Movie Reviews
“Fast Food Nation” & “Food, Inc.” shed light on America’s fractured food system words by Heather Regen
“The way we eat has changed more in the last 50 years than in the previous 10,000.” The opening lines of “Food, Inc.” set the stage for a film that delivers a striking snapshot of America’s food system. But even though the documentary takes its viewers through cornfields, chicken farms, & the corridors of Congress, the 94 minute movie provides just that: a snapshot. The strength of “Food, Inc.” lies in its ability to capture seemingly every aspect of the food & agricultural system that powers the U.S. The past decade has seen an explosion of documentaries, films, books, & journalism delving into different facets of the industry, but “Food, Inc.” proves the most comprehensive—& the most easily digest-
ible—of them all. In 2002, almost a hundred years after Upton Sinclair wrote “The Jungle,” Eric Schlosser jolted readers (& eaters) awake with “Fast Food Nation.” Schlosser’s novel opened the floodgates for the decade’s deluge of food journalism, but still remains by far the best piece on the topic. Yet with 63 pages of miniscule notes shielding the work from fast food companies ready to yell “slander!,” it takes a while to get through. After first reading “Fast Food Nation” in seventh grade, I lent the book out to anyone who’d take it, spreading the food movement’s bible. Though the Catholic side of my family taught me to eat fish on Fridays, & the Jewish side kept me from mixing meat with milk, I’ve become an Evangelical when it comes to food. Schlosser’s work gripped others as well, & soon movie offers came flooding in. The author, however, was wary. When asked if “Fast Food Nation” would become a film, he told Robert Boynton, “I’d rather have it never made than run the risk of their watering it down & turning it into something icky.” Despite Schlosser’s reluctance, a drama called “Fast Food Nation” made it out in 2006. Packed with an oddly-matched