Food Inc.

I played a ton with my camera this week and here are a few pictures from our Thanksgiving.  My husband  woke up at 3:30am to smoke this turkey.  We injected it the night before with garlic butter and then covered it with Herbamare.  It's the most mouth-watering turkey I've ever had...no gravy needed.  Pecan pie has to be one of my all-time favorite and I wait all year for that one slice.  It's worth every minute in the gym the next day.

We finished the weekend off watching Food Inc.  If you haven't seen this movie, it's now on DVD and I highly recommend watching it.  Food Inc. is a incredibly informative documentary about our food supply and it's communicated in a very approachable way.  It was a great movie to watch right after I finished The Omnivore’s Dilemma . (I just bought the kid's version for my daughters to read.)  One of the topics in the movie that shocked me are the Veggie Libel Laws.  The Veggie Libel Law were passed in 13 states and make it easy for food producers to sue their critics.  So for example, since I live in the state of FL I can't make any negative comments about a specific food without the threat of being sued by that company.  This concept really sunk in with me last night as I was watching the movie and I just can't believe that there are companies in America that have basically taken away part of the first amendment. 

The movie also reinforced to me why to buy from small farms and knowing how they raise thier animals and grow thier crops.  There was a couple in the movie that were at Polyface farms in Virginia that said they drive several hundred miles just to buy their meat.  I turned to my husband and said, "That's us!"  Once a year I drive across FL to meet up with Jenny from Peaceful Pastures to pick-up my years supply of meat.  Knowing that the meat I eat is raised on the pasture is extremely important especially on a nutritional level.

The official website for Food Inc. is fulled with helpful articles and resources.  There is also a page on the site where you can sign the petition for the Child Nutrition Act to support healthy food choices in schools.  This is a topic that is very close to my heart since my kids are school age now.  Every time I go have lunch with my kids at school my heart aches when I see what the other kids are eating.  Their plates are filled with sugar, processed meats and refined carbohydrates.  Please take a moment to sign the petition to help make a change. 

One of the last topics talked about on Food Inc. is how we can tell the food producers what we want with our choices at the grocery store.  If we start buying more organic fruits, vegetables and meat the companies will supply what is being demanded.  We can all start voting with our forks and follow the simple principle, "If you can't read it don't eat it".