Jessie Banhazl, Green City Grower's Managing Director/Owner was invited to take part in a panel discussion following Harvard Pilgrim's (HPHC)/MOS's special screening of "Food, Inc." The conversation was moderated by Louisa Kasden (health & lifestyle journalist) featuring Gary Hirshberg, Founder/CE-Yo of Stonyfield Farm and Jody Adams, Founder & Executive Chef of Rialto. In addition, Judith Frampton, RN VP of Medical Management for HPHC and David Sittenfeld, the MOS's Forum Program Manager offered their comments at the beginning of the screening, warning of the potential "discomfort" some of the images would generate as well as the great opportunity we had to engage with the panelists.If you're at all interested in food and asking questions about where it all comes from then watching this movie is probably a good thing. If you've already read Michael Pollan, Barbara Kingsolver, Eric Schlosser, and others and the well-known books "Omnivore's Dilemma", "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" and "Fast Food Nation" then you probably will not learn anything new, and just might reinforce what you already know; that our industrialized food system is good at what it does, create "food" and "food-like-substances", and has generated many unintended consequences along the way.
This not a movie review (click here for Roger Ebert's and David Edelstein's reviews) or a synopsis, it is a brief overview of some of the interesting topics and themes.
What was so fascinating about this film is the fact that there is no one bogeyman that we can both finger and pin the blame on. Sure, it's easy to target Monsanto, McDonald's, Wal-Mart, IBP, Smithfield, Cargill, and any number of large companies for suing farmers to protect their patented seeds, providing salty, sweet, and fattening food that we are hard-wired to desire, and making aisles and aisles (the average supermarket contains ~47,000 products) of inexpensive products available. But, didn't the market demand this? Sort of; policy decisions, most notably the continued subsidization of corn and soybean production, the raw materials that end up in many manufactured foods, contribute to our poor eating habits and the environmental and animal welfare issued illuminated in the film.
It's easy to notice the revolving door from industry trade associations and companies to the federal agencies that are charged with regulating these industries, the FDA and the USDA. At one point in the film, we see business cards with Federal officials' titles on the screen flip over to display their "corporate" alter-egos; it was quite interesting. It's easy to blame the politicians for appointing these "regulators". It's easy to blame the billions paid to lobbyists to represent the interests of the large companies at the expense of the average American consumer/taxpayer. What about the consumers that demand affordable food (in the US we pay the lowest proportion of our earnings for food in the world)? Ultimately, it is not one thing, person, or organization that we need to stop or change, but the system we are all part of, the way we treat what we put into our bodies, the level of consciousness we dedicate to what we eat, how it's grown and harvested, and our role in the political processes that create the systems we are all part of.
Upon the completion of the film, the crowd filling Cahner's Auditorium was invited to ask questions of the panelists and continue the conversation about food. There were some good comments and without providing a transcript of the event here's some of the key points made by the panelists:
- Jessie of Green City Growers: We're continuing to use our business as an educational tool for individuals and businesses, building and maintaining raised-bed organic farms in people's backyards and helping them understand that they can indeed grow their own food. They're also very interested in working with schools (an issue currently focused on by Slowfood USA), helping them grow healthy food, teaching them where it comes from, and creating young advocates for locally produced food. We certainly have challenges of scaling, considering the logistical needs of a distributed farming model. We're collaborating with MIT graduate students to use appropriate technologies that support our mission for sustainable food production.
- Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farm: The consumer is king. He made continued good points that as much as the industrialized food system appears like an overwhelming giant, we have the power to vote for the food we want with every dollar we spend. He also reminded us, "do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good." Yes, the organic food industry is not necessarily energy neutral and free from the same issues that afflict the traditional industrialized food economy, and it is moving us in the right direction.
- Jody Adams of Rialto: Jody talked about the balance she seeks to achieve (a very difficult one) between meeting customers' dining expectations and maintaining her mission to healthy eating. She commented on the serving sizes of protein in her entrees, specifically following nutritional guidelines for portion size and sometimes not meeting the expectations of her customers. It can be a delicate balance seeking to guide your customers' behavior without making them feel patronized.
The answer is never simple and straight-forward. There are multiple actors in this on-going real-time play and their roles change based upon the winds of the global economy and the political leanings of administrations and the public.
At Green City Growers, we're striving to create a local business that contributed to the well-being of our customers, our employees, the communities we work in, and the environment we are all a part of. Perhaps we'll be building a mini-farm in your (or your company's) backyard in the near future.
Thank you for reading, and remember that the money you spend on food makes a difference.
