Food, Inc. Movie Review

Well we just got back from seeing the release of the movie Food, Inc.. I have had a couple trailers up over the last month or so, here and here, but did not know the movie was coming to our area until today.

This is an important movie to see as the food we eat is becoming increasingly less natural and more genetically engineered. In the movie food is even referred to as being both technologically and scientifically advanced, I am not sure that is how we should refer to our food. As believers we need to watch this movie from a biblical worldview with regards to creation, the nature of man and government. We need to see our place in the creation order and our part of the dominion mandate not to destroy and genetically engineer food but to care for it and use it as God intended.

What needs to be taken away is the fact that the food we eat is not what we think it is and there is great effort made to keep it that way. However unlike the movies conclusions the answer is not more government regulations but better choices by people, although they do speak to the affect people can have. It is actually interesting that the movie both seeks for government regulation and at the same time blames the government for the problem. Their conclusions seem to stem from a view that takes the responsibility from man and places it on government.

However, I think the movie shows the opposite as it is the government control and access into the food industry that has brought many of the issues we have. At the same time they show how we as the consumer can effect changes as they show Wal-Mart making changes in the milk they sell. The truth is that government control in the end will stifle the growth of healthy food by the small farmer rather then help them. It is we the consumer that needs to seek food that is not simply labeled as organic or healthy but is truly what it is clamed to be.

The comments by Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm are great and he relates that healthy food can be produced without destroying the land and abusing animals. He shows that humane treatment of animals does not negate the use of them for food but instead seeks to be stewards of those animals as God’s creation while they are being raised. He comments that even if natural food is slightly more expensive it will in the end be less expensive when one takes into account being healthier. I would also add that if the government was not subsidizing the GMO’s (Genetically Modified Organisms) taxes may be less and then there would be more money to spend on healthy food.

So go and see the movie, make better decisions about food, and be part of changing this world for God’s glory while being the stewards of the creation that God has placed us over.

Here is the trailer I posted earlier: