Food, Inc. and the unholy excesses of America

WARNING: Rant Ahead!

We just finished watching "Food, Inc." I have to say it's pretty shocking and appalling.  From the way meat is processed, to what's in the filler, to the way immigrant workers and farmers are treated, to the way Mansanto has a near monopoly on seeds.  Seriously you guys should check this movie out because it's scary what's behind our food industry.

And on top of this is the way the government rolls over because the lobbyists rub their bellies with money.  I have huge issues with the justice system in this country right now.  I'm conservative on a lot of issues, but I also have big problems with big business.

Well, let me step back.  In my opinion a HUGE portion of the problem is how we as Americans want the cheapest version of whatever, without asking what the cost is on the other end.  Where do they cut those costs?  What is the effect on the nutrition of our food?  What is the effect on the people in the developing nations around the world who produce what we wear?  Here's the issue in my opinion: it's more expensive to eat and shop healthy and morally (meaning not disenfranchising people).  People act like they can't afford veggies because they are more expensive than Hot Pockets.

Try giving up your cable.  Or getting a cheaper phone plan.  Carpool.  Do something to cut your costs elsewhere.  We need to put in effort somewhere or one day when we finally wake up to the huge problems and demand something be done about it, the corporations will say, "But you've been buying this stuff from us for 50 years!" Isn't it worth paying a little more for something healthy? Try thinking of it this way: when you buy the cheap junk food, it's cheap because there's no nutrition in it.  When you buy the good stuff (maybe it's organic, maybe it's just local) you're paying for the vitamins in it.  Food Inc, does a good job at the end of telling the viewer things they can do to help influence the industry.  Not that we can really make them have a heart change, but we can influence business by buying local and organic so that they the at least have to start putting it in there stores.

By the way, this same rationale goes for the people who complain about outsourced jobs and then go buy everything at Walmart.  *Facepalm*  Der! You want everything cheap, so they outsource what they can to cut costs. Then you complain that they outsourced the jobs.  What did we think would happen?  And I know that I said "you" a lot in this post. I'm not excluded from this.  But I will say that Ricci and I have recently been making the effort to be aware of the work conditions and what is in our food, clothes, etc.  We get our meat from Yonder Way Farms in Brenham now.  And we try to get our produce from local farmers markets for the most part. We still go to HEB when we need something quick, because yes we still settle for convenience sometimes.  But I'm proud to say we haven't been to Walmart in two months. Sure it's inconvenient but I sleep better, so I'm okay with it.

We're also working on a garden to grow what we can on our own.  Once I get a shock wire, hopefully we'll be able to plant some veggies.  Thanks for reading this til the end, and hopefully this helps you take a closer look at where your food comes from.