Food, Inc.

A significant responsibility for those living on a functional farm is caring for, then slaughtering and butchering, livestock. At least it was for me, during my teen years. Especially during my early teens, my family lived off the harvest and livestock as a primary source of food. At 13, it wasn't unusual to hear "Go catch a chicken for dinner."

I did. And it was.

Once during late summer I saw my father preparing to kill a bull. Shooting guns was fun for me at that age, so I asked if I could do it. My dad paused:

"No, you can't," he said. "Killing isn't something anyone should ever do for fun. Even killing animals for food. The animal and act should be respected."

Food, Inc., a documentary by Robert Kenner, illustrates well how the respect for that process has been lost in the modern-day industrialization of our food processing system.


Keener describes how a handful of companies in the United States has monopolized the business of food processing, causing economic, environmental and biological catastrophe along the way. Food, Inc. isn't hyperbolic, and isn't propaganda used by the likes of PETA to get folks to stop eating meat.


Food, Inc. focuses more on removing the veil that prevents consumers from knowing how large, powerful conglomerates mass produce food in a manner that may well be harmful to our society. The documentary is well done, and highly thought provoking.