Ever wonder just what makes fast food so fast? Squamish audiences get a chance to learn about the business of mass food production with a screening of Food Inc. at the Adventure Centre Thursday (Nov. 26).
In Food Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on the United States food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that's been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of the government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA, and making the argument that the 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, insecticide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of e coli, the harmful bacteria that cause illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually," he says. "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) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield Farms' Gary Hirschberg and Polyface Farms' Joe 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.
MASS Cinema, a monthly film screening series of the best in Canadian and world cinema presents the award-winning documentary Thursday (Nov. 26) at 7 p.m. at the Squamish Adventure Centre.
Tickets are $8 in advance, $10 at the door. Seating is limited. This screening is also presented in partnership with Squamish's The Cup Bistro and Deli.
MASS Cinema is sponsored by The Chief and presented in partnership with the Toronto International Film Festival's Film Circuit. MASS Cinema is an initiative of the Media Arts Society of Squamish. For more information see www.mediaartssquamish.com.
