<p>I watched it this past Saturday night and am still very disturbed, particularly by the behavior of Monsanto and the U. S. Supreme Court, especially Justice Clarence Thomas.</p>
<p>I sounds dubious, I know, but can you believe that small farmers who have chosen not to use Monsanto’s genetically modified corn are being sued by Monsanto for doing just that because the dna of their crops is being infiltrated by that of the GMO corn? The same farmers (who did not choose to use the GMO corn) are also being sued for keeping and cleaning corn to use as seed for next year’s crop (which of course they’ve done for years with their unmodified corn), which the Supreme Court ruled Monsanto has proprietary rights to. The farmers who did choose to use the GMO corn are also disallowed from using this year’s crop for next year’s seed–they have to buy it again from Monsanto.</p>
<p>So, does this mean if I spray paint my car out in my driveway and my neighbor’s car out in his driveway gets oversprayed I can sue my neighbor for the use of my paint?</p>
<p>BTW, Thomas was formerly counsel to Monsanto and he wrote the majority decision. Lovely.</p>
<p>I saw it, and yes, it i very disturbing. I am very glad that I stopped eating meat 3 years ago. If I could confine myself to just eating the 2 tomatoes and one green pepper that I managed to grow in my garden this year, I would be a lot less worried about problems with the food I’m eating.</p>
<p>Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia apparently never heard the word “recuse.” Or “ethics.”</p>
<p>Scalia had very close family members working for the Bush/GOP organization when he ruled on Bush v Gore.</p>
<p>I recall reading that as a SCOTUS justice Thurgood Marshall recused himself from cases involving the civil rights legal organization–the NAACP legal arm?-- with which he worked on so many landmark cases.</p>
<p>It would be interesting to know whether the other current members of the court are guilty of such apparent conflict of interest.</p>
<p>LOL, NSM. This year my garden produced precisely one handful of basil. No tomatoes, no peppers, no chard, no beet greens, no nothing. Between the rain, the deer, and the gophers who live under by garage, it was a complete bust.</p>
<p>NSM, my DH has been vegan for 4+ years and DS vegetarian, so I’ve been a default vegetarian except for once weekly restaurant mean or, mostly, fish. Now I’m taking our vegan/vegetarian diet organic.</p>
<p>I recently saw it for an extra credit project. I knew most of the information already, which is why I’m a vegan. Unfortunately I don’t have the money to buy organically, but buy from the farmers market whenever possible.</p>
<p>I found the movie to be depressing and negative… Everyone on the “good side” seemed to lose against the companies, except maybe for Oprah. </p>
<p>I also found it odd how they began talking negatively about the meat industry and then the author orders a burger at the diner…</p>
<p>Haven’t seen it yet, but am prepared to be depressed when I do. Nothing about Monsanto would surprise me and I am aware of the lawsuits discussed. I have had a personal, totally ineffective, boycott against Monsanto for years due to their manufacturing of rGBH. Unfortunately many of Obama’s USDA and FDA nominees have strong ties to Monsanto.</p>
<p>SOad, I agree it certainly was depressing, but I’m not sure how one would present such material without being negative.</p>
<p>I think the author was making a point that he’s a mainstream kind of guy–no PETA membership card in his wallet. The movie is not anti-omnivore at all. This is really a key point–the movie is a wake up call for all of us. If only the media would report it as if Tiger Woods had schtupped (sp?) a cow! LOL</p>
<p>I like there to be positives in movies, so people can come out thinking, “Wow! Maybe I can do something to change this” rather than “WOW, they have so much money, how will my choice ever affect anything?”</p>
<p>That is why I like Jane Goodall’s “Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species Are Being Rescued from the Brink” It shows the positives on a usually depressing topic: It gives a glimmer of hope.</p>
<p>I think there are positives every where, for instance the number of farmers markets are increasing last I checked. People might not realize there is one close to them (or at least co-op). </p>
<p>And while I can totally see the author being a regular omnivore eating guy, if you’re going to make an entire movie about the fallacies of the mainstream food industry (meat being a biggie), why order a burger from a diner who probably got their meat from that industry? Why not show him making a more responsible decision and “vote with his wallet?”</p>
<p>Saw the movie. Interesting and well done but not really surprising to me since I’ve been keeping up with Michael Pollans books. </p>
<p>I can see why some might become vegans after this…but really…it’s much more than just about meat. Seeing those animals tortured is tough. But the wheat, corn and soy industries are huge industrialized machines - and they are having a negative impact on our environment. And those big industrialized machines kill a lot of critters in the fields. </p>
<p>I read a book recently called the Vegetarian Myth…very interesting. </p>
