1) Precis: Those of us who eat every day and wish to continue doing so (in other words, everyone presently living in America) share a serious political, emotional, economical, environmental, even ethical conflict. The perspective and approach of food corporations has radically changed over the past 50 years - and not for the better. The majority of all food sold and consumed in our country has been genetically modified, unintelligently treated with pesticides and chemicals, supportive of animal cruelty (feeding all animals corn, antibiotics, and their own species, giving them torturous treatment and living situations), successful because of propaganda, and a result of political corruption. America's struggles with healthy food (or lack thereof) is a result of the government's biases and lack of values, and monstrously large industrial food corporations. We can fight the power of the monster corporations by disputing the injust decisions of the government, which give those corporations their power, choosing healthy, organic food and spreading the truth about what we are eating.
2) There were several similarities and differences between Omnivore's Dilemma and Food, Inc. The book had not just statistics, but explanations of studies behind the statistics, and more evidence in general. I found Omnivore's Dilemma to be less biased than Food, Inc., because it was generally more informative and thorough than the movie, which chose to add the evidence and footage that would best fulfill the authors' agenda. In some ways, the movie was more memorable because it provided effective visuals. Instead of using brain power imagining what was communicated in the book, the movie-viewer can focus on drawing inferences, because the visuals are already provided. For example, both the book and the movie described that chickens are now grown to have bigger breasts and more fat than chickens 50 years ago, but these new chickens mature and are slaughtered in much less time. The movie provided a visual of 2 chickens from both time periods, and the present chicken grew much faster than the chicken to its right, which represented chickens from 50 years ago. As they grew, the number of months corresponding their respective stages of growth increased; the months below the feet of the present-day chicken stopped at a lower number than that of the other. This visual helped demonstrate the disgustingly quick and unnatural speed at which the present day chicken grows, and unpleasant tendencies of industrial food corporations. The book did not have this visual, but instead described the facts with words - this was effective, but not as memorable. Food, Inc. had quotes from Omnivore's Dilemma, so they had some very similar food-related messages. both the book and the movie discussed truth hidden behind a veil and purposeful miscommunications, the major companies monopolizing the food system, food-causing illnesses, and evolution related explanations for our current diets. In both, the authors did a confusing thing: ate an industrially produced burger, despite their knowledge of its shortcomings. Both argue that industrial food corporations don't want us to know the truth about what we're eating, because if we did know, we wouldn't eat it.
3) Watching Food, Inc. led me to realize that our country is full of irony. It is ironic that we are famous for accomodating those who wish to lead better lives; we are the "land of the free" and the "home of the brave". Sure, we are free to vote for a presidential candidate and some other government positions, but we do not have complete freedom to know the risks of what we are eating, or to choose what to eat based on our knowledge. The reason that other countries are not so "free", is because the US has manipulated or ignored their qualms. Many people from said countries immigrate to America in hopes of a better life, where they work the jobs that no one else wants to do, experience much prosecution from American police and citizens, and have no choice but to work for the very industrial food monsters that contributed to their sorry position in the first place. It is also ironic that the "home of the brave" does not have leaders that are brave enough to withstand some criticism or forgo a paycheck. If they had bravery and valued freedom, corporate conglomerates in the food industry would not have the power and success they did, and Americans would lead better lives.
After watching Food, Inc., I feel helpless to maneuver the propaganda and industrialized food that dominates the city. I could obtain my food from food co-ops, local farms, farmer's markets, and my own garden (which I do not have), but this is an expensive endeavor, even if it is responsibly priced. I could plant a garden, but I personally do not have the funds to buy locally or truly organically, and my family is not interested in spending extra money on food, even if buying industrial food means voting for injustice, lies, monopolization of monster corporations, and using the world's quickly-diminishing supply of resources.
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