Friday, July 03, 2009

Dad, will you lend me your camera?

Damage on the broken camera: $224 for the repair, 4-6 weeks.

And I think I pay too much for beef? Not after seeing Food, Inc. to which I dragged Owen this afternoon. I considered the documentary a form of penance for his recent awful behavior (it goes way beyond breaking the camera), but he got deeply into it, as did I.

The movie's not as nuanced some of the books and articles that have been written about our woeful industrial food system. The filmmakers try to cram a lot into an hour and a half, including the mistreatment of migrant workers, E. coli deaths, patented seeds, downer cows, diabetes, revolving doors in Washington, etc., and the production sometimes felt a little rushed. But overall: excellent, horrifying, motivating.

The movie was really good for me. I occasionally get grumpy about the marketing hype and incredibly high prices of organic foods in my area. Maybe more than occasionally. But I can be skeptical about crunchy marketing and still easily see that it's wrong on about five different levels to buy cheap, grain-fed hamburger from Safeway. Must not do that anymore, even in a pinch. Better to give up meat altogether. Ditto for factory chicken, generic milk, and Pringles. 

Not sure, however, that I can live without a camera.


  1. Sure. You mean before our trip?

  2. That's impossible. I went to use it today and found the battery dead.

  3. I can relate to getting cranky about the food prices ($3.99 per lb for tomatoes at my DC market) but at the end of the day I agree with your assessment. Better to eat less meat or stick to the cheaper veggies than put tasteless, pesticide/hormone ridden foods into my body. I will admit I do cheat sometimes... it's just so convenient... but I'm working on it!