This week we’re really going to dive into the meat of the subject by watching one of the great documentaries about food and discussing what we learn. You can request one of these movies through Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Amazon or the library. Tell us what you watched and if you liked it on the discussion board.
10 Top Documentary Food Films
In alpha order, a list of ten real food films worth viewing while noshing on a modest-sized serving of organic, non-GMO popcorn.
- Dirt: The Movie (2009) A funny, thoughtful, and, um grounded look at the fundamental ingredient vital to everything that feeds us.
- Food Fight (2008) An amusing account of modern American ag policy and food culture that sprouted a counterrevolution among veggie-obsessed Californians.
- Food, Inc. (2008)
The rock stars of the ethical eating movement — Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser — weigh in on all that is wrong in America’s industrialized food system. Methinks my son summed up this film best: “Sometimes the scariest films are the ones that are real.” - Fresh (2009) Down with the corporate behemoths of the American food economy who threaten the country’s food security, livelihood of small farmers, and our choices as consumers. This doco features fresh thinking from urban farming activist Will Allen and sustainable farmer Joel Salatin.
- Killer at Large (2008) This film tackles the giant-sized topic of America’s obesity epidemic with talking heads and the story of a 12-year-old who undergoes liposuction.
- King Corn (2007) Two friends head to the heartland to learn a thing or two about how food is farmed and where food comes from.
- Super Size Me (2004) Cult classic with Morgan Spurlock eating his way to bad health on a month’s worth of Maccas. Required viewing for fast food fans.
- The Garden (2008)
A group of mostly working class, Latino South Central Farmers fought the good fight — and they’re still at it — for the basic human need to grow food, in this Academy Award nominated film. - The Future of Food (2004) Deborah Koons Garcia reveals the unappetizing truth about genetically modified foods: Do you really know what you’re dishing up for dinner?
- The Real Dirt on Farmer John (2006) A flamboyant farmer turns his family’s dying farm into a thriving CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Bonus: He flaunts a feather boa while driving his tractor.
- Food Stamped (2010?)
Special mention to a work-in-progress: A film-and-food couple reveal how hard it is to eat well on a really tight budget.
30 replies on “Week 5 – Movie Night/Understanding the Problems”
I watched Dirt: The Movie, and I found it interesting how big of an impact dirt and soil have on the world, since it is something I have never really given a second thought to. After watching the movie, I googled it and found that they have a website with a blog on environmental subjects, especially those relating to soil. For instance, I saw a post that mentioned a pre-college program that teaches students about how humans have an impact on the planet, soil and beyond. After watching the documentary and reading some of the blog posts, it makes me think about just how important it is to do simple things like compost.
I watched the movie “Super Size Me” which follows an average healthy man as he follows a one-month McDonald’s only diet. The effects were very drastic and worse than I thought- he was close to developing artery and kidney diseases. I thought this test was a great way to show how such a large industry can really negatively effect the health of so many people. One of the other concerning ideas talked about was how McDonald’s advertises so heavily to children, and because their food has so many addictive components to it, young children are getting hooked on fast food, starting journeys to obesity and other health problems.
For this step of the journey I watched Super Size Me. The piece that stood out to me the most (I anticipated his physical health would deteriorate) was how fast his mental health would deteriorate. Throughout the movie he showed more and more symptoms of lethargy, depression and even anxiety.
I watched “Super Size Me.” In my family, we don’t eat fast food and I’ve never wanted to since I knew how unhealthy it was. Still, I was shocked at how he almost got liver failure so quickly. It was especially crazy because all of the doctors thought he would be fine at first. It also showed how much his mood changed because of what he ate and how he became addicted to the grease and salt in the MacDonalds. I was disgusted by watching the huge servings and often had to look away because I felt nauseous. Overall, I am very grateful my parents never let me eat MacDonalds because this movie was disturbing.
