Let’s rewind to right around when our beloved Juice the Blog was born.

It was at the former residence of Beej, Choof, and Colin where I first heard Brian (BLin) go on his tirade about corn due to (what I’m assuming) was his recent reading of The Omnivore’s Dilemma.  I’ve got to be honest, at the time I thought it was little more than a BriBri rant-du-jour.

I’ve been meaning to say this for a while (especially after I read The Omnivore’s Dilemma not too long ago), but I was wrong.  Mother of fuck was I wrong.

The state of food production and consumption in this country (in addition to the surrounding regulatory bodies and main corporate players) is in an atrocious state.

The path to eating better (in a manner of purchasing higher-quality foods that were more often than not organic and absent of unnecessary corn products or by-products) has been not all that difficult for me.  It’s a lifestyle that requires responsible planning, really, and nothing more (although having a vegetarian girlfriend did ease the transition for me as I was already planning meals for the both of us nightly that were vegetarian safe).

Tonight, I saw Food, Inc., and maybe it’s because I’m more sensitive to audio/visual stimulation (damn my videogame upbringing!), but I finally can relate to the level of rage and passion Brian had that night.  There are some familiar old friends in the film, with both Michael Pollan (Omnivore’s Dilemma), and Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) make significant appearances.  Upton Sinclair’s ubiquitous book The Jungle is also mentioned appropriately.

I don’t really want to take anything away from the film (not like one can really spoil a documentary film), but y’all should really go see it, even if you have read some of the aforementioned books.

I meant to post this last night.  It’s relevant to the current discussions going on here about the state of food production/agriculture today.  I’m at work now so I really can’t go too into detail about the movie, but I highly recommend it to anyone who has read The Omnivore’s Dilemma (more as a supplementary piece).

I have not read The Omnivore’s Dilemma yet, but based on Brian’s review, I am intrigued by the book. I imagine this foie gras parable would fit in snugly in the second section of the book (characterized as utopia), and the review reminded me of one of my favorite TED talks.

Dan Barber’s surprising foie gras parable

This TED talk exhibits that the paths to quality of food is possible by natural means alone. It proves the natural feeding habits of these Spanish Geese produce better tasting foie gras than the widely-accepted, artificial, cruel method of gavage.

Ultimately, the happiness of the animal is as important to the happiness of the human that consumes the animal. It makes sense. An animal living with a high level of happiness will make the life of the human happier. You can taste it. You can taste the happiness. Every time you eat a McDonald’s doub(le) chee(seburger), how do you feel afterwards? Horrible. It seems like a good idea at the time, but ultimately, you’re paying for it later. With happiness. Put down the doub chee for your happiness’ sake!

It’s really understanding the animal and listening to it. Listen. The geese don’t need to have a human brain to understand what happiness is. That’s because happiness is a purely illogical, emotional reaction to the environment. Don’t just listen to it, feel the animal. Taste the animal’s/vegetable’s happiness. Taste your happiness.