BOOK REVIEW: Food, Inc.
Food, Inc: How Industrial Food Is Making Us Sicker, Fatter and Poorer — And what you can do about it;
Edited by Karl Weber; Public Affairs;
Pages: 304; Price: $14.95
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Be warned. After reading this book, every morsel you eat is likely to turn to dirt in your mouth. Either that, or you may seriously start thinking about taking up gardening and growing your own vegetables.
The eternal dilemma of what one should eat just got harder after reading Food Inc. as it mercilessly exposes the way food is produced today. In the past decade, there has been a lot of debate and activism around the food we should consume, and sustainable agriculture practices. Whether it is obesity, global food shortage, biofuels versus food controversy, the storm over genetically modified crops or the excessive use of pesticides, several issues have led nations to introspect. In the past, books such as Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the American Meal and Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma have all explored the farm-to-table journey and created quite a lot of food for thought.
Most recently, the swine flu epidemic, which is alleged to have originated from the factory farms in the US, is forcing people to think such farms could be super incubators for viruses.
This soon-to-be-released book that accompanies the documentary Food Inc. is a grim continuation of the same theme, urging for more reforms in the food production system as well as a relook at what we should be eating. It opens with an interview of Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, where he describes the power of food corporations and how the influence they have over government policy, and how short-sighted greed ends up compromising the health of a nation. Schlosser admits that in the 10 years since the book was published, awareness has increased and more people are beginning to eat healthier. But it is not enough, he says, and calls for more widespread change and even offers some solutions.
The momentum of the powerful opener does not slide as shortly thereafter, Robert Kenner, director of the film Food Inc., describes the making of the movie, giving detailed accounts of the downright hostility they faced from food corporations who denied access to his crew. In fact, it all sounds just like a Robin Cook thriller — but far more horrific because some of these corporations are names we all are familiar with, and whose products we consume everyday.
Going beyond the title, this book is not just about food. It is also an exposé on the unhealthy practices of big corporations. So, we get to read about the exploitation of farm hands (mostly illegal immigrants from Mexico), the kind of energy wastage in industrial farming, how environmental norms are being flouted and how there is little concern about animal welfare.
 Karl Weber is a writer and editor based in New York. He collaborated with Muhammad Yunus on his bestseller Creating A World Without Poverty; edited The Best of I.F. Stone; and co-authored The Triple Bottom Line: How Today’s Best-Run Companies Are Achieving Economic, Social and Environmental Success – And How You Can Too with Andrew W. Savitz |
There are 13 essays in the book, some very hard-hitting and compelling, others not so convincing. But all of them provide new perspectives and compel you to start thinking about issues that one had only nebulous knowledge about. For instance, the piece ‘Dirty Six’, which talks about the worst animal practices in agribusiness — egg-laying hens packed in battery cages, the way livers of ducks and geese are enlarged by force-feeding huge amount of food through a long pipe thrust down their throats — really brings home the inhuman side of farming.
Although mostly based on the farm practices in the US, the book strikes a chord as most of these issues are pretty much global. We, in India, especially can identify with much of what is being talked about, such as the obesity epidemic and invasion of fast food. Local activists have been voicing their concerns about taking a cue from western crop land management rather than finding solutions in our traditional subsistence farming methods. The threat of industrialisation, GM crops and pesticides in our food stream are all too real.
The book also touches upon world hunger and the crisis confronting developing nations — Grameen Bank’s Mohammad Yunus describes how a financial investment is required by developing nations to tackle the silent tsunami of hunger. Lamenting the fact that when the global financial crisis broke out, the food crisis issue was relegated to the background, he suggests both crises to be treated as one.
The best part about this book is that there are solutions given throughout. Almost all the contributors have interesting prescriptions — not just for policymakers and corporations, but for you as an individual as well. Although the picture painted is horrific and scary, what makes this book stand out from the shrill, strident attacking volumes usually favoured by food activists are the rational solutions offered.
If you think you are too small to contribute and whatever you do will just be a drop in the bucket, then Pollan, also a contributor to this book, has a ready answer, spelling out why you should bother and how one little action could lead to a viral social change. Who knows, growing that garden may be the best option after all.
This review was published in the Businessworld Issue dated 19-25 May 2009
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