RObert Kenner’s 2008 documentary Food Inc. was an angry wake-up call against the evils of industrialized food production. Now, Kenner is back with a bang, co-directing with Melissa Robredo. In the 16 years since, the food crisis hasn’t gone away, but what has changed is that the message has gotten out there. So if you’re already the kind of person who looks at the ingredients list on the back of a bag of crumpets in the supermarket, or if you’re cutting back on your meat intake, there’s probably not much you don’t already know here. Sho.
Like the proverbial shit sandwich, this documentary gives viewers a thin slice of hope wrapped in something stomach-churning. In good news, Sen. Cory Booker is on a mission in New Jersey to increase access to healthy, fresh food in low-income communities. Despite all the adversity, a few small independent dairy farmers manage to make a living in the era of large dairy farms.
But then it’s about the bad taste. Dairy and meat production has the effect of heating the climate and destroying habitat. The horror of animal abuse in mass livestock farming. The human cost of fruit picking for exploited and abused immigrants in California. And America’s fast food workers live in poverty. Like Fran, a mother of two, who desperately tells the camera: “Growing up, I never had any money to go to the doctor.”
To its credit, the film doesn’t shy away from complexity. Michael Pollan, a serious campaigner and returnee from Food, visits Impossible Foods, a maker of plant-based meat alternatives. As Pollan points out, their fake meat burgers are delicious and less damaging to the planet, but they’re also ultra-processed. And, as we just learned, people whose diets consist mainly of ultra-processed foods consume 500 more calories per day. This is a big problem for big companies because the critical funding in food production is in ultra-processing (you can make a lot of money making Doritos instead of growing corn). Like I said, there’s nothing new here, even for casual supporters of food insecurity. But it will make you think twice about what you put in your supermarket cart.
Food, Inc 2 will be shown in UK cinemas and digital platforms from June 7th
