kincaid vs food

The movie Food, Inc. has ruined what was once a healthy relationship between myself and meat.

As a direct result of that documentary, I am now officially grossed out by the conditions under which chickens are raised and processed, and I'm fearful of the collateral damage to my body as a result of beef consumption.

The ConAgra’s of the world say “let’s create the biggest fat cows as cheaply as possible. Also, it would cost us less if they grew up faster...pump them full of hormones! Time is money, right?”

The corn based feed programs implemented to fatten cows inexpensively, as well as the hormone therapy they are given to grow rapidly, is all done in the name of profit over consumer health. There are many resources outlining the problematic relationship between corn-fed cattle, hormone therapy, and human consumption. Bottom line: gross.

I truly believe we had it right 100 years ago, where local family farms provided for the neighborhood. See: Europe. By allowing giant corporations to control food production, we may have unintentionally stepped on one of nature’s land mines. Where natural processes once stood, scientific alterations now reign. What happens to your ‘natural’ chemical composition when you ingest a lifetime of gene splicing and bovine growth hormone? I bet many of the health problems of today and tomorrow prove related to what we’ve been eating.

The argument goes, “Modern Agricultural Livestock production is needed to feed a growing global population." Well, yes. We do need livestock production that matches our demand for food. But that doesn't mean we need massive food conglomerates producing edible toxic mutants in the name of profit.

Food production should be a sacred act, free from the encumbrances of corporate greed. We are consuming this product in the most literal sense, and if your term "modern livestock production" is a euphemism for all of the practices outlined above, then no...we don't need it. What we need is safe, healthy, natural production of livestock which mirrors or better yet provides a natural habitat for their growth.

Enter: Whole Foods. For just $375 a week, you too can have an all natural diet! I love that it exists, and I hate that I can’t always afford it. Shopping at Whole Foods for a month left a pretty bitter taste in my mouth the next time I was buying cancer meat from the Wal-Mart butcher. Whole Foods: The girl I can’t afford to marry. Yet.

So, yeah...Food, Inc. really kind of messed me up about all that. If you haven't seen it, you really probably should. But it will be the last day you ever crave KFC in your life.