Ok, so I really didn't meet him, but I got to listen to him speak and see him in person. Being the food geek that I am, I was a little starstruck.
Robert Kenner spoke at this year's State of the Plate DC. State of the Plate DC was a one-day conference focusing on the efforts and collaboration of farmers, distributors and chefs who are working with sustainable meats.
In case you don't know who Robert Kenner is, he is the director, producer and writer of Food, Inc. I know you guys remember this movie. It is, by far, one of the best educational films that I've ever seen. I think it's because the movie took everything that I was trying to figure out by reading books, articles and watching other films and putting it into language that I could understand. I don't think I need to go into details about how awesome this movie is. If you haven't seen it, watch it. It's on Netflix right now.
Food, Inc. is not Kenner's only claim to fame. He's worked on films highlighting many other issues ranging from politics to the 1918 flu epidemic. Food, Inc.'s success has left a trail of curious consumers and I believed played a part in the sustainable food movement. Between this film, Fast Food Nation and books like Omnivore's Dilemma, there as been an obvious increase in interest in farming, local food and sustainable eating.
Kenner's speech at State of the Plate featured clips from the film and little facts that you would only be able to hear straight from the source as well as highlighting some of the major points brought to light in the film.
Fast food doesn't solely exist in McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy's. Supermarkets are filled with fast food. Think about the amount of "raw food" vs. "processed foods" in the supermarket. This goes back to the shopping concept that we should abide by - shop the borders of your grocery store. If you think about it, the only food in it's most natural state usually are in the borders (not in the aisles) of the grocery store. Usually the produce is the first thing that you see in the grocery store and if you continue to follow the outside borders you'll find fruits, vegetables and meats. The aisles are filled with processed foods and they take up about 90% of our grocery options.
We spend less of our paycheck on food right now than at any other time. Why is this? Why isn't food our top spending priority? The food that you are "saving" now by buying cheap processed foods is usually paid back later in life in your medical bills. Kenner stated there is a "high cost to low cost food". It's time to look at the "cost for the next thirty years rather than the next three weeks".
People are wearing "space suits" to spray the strawberries that we EAT. If it's not safe to walk in a field of strawberries, why on earth would we want to eat the strawberries???
We are eating 300 more calories per day than 30 years ago. Personally, I think it's way more than that.
Bad food will take time to see the effects. Isn't this the case for everything? There once was a time when everyone didn't think that cigarettes were bad for our bodies. I argue about this a lot - why are we living longer even though we are eating "bad food"? The effect of this kind of food on our bodies is going to take time to see the drastic results. Some of consequences are pretty evident though, like childhood obesity and diabetes.
Kenner spent more in legal fees during the filming of Food Inc. than all of his other films combined. I actually think he said fifteen times more the total of his other films. Food companies will not hesitate to bring about a lawsuit if someone is speaking badly about their name.
It was really exciting to hear Kenner kick off the conference. He really set the tone for the rest of the day's events. His movie reaches out to the general public and from that point on it takes the sole person to decide if they want to make the changes. It was those people that were in the room that day. Together we listened to many other great speakers and learned more about how we can start making changes.
I still have a lot more to recap for you! Stay tuned...