I watched the movie Food, Inc., from 2008, and I found it very interesting on how much processing of our food is being hidden. From this movie, I learned that there are laws to protect these companies that are making our food, even though they are not doing it in the most healthy way. I was surprised when learning this because I thought that the government would try to keep us safe from food poisoning that could result in death and years of poor health. I reasoned that the government may be hiding the way our food is processed to save themselves from ridicule and protests from the people, but I also realized that withholding information from the public causes more problems for them. When people don’t know that their food, such as meat, is coming from a place housing many bacteria, they won’t fight against the companies even when they get sick because they won’t know what’s really happening. For example, I never knew about raising chickens for meat. I was fascinated to learn what they do to baby chicks to produce larger pieces of breast meat. If people don’t know what’s going on, they won’t ask these companies to rethink the way they are making food, which in the long-run allows them to keep making a lot of money. Without information to the public, companies continue on with their bad practices and do not have to fix them. In the end, it causes more hospitalizations and more recalls, which wastes the meat when everything could have been fine if the procedures would just have been fixed from the beginning and people’s health was at the forefront of their practices. I also wondered if this movie made any difference in the food industry because it’s been many years. (The movie came out before I was born.) Still, I thought this movie was very informative and thought-provoking.
I watched King Corn, and I loved it. I loved the story of the two brothers, and I loved learning about all the things corn is used for. A food that usually I eat from a can, or on the cob, is part of a whole other world, from feeding animals, to fueling cars, to barbecues, corn is amazing!!
I watched Food Fight! and something that really stood out to me that was how policy can affect food safety and the healthiness of everyone. It was really eye-opening that the characters were speaking out against the unjust and unsafe corporate food standards! It really makes me think harder about what we consume, especially since it is easy to give it no thought.
I chose to watch the film The Future of Food, a 2004 documentary on GMOs, pesticides, and chemicals in our everyday foods. This documentary provided me with a history lesson regarding the origins of pesticides and DDT, as well as speaking on the Green Revolution and what led to the mutation and interbreeding of modern day fruits and vegetables. It was interesting to learn about how these chemicals and preservatives can affect our brain chemistry and DNA. I will definitely read the labels on my next trip to the farmers market.
I watched the documentary, the Killer at Large (2008). It was scary to learn about the health effects of obesity, such as diabetes or early death. In particular, how fast food companies give food, is not based on nutritional value, but rather on consumer value. If anything, it was also so sad to learn about Brooke, and her insecurities associated with her weight. I think I will be avoiding fast food for a while, and will try to treat myself kinder in regards to my figure.
Last night, I watched the Food, Inc. I found it fascinating. I have understood how slaughtering systems have evolved in an animal science class. This movie is very educational but needs to be more accurate in depicting how animals are slaughtered. There are restraint systems that ‘comfortably kill’ animals. Temple Grandin is a great woman who changed the animal slaughtering industry by studying how animals behave. I have a different perspective on the meat industry after learning about Grandin. This movie focuses on more of the negatives of the meat industry. Did you know that adrenaline changes the taste of meat? That’s why deer shot while running have a flavor much different than a deer calmly lying down or napping.
when watching food inc it made me realize how messed up the food industry is. And how horribly the animals were slaughtered.
I have always been a big meet eater, but watching the movie Food, Inc made me feel a bit sick at one point. I never thought about the cost of being able to have a hamburger or steak whenever and This movie also discussed the risks. I am super good with picking non-risk foods, but this is just scary in my opinion. It hurt my heart to see everything that was being done.
I will most likely not being eating any store bought patty’s or fast food for a while until I feel better from this.
I watched Supersize me. It was quite disgusting seeing how big an effect eating all that fast food has an effect on you. The thing is over the month period of him eating all of that food you can really see the effect the food has over him and it disgusts me. I personally only have fast food once in a while but this movie really gave me the perspective of how bad it truly can be for you. I think I might wait a while to eat fast food again because of this.
I watched the movie called “Food,Inc”. I didn’t like it because of the slaughtering and the disease that were in the meat. It made me think about all the animals I have been eating and the way they died and the diseases they had carried.
Hello, this is Brooklyn Schramm
I watched Supersize me. I liked how it showed you how sick you would get if you only ate fast food. It is crazy how many people eat a lot of fast food and don’t realize how bad it is for their body. We need to have more movies like this one to show how bad it is. I thought it was very interesting that the more he ate even though he was getting told it is so bad for him that he just couldn’t stop because he was getting addicted.
