Looking for something to to this weekend?

Have you seen Food, Inc.? Kyle and I have.

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From the website: In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.

Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield's Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms' Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising—and often shocking truths—about what we eat, how it's produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.

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And I know you're thinking that you don't want to watch another movie like Supersize Me. But please, give it a chance. Yes, it does talk about and show how gross food processing plants are (factory farming) - but really, that's not news. We all have known it's gross (Personally, I can barely stand to drive by a chicken truck on the freeway. Hasn't happened to you? You're lucky!) Please, watch this video for all of the other things it covers: diabetes and obesity, Kevin's Law: Foodborne Illness, pesticides, environmental impact, the global food crisis, cloning, farm worker protection and genetic engineering.

I don't agree with everything, their stance on genetic engineering for example. But I love their philosophies of sustainability, buying local and organic, and farm worker protection.

I think it's important for people to have an awareness outside of themselves and their small world, and watching this movie will contribute to that.

Since watching this movie Kyle and I have been talking a lot about the changes we plan to make in regards to food shopping and menu planning. I think the food you buy not only has a direct impact on your health but it also sends a message that you support however that food was grown and processed. We still haven't settled on anything but we're starting with baby sets - first - local and organic.