<p>In any case, I can’t eat hamburger any more. I eat mostly veggies, and grains plus some fish and some organic chicken. The rare times that I get beef, it’s grass fed. I’m looking into joining a CSA that offers fresh produce (grown without pesticides) and pasture chicken and eggs. I think I could be a vegetarian but I love eggs and yogurt too much to go to vegan. So I buy organic and local and do my best. Oh…and I’m an obsessive label reader…I want to know what I’m eating. As a result, I’ve been avoiding most processed foods, even innocent foods like supermarket bread. </p>
<p>Pollan’s got some good rules (“Only five ingredients, none that you cant pronounce”, “eat, less mostly plants”). I follow him on Twitter. Though I agree that the hamburger eating scene was a bit much.</p>
<p>I read The Omnivore’s Dilemma a couple years ago when a cool, sweet octogenarian who bags groceries at my local market noticed my buying habits and suggested the book to me. I also had a passing familiarity with The China Study (an abstract, really) until recently when my husband read the whole thing and he got converted, which essentially means I did as well since I’m the cook. I’ve been having fun actually and getting lots of ideas from vegweb.com–some great recipes.</p>
<p>Those were both good reads. I don’t think we can post blog links, but if you go to Google and put in " fat free vegan kitchen " and click the first link, its a great food recipe blog with awesome pictures. :)</p>
<p>I am familiar with the China Study and I give it good marks for encouraging folks to eat more fruit and veggies. But I DON"T agree with the conclusion that you must cut out animal fat. Eating a small amount of animal protein (pasture chicken, low mercury fish, and grass fed beed) doesn’t seem to be harmful to one’s health. And it doesn’t support factory farming either.<br>
For balance, I suggest reading the Vegetarian Myth (written by a woman who was a vegan for 20 years).
<a href=“The China Study | Science-Based Medicine”>The China Study | Science-Based Medicine;
“Vegetarians form a non-homogenous group consisting of semivegetarians (plant food, dairy products, eggs and fish), lacto-ovo vegetarians (plant food, dairy products, eggs) and vegans (plant food only). According to pure vegetarian ideologists, people consuming vegetarian diet have better health and live longer than nonvegetarians, because persons consuming milk, dairy products, meat, eggs and fish are at health risk.In fact the most healthy people in Europe are inhabitants of Iceland, Switzerland and Scandinavia, consuming great amounts of food of animal origin. Meta-analysis of several prospective studies showed no significant differences in the mortality caused by colorectal, stomach, lung, prostate or breast cancers and stroke between vegetarians and “health-conscious” nonvegetarians. In vegetarians, a decrease of ischemic heart disease mortality was observed probably due to lower total serum cholesterol levels, lower prevalence of obesity and higher consumption of antioxidants. Very probably, an ample consumption of fruits and vegetables and not the exclusion of meat make vegetarians healthful.”</p>
<p>SOad I’ve been frequenting that blog for a while and like it very much. There’s also a searchable recipe database that can be found (probably) by googling something like “fat free dot com”. It’s not as comprehensive in terms of recommendations, reviews, or pictures, but it’s voluminous.</p>
<p>Toneranger, thanks for the recommendation. I’ll check out the book.</p>
<p>This was the best movie I saw this year. My partner and I have made some small changes since we saw it: chicken without hormones or antibiotics, much less chicken and almost no beef, more fish, much less eggs- and only without hormones or antibiotics, much more organic fruits and vegetables. Thanks for posting this thread- I hope more people see it. Yes it’s depressing, but it’s educational, and it’s “news you can use”.</p>
<p>I don’t knock some peoples’ preference for organic goods, but I’m not convinced that consuming them rather than conventionally farmed stuff will make much of a difference (I was happy when public opposition proved to be the near demise of BHT milk). And, by the way, I think farmed fish is good idea, as long as there is enforcement of health and environmental regulations at the holding pens.</p>
<p>Well, I have found it close to impossible to get ALL organic produce…even the best stores like Whole Foods fall short. I try to get certain fruits and veggies organic if I can. Strawberrres (tough to find in winter sometimes) and red peppers are on my list. Both absorb LOTS of pesticides. Apples too. But I don’t much care about bananas, or avocados, or other items with think skins. </p>
<p>Farmed fish is fine from quality providers. Whole Foods, Wegmans…both inspect their facilities and have high standards.</p>
<p>One interesting thing about the movie. Chipotle is held up as an example of a fast food provider with the right approach on sourcing food. Well, I’ll give them their props for that. But I checked out the nutritional tables and their food is FULL of fat and sodium. Very disappointing. My approach? Make fajitas and burritos at home…at least I know what’s in them and can choose my own high-quality ingredients. That goes for pizza too. I’m not eating out much anymore!</p>