Food, Inc.

In Nutrition & Sanitation today, was watched Food, Inc. This is the second time I have watched this documentary. It is something I firmly believe everyone should see at least once. It is completely eye-opening, shocking, informative, and engaging. It really gives the viewer a fascinating perspective on how foods are manufactured, how workers are treated, how cattle/chickens/etc. are treated, and how much influence a small number of companies have over our food chain. Seriously, it's fascinating.

In the film, Eric Schlosser speaks - he wrote Fast Food Nation, which I read a few years ago and also found eye-opening. Michael Pollan also speaks often in the film; he does extensive research and has written various books on how we consume food, where food comes from, etc. These are things I never really gave much thought to until the past few years, but I find the research informative and stimulating. If you really want a push to buy local, go organic and follow these recent trends as part of your lifestyle, this film will give you the push you need. If you're looking for a good documentary, definitely give this film a look. You can easily do a google search for its website as well, if you want more info.

So, there's my public service announcement for the month, and it's only September 1. Excellent.

I spent a good part of the last few hours engaged in homework. Yes, I do have required readings, online homework, online quizzes, and general studying for in-class quizzes on a pretty consistent basis. For example, each week in my Bakeshop class, we do costing for the recipes we make; this means that we calculate how much each ounce of product costs and how much our product costs per recipe. We then calculate how much the product could be sold at wholesale or retail. It's really amazing how cheap some products are to make when ingredients are purchased in bulk. Costing can influence what ingredients are made, which influences menus, which influences pricing, etc. It is definitely good practice for the real world.

Homeworking wasn't so bad today because the Phillies had an afternoon game, and thanks to cousin Jen, I've been watching the Phils on the internet. So, all in all, a pretty good day. And, the Comcast tech came to give me a new dvr box so my recordings will function properly when the new tv season starts in two weeks. And finally, I did get to taste the apple torte from Monday - it was pretty good, considering it took a boatload of steps to prepare!