Health Equity Club

Food Inc (on imdb)

“In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won’t go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.

Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield’s Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms’ Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising—and often shocking truths—about what we eat, how it’s produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.”

Post Film Discussion:

Challenges to eating healthy:
-Time
-Money
-Resources
-Skills
-Information
-???

Sources of food:
-Fast food
-Take-out
-Gas stations
-Convenience stores
-Casual dining
-Coffee shops
-Grocery stores: packaged mealsmade from scratch
-Farmers markets/roadside stands/flea markets
-Home/community garden
-LMU dining hall/hospital cafeterias
-Vending machines
-Club meetings
-Event dinners
-Pizza Lunches
-???

Possible Next Steps:
-Role of the Clubs (Health Equity, Integrative Medicine, SOMA)
-Sharing of recipes, tips, techniques (cooking “classes”)
-Group cooking sessions
-Adopt a Supermarket
-Gardner’s Grove (LMU community garden) or garden at home
-Buying Club/food coop
-Community Supports Agriculture (CSA)
-???

Beyond DCOM
-Farm to school programs
-School gardens
-???

Continuing the Conversation:
-Better Know a Farmer Series
-Visit Polyface Farm (other farms?)
-Staying Informed
-???

Resources

http://www.foodincmovie.com

http://www.michaelpollan.com/

http://www.polyfacefarms.com/ (Joel Salatin’s Farm)
Also featured in the film- Eric Schlosser, Gary Hirshberg, Barbara Kowalcyk

http://www.foodsecurity.org

http://www.farmtoschool.org/

http://www.farmtocollege.org/

http://www.noharm.org/us_canada/issues/food/(Health Care Without Harm’s Healthy Food Systems Campaign)
http://www.localharvest.org/ (CSAs)
http://letsmove.gov (Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity campaign)

http://www.foodborneillness.org

http://www.consumersunion.org/campaigns/notinmyfood/about.html (food safety advocacy)
http://www.kyagr.com/kyproud/index.htm (Kentucky local food campaign)
http://picktnproducts.org/ (Tennessee local food campaign)
http://www.buylocalvirginia.org/ (Virginia local food campaign)