I watched supersize me. I think this documentary really showed how unhealthy foods affect your weight and vital organs. It shows how the community should rely less on fast food and more on local food. However, organic foods can be harder to get as companies charge more for them or they can be harder to find, but the effort is worth it.
I watched the documentary called King Corn. I learned that most of the corn that we eat in the USA comes from Iowa. Cows are given a corn diet for several months before they are processed for meat. Corn is used in almost everything we eat. This documentary was a great way to show viewers how important corn is for the USA and the world.
I was really excited when I learned this week was on watching movies. I watched Supersize Me; the guy was really funny, but I was shocked by how quickly he fell sick from what he was doing. I knew doing this was already terrible, though I never believed it was this bad. I really felt bad for him, and I was fascinated by the doctor reports on how terrible this food was for human consumption.
I watched Supersize Me, and it was enlightening just how bad for your body it is to eat too much fast food. I’ve seen many videos over the years where people eat only BigMacs for a month, or similar concepts, and they all have very similar results. When you only have fast food maybe once or twice a month, you don’t realize how bad it is. But when you see someone who has eaten it every day, it’s surprising just how horrible that food is
I watched Supersize me. It was frightening to me that you could get so sick from eating fast food. It made me think about what I was eating and how much was in a portion when I go to a restaurant.
I watched killer at large and really liked the modern day topics that was talked about
I chose to watch the film “Super size me.” As I watched it, I was shocked at what I was hearing and seeing. It truly shows the problems that come with eating excessive amounts of fast food. It explains how, large and unhealthy food portions are so prevalent in American society. As I reflected on what I watched, I remembered a time where I went to the movies and tried to get a small soda. When they handed me the cup it was HUGE! I was shocked that this was their smallest size and I now understand that this is a problem all over America.
I watched the movie, “Food, Inc.”. It was very informative and interesting to see how food companies work. Honestly, it shed light on food companies’ messed-up ways of making money. I was eating a bag of chips while watching this, and I slowly wanted to throw them in the trash along with half of my pantry; knowing what these companies do is utterly disgusting.
I made the decision to watch “Supersize Me”. I think this documentary provided a better understanding of how unhealthy eating can damage not just your weight but also your organs. It also demonstrates how our community should rely less on fast food and seek out more local options. Though this appears to be a difficult undertaking to accomplish because organic and local items tend to be more expensive, making it more difficult.
The movie I watched was ” Killer at large” and it basically stated that obesity rates in the United States have been high in recent years. Former Surgeon General Richard Carmona remarked that obesity is a bigger issue than terrorism, “Obesity is a terror within. It’s destroying our society from within and unless we do something about it, the magnitude of the dilemma will dwarf 9/11 or any other terrorist event that you can point out…” he said. This really shows at a glance how our gov. is feeding Americans badly and as a result make most Americans unhealthy, on top of that it is also bad for the environment but the Gov. prioritizes money over health.
I decided to watch “Forks Over Knives”, in essence, the documentary stresses the importance of a plant based diet and the problems within the standard American diet. They also address how what we eat can drastically impact our health. In the documentary they also showed where and how they got their data using surveys, blood samples, and other acquired test results to come up with their numbers. It was extremely informative and made me think about how the food I chose to eat can effect me and my health.
I decided to watch supersize me. I thought this documentary gave a better perspective to how foods that are not healthy can affect not only your weight but your organs. It also shows how our community should rely less on fast food and find more local ways to get food. Though this does seem to be a hard task to do because organic and local products tend to have a higher price, making it more difficult for people to get access to those foods.
I watched “Dirt! The movie”
Major takeaways: industrial farming, even with vegetables, is incredibly dangerous to the environment. I thought I was doing more for the environment than I was by being a vegetarian.
This weeks homework is for all the girls to watch the trailer from each of these movies to prepare for further discussion at next weeks meeting.
Girls watched the trailers for each video as homework and then we discussed during our Zoom meeting.
Girls were most interested in King Corn and Food Inc.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bmvopJ0njRtjCuSW6HXtQTlWWCdsym3UZyHlwBh7880/edit#gid=0