Review of Food Inc.

Today as a family we watched the documentary Food, Inc. In part because we wanted to have a visual representation for Willem to see of where our food comes from and also because its a topic that my husband and I are interested in. If you ask him, my husband would likely say that he doesn't have time to make the changes in our habits, being a PhD student and father to two young ones. Lucky for him, he has me who uses quiet time to learn about ways we can be more respectful of the world in which we live.

Pleasantly, I found that Food, Inc. is available to watch instantly on Netflix so we were able to add it to our list last night and watch it today.

If you don't know what Food, Inc is about yet, here is the official trailer to view:


The documentary followed some of the main themes of Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma rather closely: the overabundance of corn in our industry and its applied uses, and the feedlot method of meat, egg and dairy production while emphasizing food safety and health concerns for the general American population. Joel Salatin, a beyond organic farmer in Virginia, is feature prominently here just as in Omnivore's Dilemma. Here he provides commentary on the "So What?" of the food industry's ways as well as demonstrating the alternatives to commercial food production.

Interestingly, Willem was not disturbed by Salatin's open air chicken butchering operation while he was very disturbed at the methods employed in slaughtering hogs. I often wonder if he will choose to be a vegetarian.

The main critique I will offer on this documentary is that it does not address the area of produce production. It mentions briefly how fruits and vegetables are picked before ripeness and then gassed before appearing on supermarket shelves, but fails to revisit or discuss the issue any further. Conspicuously, produce remains on the periphery, without discussing The Dirty Dozen, soil science and organic farming. Also missing is emphasis on buying local.

Yet, the website of the documentary makes up for this with links to:

• The Eat Well Guide which allows consumers to search by their location for local, sustainable food options. We are lucky living in Seattle to be surrounded by options such as these. Many of which I'm just beginning to discover.
• A reading list with titles such as The Omnivore's Dilemma, An Eater's Manifesto, Fast Food Nation and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (which is next on my reading list on this topic).
• Activism opportunities as well as suggestions for "voting with your money." Surprising to me is the filmmakers involvement with the organization MomsRising! in lobbying for healthier food options in public schools through the USFA food programs.
  

This has been a topic that I've been learning about for awhile and like with attachment parenting practices, I find that it is a process where one doesn't, in a day, become all or nothing into it. This is a topic that I've become much more aware of and really began learning about when I was about to introduce solids foods to Willem. At the time, we could not afford organic produce and honestly for awhile I wasn't convinced on the importance of it.

Over time, I've started paying more attention to food labels and where things are coming from.

Last year I found a bread maker that gives me options without high fructose corn syrup made local to me. I'm still working on bagels but right now I'm content enough with the brand I'm getting that doesn't use high fructose corn syrup like all the other brands available at my local grocery stores.

Tonight, I made my first order for home delivery organic produce . Its a shock to learn that you can get sustainable, mainly locally grown produce delivered to your home for less than you can buy at the grocery store.

Soon, we will be getting involved with a local pick-up for fresh milk from a dairy nearby. Basically, I'm waiting to use the last half gallon of milk in our refrigerator.

An upcoming project for me is to learn about container gardening. I have a goal for the next growing year to grow my own tomatoes and basil for caprese salad, strawberries and rosemary. We haven't been able to do this in the past because each year we've left our home during the growing season. There's a change that will happen again, so possibly this gardening effort will happen at my mom's house instead of at mine.

We have a long way to go on this but little at a time, I'm incorporating changes into my family's consumption. Happily, this is one area that my husband is pleased to go along with, unlike other crunchy behaviors. We'll save that for another post, though.

In large part, this topic is important and becoming increasingly more so as we are beginning to teach our three year old about responsibility to the earth and healthy choices. At each meal, we pray for our food to be blessed and I have often felt awful for wanting to pray to be protected from the hidden dangers in the food we are eating. As in the Native American tradition, I'm teaching Willem to be thankful to the plants and animals we eat and not just to the Creator who put them on earth for our consumption. Its wonderful to be married to a biologist who is teaching our child about life cycles, and the food web, as well as the concept of stewardship, responsibility and gratitude.

Review of "Pregnant in America"

For Christmas, I was given a copy of Pregnant in America a documentary film that chronicles an expectant couple as they learn about the process of birth and their options as parents and consumers. Over the course of the pregnancy, they unearth the whole drama that is choosing between hospital and out of hospital birth with all the propaganda employed against parents who desire to become apart of the statistical exception.

In some ways, I liked this movie more than the Business of Being Born. I like that the film follows the journey of a family and especially enjoyed how the filmmaker connected personally to the experts that he interviewed. Robbie Davis Floyd was featured in a touching interview where she turned it around and became the interviewer anthropologist that she is. I was touched by her compassion, astuteness and understanding. Another interview that I found very compelling took place outside the FDA offices where Maddie Oden delivered a petition to stop the administering of Cytotec to pregnant women. It highlights the story of the Tatia Oden French Foundation in such a way that the issue is made clear how its misuse can harm families.

The facts and statistics presented were consistent with all that I've read and learned about birth and provides a companion film to the Business of Being Born and Orgasmic Birth.

