Robert Kenner and the Progressive Food, Inc. Movement

Food, Inc. is one of the best films I saw this year. I knew it would be about the inhumane treatment of animals in slaughter houses. But I was unprepared for the information the film revealed about the corporate dominance of companies like Monsanto, and the stunning revelation that our food comes from a very small handful of companies. They package it differently to look like there is variety, but really, they are all owned by the same people.

I spoke briefly with director Robert Kenner a few days ago about Food, Inc. I asked him whether it was difficult to get people to see the film.

“It’s a daunting challenge to get people to go see where their food comes from,” Kenner told me during a phone interview. “And I don’t think it’s a coincidence. I think these food companies spend a lot of money to make us think it’s all from this farm with a white picket fence and a red barn, and that image.

“We’re beginning to realize that it’s probably not the case, and we don’t want to think about it. We have enough things to think about. But yet people are also starting to. Whether it’s get sick or diabetes, there are now a lot of health implications – and just on a societal level, this whole country has been transformed so radically.

“I was scared no one would want to see it after the financial crisis – you know, who cares about the high cost/low cost of food if you’re going hungry. But then Obama came to power and we started talking about health care and if you care about health care – and if you want to fix the health care system, you have to fix the food system.”

What appears to have happened over the past few decades is that farming and agriculture have been replaced by megacorporations that control output. They are largely unregulated because they have bought off politicians and the public had no way of knowing this. When Kenner decided to do the film, he was shocked at how little people knew about the way our food is grown and manufactured. We all still think it is like it always was. But it has radically changed.

“You used to drive across the country and see farms everywhere and now it’s corn and soy – and I remember when I first started out I would say, you know, it’s just this one or two crops. I never knew why that was.”

In terms of getting people to go see the film, Food, Inc. made around $4 million at the box office. Compare that to The Cove, which never even broke $1 million. That means that Food, Inc. was being seen. And not just by the converted. Kenner believes that it played into an already in motion food movement in this country to unearth the truth.

“We played into this movement and people actually went to the theaters. We became the 20th most successful documentary theatrically. It was pretty amazing. TIME Magazine did a cover talking about Food, Inc. and it really became part of a media explosion. And then when we came out on DVD we were doing great and then when we went on Oprah we became the number one DVD sold in America.”

“But the really great thing is that because people are watching, we’re getting traction in Washington. The more people are watching it, the more we’re getting called. we were called in front of the Secretary of Agriculture and they said, basically, if there’s a movement we will follow it and we will change but they can’t go leading too far. And that movement’s happening. And changes are starting to happen.”

This was a relief – and it has happened slowly. Kenner had read Fast Food Nation, which was one of the motivators behind making Food, Inc. Still, he takes on some corporate big wigs. Monsanto, in particular, is known for bankrupting anyone who dares to go against them. Kenner told me that, aside from many hate websites that immediately went up to try to stop the flow of information and discredit Kenner as a documentarian, Monsanto did nothing – “no injunctions, no lawsuits,” he said.

One of the reasons Food, Inc. is a film that’s difficult to watch is that it shows the treatment of meat in slaughter houses and addresses the ongoing problem of food contamination. The film goes a step further, though, and draws the parallel that if we are a society that allows this kind of treatment of animals, we are also a society that is going to allow mistreatment of workers, dissolution of communities, and on and on it goes.

“There’s a large following of people who are upset about the treatment of animals – I mean, I think that was a group that was mobilized pre-Food, Inc. It’s not like we invented the wheel – we just magnified the wheel. And we became a big spoke in that wheel. I think a lot of people are upset about the treatment of animals. But for me I found the treatment of the workers and the destruction of communities and the total disregard for the consumer even more shocking.”

Funnily enough, I’ve always believed that Americans are the only country that stuffs its food full of additives we don’t need – fillers, mostly derived from corn. And that that is what is making us fatter and unhealthier than other countries. Not true, says Kenner. “It’s a myth that it’s just an American thing. It has just gotten to London. They said ‘this is an American story, why should we be interested.’ And they’re totally conscious of GMOs [genetically modified organisms] over there. And I said, you know, you’ve kept them out of your food but what do you think your animals are eating?”

“I think there are international corporations that will do anything to increase their market share. They’re not going to stop at our borders. The day I got off the plane in England I talked about obesity rates skyrocketing and child healthcare plummeting. Basically what’s happening to the health of children: obesity, hypertension, cancer.”

One of the greatest things about Food, Inc. is that it is telling a story everyone needs to hear. It takes a position but it doesn’t shove that position down your throat. Kenner told me that many of the companies who refused to cooperate with the film now feel that they should have because it’s necessary to create more transparency for the public’s trust. Gee, you think?

Kenner and his team were willing expose the dirty little secret in the food industry – that there is far less diversity than there ever has been before.

“I think our film is as much as it is about food it’s more about the consolation of power and very few companies. It’s just that there are very few companies that are growing very few products that entirely control the marketplace. I think there’s something wrong. And they’re not letting you know what you are eating. So if you are living in a free society and in a free market, shouldn’t we have the right to know what we’re buying?”

“I always thought that in a capitalist society you could advertise and people would choose and that’s not the case. Here we’re being denied that information in a very Orwellian way. It’s too confusing, it’s in the best interest of the consumer not to have this information.”

Meanwhile, because of the film’s popularity, Monsanto is being called up on anti-trust violations. One filmmaker really can make a difference, especially with people who are willing to listen.