Retro Garlic ... “There’s a food Ponzi scheme going on’’

Food, Inc. has opened in movie theaters this weekend, or, more to the point, in wider release.



In today's Boston Globe, Devra First interviews director/producer Robert Kenner;

Filmmaker offers 'Food' for thought

Q. Yet it seems so perfectly timed, with all the food-safety scares we’ve seen recently, the growing interest in locally produced foods, books such as Michael Pollan’s “Omnivore’s Dilemma’’ . . .

A. I feel like we’re part of an exploding movement. There are so many things coming to a head. On the one hand, there’s the financial crisis. People are realizing there was a credit Ponzi scheme, and we’re all paying the price. The government didn’t regulate it. The parallels with the food world are pretty identical. There’s a food Ponzi scheme going on. The system is totally unsustainable. It’s based on gasoline, based on pollution. Twenty to 25 percent of our carbon footprint is from growing and transporting food.

[snip]

Q. The movie seems as much about corporate power as it is about what we eat.

A. It’s about our rights, our First Amendment rights. We’re not being given information, and we’re being denied certain rights because of the “veggie libel laws’’ that make it dangerous to disparage a food. People used to be scared of governments having so much power. Now we’re realizing it’s the corporations that have it.

Q. And yet corporations aren’t particularly well represented in the film, often declining comment. It seems they missed their chance to control their message, leaving the floor to people like Barbara Kowalcyk and Moe Parr.

A. I could have done a film on nuclear terrorism and had greater access than I had here. I wanted to talk to all producers, organic and industrial. I found the industrial producers ultimately didn’t want me to look in their kitchens. They didn’t want to go on camera. They don’t want us thinking about our food. There’s this myth that our food still comes from farms. They don’t want you to know what’s in it or how it’s produced.

The Retro Part;

Strap On Your Tinfoil Chefs' Hats

Food, Inc




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