Sunday, October 30, 2011

Deconstructing Supper + GMOs

After a fun Halloween Saturday night out as my favorite hockey player, Washington Capitals Captain Alexander Ovechkin, watching hockey, dancing + cheersing the night away, I was definitely in watch-a-documentary-on-the-couch mode!   If I'm going to be lazy, I am going to multitask and learn a thing or two.  Cooking is only half of being a vegan foodie.  The other half is educating and information gathering.  I geek out on documentaries and read up internet articles but I also listen and learn through other's stories and experiences about the way things used to be with food and farming.

Food is now made to be convenient. Processed and packaged, this convenience certainly comes with a hefty price:  health issues of all sorts.  I was very, very lucky to be raised in a home where dinner was made fresh, at home, every night.  We only went out to eat for special occasions and very rarely bought fast food (lucky me!).  The downside to this convenience is that you really don't know what you are eating and just how nutritious it is unless you prepare it yourself.  You have no idea what makes up the ingredients in a meal you are trusting to be complete. All I have to say is: Taco Bell Chemical Meat.  Processed and genetically modified "food" makes up a huge part of the American diet.  Food should not be grown in laboratories with "this and that" genes.  Urban sprawl and technology are taking away from the once opportune method that is farming and forcing consumers to believe that genetically modified food is safe and has higher yield.  This couldn't be further from the truth.

In "Deconstructing Supper" the questions are posed as to what are Genetically Modified Organisms, known as GMOs, and are they helpful or harmful.  When Chef John Bishop is asked about the food at his restaurant, Bishop's, particularly if it is genetically modified or not, he is unable to answer the question and finds himself curious where his food is coming from and diving into what GMOs are through biotech companies and then visits India to see how a village is living organically.  One question starts a quest.  He sees both sides from their point of view and in the end he decides to turn his restaurant to an all-organic establishment.

The film is one of many I've watched concentrating on the importance of eating an organic diet.  "Food Beware:  The French Organic Revolution" was another great doc showing how everyone works together to make the change to organic farming and eating.  The entire city goes organic and there are changes within the schools to serve only organic food.  They begin teaching them about the health benefits, the way food should taste and even have them working on their own organic garden.  This is all done in efforts to reduce the cancer statistics in their region and promote a more sustainable, local way of eating to children.  Educating the young on a healthy organic diet and eating locally is something I feel needs to be done here in the United States as children have alarming rates of cancer, obesity and diabetes.

It is so important to know where your food came from and whether it is organic or not.  One of the top five companies involved in GMOs is Monsanto.  In a nutshell, they patent seeds with their Round-Up Ready formula and whenever it is discovered that a seed has made it's way to a farm where they do not use the Monsanto patented seeds, they are able to sue the farmers, putting them out of business.  So local farmers are getting screwed and the food that is made from their seeds are often described as "franken foods"...yum.


More on Monsanto and how horrible they are, the lies they tell, and the facts can be read here.
Choose to be educated and informed.
What you don't know could kill you.

Here's my last little tid bit from a site I found after searching for "Deconstructing Supper."  A review was posted by the lovely Sabrina Desjardins, the woman behind Becomethevoice.com and she left the review ending on this very inspirational note that I wanted to share as well! We have the power!  Happy Halloween!

"I leave you with this: keep in mind that we have the power to make change as consumers. Businesses operate by our demand. Big and small companies need our business. It is time to stop following the dictates of these companies and tell them what we want and what we will buy. Watch the film, keep learning, ask questions and let’s keep working together to achieve what we all deserve: optimum health, healthy food, healthy land and a long happy life." - Sabrina Desjardins, Becomethevoice.com 

To your health!
Besos, Besos <3 Adri Ovechkin :)

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