First up:
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Food, Inc.:
Overall, Food, Inc. is a really great, informative movie. A lot of the information provided in the movie can be found in Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation (which I read once about five years ago and need to read again) and Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma (which I’m still slowly making my way through). Having read/being in the process of reading these books, I didn’t have many shocks throughout the movie, but here are some facts that really stood out to me:
- On average, there are over 47,000 products in an everyday supermarket
- As opposed to about 40 years ago, chickens now grow twice as big in half the time, thanks to hormones. Since Americans like white meat, they are also engineered to grow bigger breasts. Gross.
- The chickens on your average farm are in the dark all the time.
- Only one farmer out of twelve asked would show the cameras the inside of their chicken house, and it was a woman who refused to “upgrade” to the windowless vent system employed by most chicken farmers. Her contract was later terminated for her refusal to get rid of her light and open-air chicken house.
- The average chicken farmer with two houses has borrowed over $500,000, but they only make about $18,000 a year.
- There are 13 slaughterhouses (for cows) that serve the entire United States. Essentially, this means that there’s meat from thousands of cows in one hamburger patty. This increases the chance for infected meat to enter our food supply by a whole lot.
- A hamburger “filler” that is cleansed with ammonia to kill E.coli is present in 70% of burgers in the country. Even grosser.
Again, I was already aware of most of the horrors of the industry. However, the facts about beef will probably take my burger consumption from rare to never. Honestly, it’s just not food – unless I know that it came from a local farm. I’d like ammonia to stay as far away from my diet as possible. And, while this is a rather disgusting thought, if I’m eating an animal, I’d like for it to be ONE animal – not possibly hundreds.
The movie also focused on the abuse of illegal immigrants by the food industry. This is too much of an issue that I know too little about, so I’m not going to comment on it.
I’ve heard a lot of people say that you vote for your food with every purchase at the grocery store, but I kind of didn’t believe it until the Walmart representatives said flat out that all Walmart stores are switching (have switched?) to only rBST–free milk due to consumer preference! That’s seriously amazing.
I don’t plan on becoming a vegetarian or vegan in the near future. To be honest, I really love chicken and turkey. I don’t eat a lot of meat at all, especially at school. At home, I’m going to make the conscious effort to encourage my family to buy humanely raised meat – not necessarily organic or free-range, since I know those terms can be deceiving.
If there’s one line that stuck out to me, it is that industrial food is not honest food. In my opinion, honest food is “real” food – ingredients that I can recognize and pronounce, ingredients that nourish my body with vitamins and minerals. Those foods are what I strive to eat most of the time. Living at home, and especially while I’m living at college, this is not always possible. But, I think that it is a lot easier than a lot people think, or want to think. Eating a diet full of whole, natural, real foods has helped me lose weight, gain energy, look and feel better than I ever have.
I think that Food, Inc. is an incredibly important movie for everyone, especially Americans, to see, in order to make more informed choices about the food we buy and eat.
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New Moon:
Ok. To be honest, I was not happy with New Moon. The first 3/4 of the movie, to me, was just bad. [Spoiler] Up until Alice showed up at Bella’s house when she thought Bella had committed suicide, I wasn’t feeling it. Once the race to Italy began, it got really really good. Although, like Caitlin commented, a little rushed, it was good. It felt real. The acting has definitely gotten better. The makeup was better too! But there were still definitely some shading issues.
Anyway, I loved the Volturi! For some reason, I always imagined them bald? Even though I know they’re not supposed to be. But they were perfect. Aro cracked me up, just like he did in the books. The actor was really great. Dakota Fanning was amazing! All of my friends were, at the least, questionable of her as the choice for Jane, but I knew she would be great – and she was. So impressive.
I also agree with Caitlin that the chemistry between Rob and Kristen was much better – I actually felt like they were in love! And Kristen Stewart was so gorgeous in New Moon. I don’t know what they were doing to her in Twilight, but wow that girl is pretty! And her acting was a lot better. She was so great in Into the Wild (AMAZING movie, by the way), which I saw before Twilight, I was confused by the apparent downgrade in her acting skills in the first movie. But she redeemed herself in New Moon. Especially the scene of her just sitting, months passing by, playing Anya Marina’s “Possibility.” Seriously amazing scene.
I wasn’t that impressed with the CGI werewolves at first, but I know they can’t look completely real, and they did grow on me by the end.
The movie definitely didn’t seem long. The two hours went by really fast, in a good way. Looking back to last year, I was disappointed with the Twilight movie at first too. Now I love it. I also had really high expectation for New Moon, but I’m not sure why. I need/want to see it again and be more objective.
Ok, now that I finally did the reviews – onto the rest of my day! I didn’t get much shopping – just some new nail polish colors (essential), a pack of men’s Hanes white v-necks (even more essential), and some random groceries – plain Chobani, baby spinach, and some lemons for the re-attempt at the glorious broccoli.
Lunch (at 3pm) was a delicious mishmash:
3/4 cup plain Chobsies, raspberries & blackberries + a Buffalo Crackwich – Arnold’s MultiGrain Sandwich Thin with 2 tpsb plain hummus, a French Onion LC, and lots of Frank.
Ever since making the Crackwrap a Crackwich and adding it’s buffalo-ness, my life has improved dramatically. Try it and thank me.
Dins:
Spinach + the crazy mushroom from CostCo. (about 1/2 cup each) + baby spinach salad with Veggie Patch falafel balls, hummus, Frank’s, and corn and chile salsa + clementine
Hello, random. My mom made the spinach and mushroom mix as a side for my fam’s dinner of stuffed shells. The Veggie Patch falafel balls are amazinggggg and super filling – especially with hot sauce and hummus! To equal out the savory with some sweet, I decided on a whim to add the corn salsa. My salads are always spicy with the jalapeños and traditional salsa I pile on, but this one was seriously great. The corn salsa is something that needs to be in my life and my belly more – try it if you haven’t! Our is from Stew Leonard’s.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need a yogurty snack!
Arnold’s MultiGrain Sandwich Thin with hummus, a garlic & herb LC wedge, and Frank’s + carrots and more hum
Brynne in Balance 