Entry # 7: Fresh

I think the purpose of the movie “Fresh” is to be an eye opener for the viewers. It shows the truth about the food industry in USA without cover ups. For me personally the movie is a confirmation of the theory that the health issues in our society start with the way our food is produced. We have obesity epidemic, diabetes epidemic, and nutrient deficiencies. 

The movie "Fresh" is an honest cry for help to the American society. The audience of the movie is farmers, doctors, politicians, teachers, consumers and business people across America. The tone is sometimes depressing, when the movie shows the sick, killed animals, and sometimes comical when a farmer talks to the hens: “Good morning, ladies!” It is very engaging for the viewers. The movie as a whole is full with emotions. We can see the sadness of the farmers when they were made to go through years of struggle and some of them still struggle to survive the high prices. We can see their enthusiasm in forging healthier, sustainable alternatives, offering a practical vision for the future of our food and our planet.

The movie is wonderful. It raises awareness for very important issues for our society. I will never forget the words of one of the farmers: “I am a caretaker of creation. What I am supposed to do is leave it in better shape for the next generation than I found it. Part of our responsibility is to respect the design of nature.” The farmers that the movie features are responsible, honest, decent people of our society. They do not want to grow animals in bulk, to feed them with food full with hormones, antibiotics, and GMOs. It will make the animals grow fast, but unhealthy. They do not want to feed the cows dead cows. It is not only outrages for the nature, but it brings mad cow disease, salmonella, antibiotic resistant infections to people. The movie shows the consequences of industrialized agriculture for our environment. It is a 90% lost of diversity in nature. This is a disaster for all of us. The farmers from the movie realize that if they want to grow healthy food, they have to mimic nature. 

The part that impressed me the most is where Will Allen was telling the story how he realized the difference between the American and the European food, while living in Europe. When I was listening to him, I was thinking,” I am not the only one thinking that there is a huge difference between the food in USA and Europe.” I was watching the movie and thinking, “Why people do not think like him?” Then I remembered all the commercials, the food in the cafeteria at my work, the stores, and fast food stores at every corner. I realized that it is about money. The food industry is making a huge amount of money through the processed food and fast food industry. The problem is that we as consumers pay for eating full with pesticides, antibiotics, and GMOs food. We will be the ones paying for treating gastrointestinal, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and obesity.


The purpose of the movie is to show how some farmers manage to produce healthy food by combining best of the technology with the practicality of nature wisdom. I like that the movie shows statistical data to the viewers. One example is that the industrialization of our food made it cheaper, but at the same time diminished the food of vitamins and minerals by 40 %. The producers of our food tell us that the more processed the food is, the less nutritious it is. We do not pay at the cash register now, but it will be charged at our health and the environment. The leading blocks of processed food are corn syrup and hydrogenated oil. Corn syrup brought to Americans diabetes epidemic. Hydrogenated oil consumption increases the risks of development of heart disease, strokes and diabetes, according to the American Heart Association.

 

The farmers from the movie used their abilities to start a new movement in America. “Growing Power” and “Good Nature” family farms supply consumers with healthy food, produced from small farmers. Local farmers’ organizations try to help independent farmers to survive financially. They ask us when we make decisions at the supermarket to think, because the future of local farmers depends on us, consumers. I like the optimistic tone of the movie at the end. The future of our environment is in our hands. We can transform the whole food system one person at a time. It is not an impossible dream.