As part of the Eat Real! Food Day events this week, Students for a Green Campus, Student Dietetics Association, Environmental Studies Minor, Office of Sustainability, and Real Food Rebels sponsored a screening of Fed Up, a documentary about the food industry. The film was shown at the Overby Center on Wednesday, October 8.
“”Fed Up” is in tandem with what these groups stand for, which is finding out more about what we are eating,” said Alex Borst, outreach chair for the Real Food Rebels and media chair for Students for a Green Campus.
“Fed Up” is a documentary that focuses on the food industry in the United States and how it effects rising rates of childhood obesity.
“The film is by the same people who created an “Inconvenient Truth,”” Borst said. “There are a lot of celebrity people in it and it just came out in late September, so it’s very current. It focuses on America, the kind of food we eat now and that we will eat in the future. It’s an important message for anyone who lives in America.”
The mission to educate others on the American food industry, as well as local food, is a group effort.
“Students for a Green Campus, Student Dietetics Association, Environmental Studies Minor, Office of Sustainability, and Real Food Rebels are all different groups but we all have a collective idea of promoting sustainability and education concerning the food industry,” Borst stated.
“Fed Up” falls in line with the trend of current, popular documentaries such as “Food Inc.” and “Supersize Me,” by engaging their audience about modern day issues.
“The documentary is good because it’s very informative and well produced. It’s engaging,” said Sarah Meeks, freshman International Studies major. “They make a good point in the movie of knowing things outside of just what the media says. They go beyond the statistics.”
Still, the “Fed Up” crew had a slightly different commentary than many of the similar documentaries we’ve seen before.
“I think this film also highlights the marketing and lobbying aspects of the food industry, whereas “Food Inc.” focuses mainly on the production of the food we eat,” said Emmy Parkes, Nutrition and Hospitality Management Instructor at the University of the Mississippi.
“I had heard a lot about the documentary through my network of dietetics. It really highlights the political issues in the food industry, which I really try to do in my classes,” Parkes said. “I was excited to see it here at home, instead of having to go to a food festival.”
Many students turned out for the screening and the brief presentation on reading food labels, led by Parkes.
“I’m part of Students for a Green Campus and I heard about this event through that group. I’m very mindful about what I eat – at least I like to think I am,” said Meeks. “It’s not as easy to be, because a lot of the things you think are healthy really aren’t, like fruit juice.”
The “Fed Up” screening was meant to send college students, specifically, a message.
“I’d encourage college students to pay particular attention to the political issues that “Fed Up” discusses,” Parkes said. “Be aware that you have a vote in electing these people to office. Students need to take action and talk to their congressmen if we want to make healthy food more accessible.”
Students involved in the Eat Real! Food Day also want to improve the lives of their peers.
“My advice to college students is to make a point of measuring sugar and caffeine intake, so that they can live a more healthy and productive lifestyle,” Borst said. “Americans take in so much sugar everyday. In 2050, 1 in 3 Americans will have diabetes. 80 percent of the food we eat has added sugar.”
Other events to take place during the Eat Real! Food Day are the Food Day Festival and a “The State of Food at UM” Panel Discussion on Thursday, October 16. The Food Day Festival will take place in the Union Plaza and will include a farmers’ market and a mobile farm bus.
“This is the important message,” said Parkes. “People can change and make healthier choices. It may take more education and more time to improve the way we eat, but we want to encourage people to try to make lasting changes in their food environments.”
– Sara Baker
