Food, Inc.

I went to see Food, Inc. at the Bijou in Eugene last night with Laura and Kevin. First we spent a couple hours at the Amazon Pool in the triple-digit heat, then we cleaned up and went to the early showing at 5:10 and enjoyed our box of frozen Junior Mints* while we learned about how food is grown and processed in this country. I didn't really learn anything I didn't already know, as I have read The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food, Fast Food Nation, Deep Economy, etc. over the past few years, but seeing footage of the giant meat processing plants and poultry houses makes a strong impression.

After the part about E. Coli and a mother's efforts to get "Kevin's Law" passed in Congress, which would give the FDA the authority to shut down operations that consistently fail to meet the safety standards, my own Kevin decided he would like to try being a vegetarian for a month.

One of the farmers interviewed, who raises pastured beef and free-range chickens, was wearing a t-shirt that said "Grassfed" and Laura and I both decided we need one.

I highly recommend the movie.

*The Bijou is a funky former funeral home turned arts cinema that shows independent films and foreign films. It's the first theater where, when I ordered my usual movie snack of Junior Mints, I was asked if I wanted them frozen and and the clerk pulled a box out of the freezer behind the counter. Really refreshing! (They also sell Genesis Juice, Naked Juice, Thomas Kemper Rootbeer, you get the idea.) One of my daughters mentioned this a few years ago to a friend who worked at our local cinema and now we have frozen Junior Mints available in Roseburg, too.

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