Last night we watched the movie 'Our Daily Bread' with some friends. It's a movie by Nikolaus Geyrhalter about food production (in Europe, as far as I know). The movie had no words or subtitles, just footage of the origins and process of our food. Though there was no spoken explanation to what was shown, the images said enough. I was quite horrified (I even dreamt about little piglets last night).
To me one of the saddest things was seeing the different workers at their jobs, especially those involved with livestock and poultry. They have this super mundane, monotonous work day in and day out. They showed people working with such things as chicks, cows, trees, fish, pigs, tomatoes, and more. In each situation there was no dignity in their jobs, and they had no choice about it. People spending their who day castrating piglets. Over and over and over. Or scooping up hundreds of chickens and stuffing as many as possible into crates to be processed. In wanting our food to be as efficient, cheap, and much we not only rob animals of their basic instincts and a normal life, but we do it to people too. There is all-around now regard for life and the quality thereof.
To what extent can we say that people have choice in this? I don't really know. What are the alternatives and who is in charge? Who makes jobs like this available, we the consumers, the producers, the government? How much farther can/will this go?
In the past I've been somewhat aware of the food production issue, but i think I mostly viewed it in terms of health/nutrition. How is food production effecting my health? I knew there was a difference in mass produced food compared to what would come from the small farmer, but it wasn't a huge issue. Maybe it's not as healthy, but then again, people are living longer these days then they were before the age of mass production. And it wasn't as much where the food was coming from as what food people choose that makes them unhealthy. Organic bacon, sweets, and butter isn't going to make you healthy.
Since seeing this documentary I feel this issue in a new light and the bigger pictures. This simply isn't they way things are supposed to be.
