Film Review: Ingredients

Are we seeing positive changes in our food supply and will we continue to see those benefits in the near future? Ingredients is an interesting 67 minute documentary that attempts to answer these questions as it focuses on food practices in the United States right now. 

This movie did not bring a lot of new information to the table. Most of the readers of our blog are already familiar with the importance of eating local, supporting CSA’s, and the evil’s of mega corporations that control what is what available in the food supply. While there were a few stats thrown out, I think this movie bases its arguments more on feel good interviews and anecdotal experiences and less on fact. If you are looking to “convert” someone to eating local this movie will probably not be the best choice. If you are already a member of the local food movement, you will enjoy this movie as an entertaining opportunity to hear from people that have the same ideas as you.

Ingredients admits that local foods are a lot of time more expensive and harder for poor people to eat. It truthfully states that there are hidden costs to cheap, government subsidized food. Some of those costs include; increased medical expenses from obesity problems and diabetes, and increased costs to our environment from the increased use of fossil fuels and other energy sources. The film reveals that one in three children born in 200 will have diabetes and the new generation will be the first in US history to have a shorter life span than their parents.  

I agree with the dangers of these hidden costs but I think that there needs to be other choices available for lower income people. I don’t think that someone who has an extremely small budget for food cares about hidden costs. They care about what puts food on their table, which is often the less healthy subsidized, processed foods. 

I would like to see more emphasis on backyard farms, growing your own food, and community gardens. We need ideas that will bring food back to lower income areas. Local farmers can help with this, but I think that the best way to improve food choices for lower income families is for the lower income households to learn how to grow their own foods even if it is to a limited degree. 

What are some of the methods that you think can be used to provide healthier food choices for lower income families?

The Natural History of the Chicken

by Michael Johnson

On a slow night last week Marisa decided we wanted to watch a movie together. Now most people might pull up there Netflix queue and find the latest action thriller(men) or the latest romantic comedy(ladies). Being the weirdos that we are we were looking through documentaries and found one called The Natural History of Chickens. Needless to say we were extremely excited to watch it.

This movie was not what we expected. Based on the title, I thought we might learn about the historical domestication of chickens. This was a much lighter, warmer movie that told a few stories of some interesting chickens and their owners. Watch this movie and you will find out about a chicken that was brought back from the dead, a spoiled chicken that enjoys Happy Meals, a Silkie that yearns to be a Mom, and also a rooster without a head. Interspersed with the stories are various facts about the modern chicken industry. It doesn't necessarily demonize modern chicken farms but it does leave you wishing that conditions were better for them.

This movie is a feel good, folksy style movie with heart warming stories that contain more than a few people that love their chickens. Some of them might love them too much. Check it out if you have an hour to spare and I think you will be entertained. Check out this clip.

Truck Farm

You might recall a review I did last year of a great movie called King Corn that was made by Curt Ellis and Ian Cheney. Well, they are in the process of making another movie right now called Truck Farm. They prepare a bed of a truck with a garden and then travel around to educate people on growing food at home. Most of us can't grow food in a truck but it gives you some hope that whether you live in an apartment or in the middle of a vast wilderness, you can grow some of your own food. Check out the teaser trailer.



The movie is in the process of being edited and created. You can even donate to their cause by going to the project on Kickstarter. They are trying to raise $15,000 to get the movie made.A mere $35 will get you a cool trucker hat. I am excited to see the movie. They expect to have the movie done this summer if they can raise a little more money.

Share some comments with us about some of the movies that you have watched lately that have anything to do with the backyard farming genre. I would love to get some ideas of other movies to watch.

Mike

King Corn Movie Review

This movie has been in my Netflix watch it now queue for months but I just haven’t had the time to watch it. Marisa and I finally set some time aside for a date last week and watched this documentary. I thought it was really good but I would recommend forgoing the popcorn while watching it.

If you have read the book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma “by Michael Pollan the overall feel of this movie will be very familiar. The makers of the film show that a vast quantity of what we eat in America is corn, mainly from corn syrup and corn fed animals. It is an entertaining journey that gives us a view of small town America, farming, and where our food comes from.

Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis are two friends from Boston that decide to farm an acre of corn in Iowa and then track how the corn is disseminated through our food supply. They show that the corn they grow is essentially inedible and can only be made into a food-like product through extensive processing. A discussion is made into the evils of corn syrup and it’s empty calories, as well as the evils of the feedlots that feed their animal a diet of mainly corn which is then passed on to us when we eat meat.

In my opinion, this movie was more educational entertainment than propaganda. I consider this to be a good thing. Some might consider the movie makers to be biased against modern food practices, but I feel that this bias is presented with facts and numbers, and less on emotional hype.

Like “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” I don’t feel that a thorough discussion is made about the economics behind our food supply. I think most of us would agree that we would like to be healthier, but there is an economic impact made by this decision. Changing our food supply is a lot more complicated than just wanting it to be different. We need it to make economical sense.

I think this movie is a great movie and I hope more people watch it. It has instilled in me a stronger desire to eat healthier and to take a stand against some of the unhealthy practices in our food supply. How do we take a stand? Make it economical. Stop buying non-food products that are disguised as food. Sacrifice a little of your income to buy grass fed beef or natural foods. In addition to this, and even more importantly, do what you can to create your own food supply. Whether it’s a small garden or a large property with grass fed cows, anything we do will make a difference. This movie increased my desire to have a bigger property where I can raise my own livestock the right way. In the mean time I am trying to find other ideas to eat better and to change our purchasing habits. There are a lot of ideas on our website on becoming more self-sufficient.

What are you doing to create your own food supply?