/1aV9GVd  -
-----
Burbling:
Gnome is in the Details
*Experimental Brewing - The Book*
Tap:
Peanut Butter Jelly Time
Tupelo Mead
Farmhouse Brett Saison

Offline beerocd

  • Senior Brewmaster
  • ******
  • Posts: 1429
Re: Eye Opening Documentary
« Reply #13 on: December 04, 2009, 03:42:02 pm »


Another great read is "Mindless Eating" - That book is based on the reasearch of the Cornell and Brand Lab. Among some of the experiments they've run is the "endless soup bowl" that hooks a soup bowl up to a pot of soup that invisibly refills as a person eats. The results of comparing how much soup people ate (both with the endless bowl and without) and how "satisfied" they felt were astonishing.


I had a similar epiphany recently with wine glasses. I want 2 glasses of wine when I have some wine. I don't drink very fast or with the intention of getting sloshed but 1 glass seems wrong - 2 just right. I switched from the modern Reidel glasses that could hold half a bottle plus - to some european crystal glasses that are WAY smaller. I'm still happy with 2 glasses of wine.

-OCD
« Last Edit: December 04, 2009, 04:06:27 pm by beerocd »
The moral majority, is neither.

Offline dbeechum

  • Global Moderator
  • I spend way too much time on the AHA forum
  • *****
  • Posts: 2913
  • Pasadena, CA
    • Experimental Brewing
Re: Eye Opening Documentary
« Reply #14 on: December 04, 2009, 03:50:31 pm »
I'm still happy with 2 glasses of wine.

Yeah, that's exactly the sort of thing he talks about doing. We apparently make about 250 eating/drinking choices through the day, about 20 more than we did in the 50's-60's. By a choice he means the idea of "yes I'll have a hersey's kiss". His argument is that for healthy eating (calorically speaking) we should really onl y focus on dropping 200-300 calories a day from those bad choices.

Another study in the book that cracked me up. They went and put candy dishes in an office at the secretaries desks and filled them with a known number of hersey's kisses. Each evening they came back in and measured the number eaten and refilled the dishes. They experimented with placement and effect on quantity eaten. No big surprise then that the most were eaten when they were right on the desk. Fewer when moved to arm's length and radically fewer when placed at 6 feet away. All of these subtle things including dish size (he mentions how much bigger dishes have become since the 70's too) affect our food decisions.
Drew Beechum - Maltosefalcons.com
- Vote in the AHA GC Election! - http://bit.ly/1aV9GVd  -
-----
Burbling:
Gnome is in the Details
*Experimental Brewing - The Book*
Tap:
Peanut Butter Jelly Time
Tupelo Mead
Farmhouse Brett Saison