All three are great movies to share with expectant families who may be among the uninitiated in the discrepancy between evidence and practice. In a way, I feel that Pregnant in American is more convincing on this score, showing how the choice to birth at home is a valid choice where help when needed is effective and accessible.


*Spoiler* The family chooses to transfer to the hospital after a peaceful home birth because of concern over the baby's breathing. The transfer may not have been necessary, but the parents chose to consult with experts over a valid concern. They, and the viewers, learned how a transfer can occur smoothly, without harm coming to baby or mother and that emergency care is available when needed.

The style of the documentary imitates the style of Michael Moore pretty closely. I don't have a problem with this because I had been hoping that the controversy with birth issues would be presented in the same style. In fact, if Michael Moore tackled the topic, I don't think he would have done it as well. Michael Moore enjoys being over the top and for birth, that's not necessary. The tone of Pregnant in America is sweet and endearing with just enough anger and frustration to highlight the injustice inherent in the American maternity system.

I'm hoping to host a screening of this movie soon for a Meet-up group I belong to.

Documentary on Birth Trauma

Coming 2009 is "The Other Side of the Glass" a documentary on birth trauma from the eyes of the baby and the father. Featured in the film are Karen Strange, Sarah Buckley, David Chamberlain and Michel Odent. I'm looking forward to seeing it.

I saw it...and reserved TWO copies

Tonight I saw the Business of Being Born at the Seattle Film Festival. I had heard lots about it before finally seeing so I'd like to address some of the complaints I'd heard.

One: At one point in the movie, Michel Odent emphasizes the importance of low profile, fly on the wall type midwives. The next birth sequence shows a mother birthing her baby and the midwife reaching for the baby and bringing into the mother arms, grabbing a towel, placing it on the baby, performing a quick once over and saying "Don't mind me, just go about what your doing" (paraphrase).

The complaint I heard was that the midwife wasn't the shining example of the low profile silent midwife that Michel Odent had described. But when I watched the movie, I think I see why the film was editted in such a way. I think her statement was an effort to encourage the new mother to be absorbed in her new baby, and to allow those moments of introduction and bonding to be uninterrupted or rushed. However, I will say she wasn't completly hands off and could have been more low profile. Overall, though, I don't beleive she was a poor example of the point the movie and Odent was trying to make.

Two: I had heard the complain that the movie did not explain the director's (Abby Epstein's) preterm labor and baby's premature birth very well. Maybe since I had heard this complaint prior to seeing the movie, I was very viligant in tracking as many facts as possible. I believe it was all there--she was 4-5 weeks before her due date, Ricki Lake (not Epstien's doctor or midwife interestingly enough) noticed that her adodomen seemed unusually small for the gestational age, they transferred to the hospital because of preterm labor and because the baby is breech, and a C-section took place for that reason. I thought that sequence of events was explained pretty clearly.

Of course, I could only wish that breech delivery was a more socially acceptable method of birth than it currently is in the US, so her baby could have been born vaginally in the hospital as her baby, Matteo, still would have needed some special care due to his low birth weight (a little over 3 lbs).

Apart from addressing those complaints, I was pleased with the presentation, the history of birthing practice in the US, and the factual information given about the unnecessary interventions in use routinely today and their risks. Homebirth and midwifery practice were firmly explained as the ideal birth setting for the majority of births. I think this documentary and clips from it will be tremendous assets to the birth activists, so I am excited to receive my copies of the DVD.

I have two highlights of the show I would like to share. One was the plush pelvis and baby demonstration showing how the baby rotates into position and spirals out while navigating the pelvis during birth, at the same time showing how the pelvis expends to accomodate the baby. This was used as an illustration on helpful birthing positions and how the lithotomy position is the worst possible.

The other is being able to attend with a friend who is beginning to change her views on birthing practices. About three quarters of the way through the film, she rummaged through her purse, pulled out paper and pen and started writing a list of questions which she then grilled me about after the movie. That was a very gratifying experience for me because I saw the power of this film: it is getting women to question the maternity care system and to consider the alternatives to medicalized birth.

The Business of Being Born

The Business of Being Born, a documentary about birth in the US, is currently showing across the country. It is produced by Ricky Lake, who was disappointed to see how birth was treated in the hospital system. She resolved to have a completely different birth for her next child and planned a home birth with a midwife. The documentary shows the birth of her water baby as well as the stories of other families and the process of welcoming their children into the world. It also questions how birth is treated in the US, and that normal birthing is practically disappearing.

I am very excited to see this film. I have been waiting for it for MONTHS to come to a theater near me. And I was crushed when I missed a screening put on by the Seattle Midwifery School.

But finally, I have ample opportunity to see it! The Seattle Film Festival is doing 8 screenings of it between February 29 to March 6.

On a more personal note: My respect for Ricky Lake as a person has grown tremendously knowing that she's taken on this project. Our birth stories are pretty similar--non complicated vaginal hospital deliveries that left us feeling empty, that something was missing, or being treated wrongly in the birth process. We have both started on a path of advocating natural birth options for women who are low-risk. I intend that my next birth will be much like her second birth, out of hospital with minimal interventions, and to truly experience what normal birth is like.