Last week, I was invited to take part in a panel discussion at the premiere of the movie, FOOD, INC. along with Mahaya Menon, a well known herbalist, Dr. George Jacobs, President of the Vegetarian Society, Singapore and Ivy Singh, the owner of the popular Bollywood Veggies Farm. The movie, directed by featured well-known critics of the modern food industry – Eric Schlosser, author of “The Fast Food Nation” and Michael Pollan of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” fame. The movie came down heavily on the agribusiness industry, the ruthless treatment of animals, farmers, workers(mostly lowly paid, immigrant workers) and the environment. In the relentless pursuit of profit, all these are easily pressured, manipulated and dispensed with at the will of large agribusiness, who work hand-in-glove with the regulatory authorities. The attack on Monsanto was definitely one of the highlights of the film, exposing the arm twisting tactics by the company of farmers who are unwittingly caught infringing their patent on seeds which are anyway made using controversial GM technology and intentions. It’s an important movie, albeit an incomplete one, with lots of elements to the food industry that could have been covered. It’s definitely an America-centric movie, for one. An international dimension would have shown the industrialisation of agriculture, increase in livestock production through factory farming and the monopolisation (read Monsantisation) of seeds are phenomena that are happening in countries like India and China too. Environmental impacts of large agribusinesses could have been given more attention, such as the impact of increasing meat consumption on land and water usage, as well as exacerbating world hunger. Surprisingly, neither Schlosser nor Pollan talked about how important it is to reduce meat consumption and processed foods. Environmental movies coming to mainstream cinema is a new and welcome trend indeed. Let’s show our support by going to the theatre!