You Are What You Eat
King Corn opens today at Cinema Village in NYC. This is a really important documentary about the American food system, raising provocative questions about the way our food is produced, from the subsidized genetically-modified corn that plays such a large, and unhealthy role, in the American diet, to the cows that are fattened up on corn, a food they do not normally eat, in vast feed lots. This film made me really start thinking about what I put into my mouth, ahem, and also about the fact that food in this country may be too cheap, not reflecting the financial realities of food production. But if this all sounds too dry, it’s not. The story is told through college buddies Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis attempting to grow an acre of corn in Iowa and then follow it through the food system – it’s an entertaining journey that will also put you off drinking soda (high-fructose corn syrup is NEVER a good idea) for life!
Check out the website for more information about where you can see the film and how you can get involved:
www.kingcorn.net
April 15th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
[...] I wrote about King Corn last year when it had its theatrical release. If you missed it back then, now is your chance to catch it on TV. The film is about two recent college graduates, Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, who decide to move to rural Iowa to plant an acre of corn and follow it through the food production chain all the way to the dinner plate. Along the way they learn some rather nasty facts about the way our food is produced. The bottom line: Americans eat too much corn and the cost of food in this country does not reflect the true cost of producing it. The industrial process of food production is literally “fast food” and it is doing terrible things to our health and to the wider eco-system. [...]