Food Inc.

Week 2 – Discussion Guide

Deuteronomy 24:10 When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not
go into his house to get what he is offering as a pledge. 11 Stay outside and let the
man to whom you are making the loan bring the pledge out to you. 12 If the man is
poor, do not go to sleep with his pledge in your possession. 13 Return his cloak to
him by sunset so that he may sleep in it. Then he will thank you, and it will be
regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the LORD your God.
14 Do not take advantage of a hired man who is poor and needy, whether he is a
brother Israelite or an alien living in one of your towns. 15 Pay him his wages each
day before sunset, because he is poor and is counting on it. Otherwise he may cry to
the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
16 Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor children put to death for
their fathers; each is to die for his own sin.
17 Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the
widow as a pledge. 18 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your
God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this.
19 When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back
to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your
God may bless you in all the work of your hands. 20 When you beat the olives from
your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the
alien, the fatherless and the widow. 21 When you harvest the grapes in your
vineyard, do not go over the vines again. Leave what remains for the alien, the
fatherless and the widow. 22 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. That is why I
command you to do this.

Mixer
How do you feel? Who or what makes you the most angry? Why are you
angry or not angry?

Discussion
1. Where did you see injustice in this section of the film? In the case of the
woman who lost her child to the E-coli contaminated meat, the corporations are
more powerful than the government. The Hispanic family can’t afford healthy food,
the immigration exploitation in Tar Heal. What are we supposed to with it? That
feeling of anger we get is a good thing; it is the thing that’s in all of us that longs for
justice. But, what’s most important is what we do with those emotions. Our
passage from Deuteronomy reminds us that those that serve God must be the
people of justice in the world. This might be actualized by anything from activism
(like the case of woman who lost her son), to starting your own organic farm, to not
buying into the systems that support slave labor and/or environmentally unstable
practices.

2. But what if I don’t shop for my family’s food? Justice is something that
involves the whole person. I like what the Polyfarms farmer said, “If you treat these
critters this way, you will probably view other individuals and cultures with the same
disdain and disrespect.” What he said was a prophetic calling to take inventory of
your entire life, how you relate to everything really matters! How are ways you
can enact justice in your everyday life? Use your imaginations: how do you
suppose it can help with the problems we are seeing in this film? Some of
the problems addressed in this film go beyond just corporate giants picking on the
little guy (although that is the problem of empires). The problems here deal with
inequality (poverty and racism), when we address and work within inequality it
alleviates part of the injustice in the world which begins to reverse it in other parts.

3. How did watching the different animals get slaughtered make you feel?
Did you feel any different watching the chickens at Polyfarms than you did
watching the pigs at the Tar Heel slaughterhouse? What does this say
about the way we relate to our food? I (Steven) was personally uncomfortable
in both situations and I think that is an ok thing. I think that we would be more
grateful for our food, if we knew the actual cost (the animals life, the labor that went
into harvesting the grain, the attention to growing the crop) of every thing on our
plate. What else do we have to be grateful for? Erin has a really great
perspective on this from her experience of buying or better put not buying food in
NOLA. In the places where poverty is most dense, it is more difficult to find quality,
affordable, healthy food. (Remember that guy who had to drive five hours to
Polyfarm) In Nashville we have many opportunities to participate in CSA’s, we have
Whole Foods and a large population of Organic Restaurants.

Close the discussion by praying for the oppressed. Pray that we might learn
how to help alleviate the pressures of injustice and inequality.

End with everyone offering a one-word prayer for the things we are grateful
for. Close with a prayer that we may use these things we are grateful for to
bless the world and help end injustice and inequality in the name of Jesus.