Robert Kenner, director of Food, Inc., said he did not go into making the Oscar-nominated film as a food activist but as a filmmaker. “The tailwinds of this food movement were so powerful that it’s hard to walk away from,” Kenner said in a keynote address on Saturday evening in McCormick Tribune Center forum. The event was part of the fourth annual Inspire Symposium, hosted by Inspire Media.
“It was very enlightening,” said visiting Northwestern parent Sharon DeJong, who had previously seen the documentary. “It’s always great to hear the additional insight.”
Throughout the address, Kenner emphasized the problems of a centralized system of corporations, expressing that “the more that people began saying no [to interviews], the more I realized this was going to be an important film.” He added that “everything about our food system is consolidated and centralized.”
Kenner also pointed to the subsidy of crops such as corn and soy as a problem. “What we call specialty crops… anything that keeps us healthy, they are not supported in any way,” Kenner said. “What’s wrong is we’ve made it cheaper to buy a burger and processed food than fresh fruit and vegetables… your generation will live less long than your parents’ generation, and it’s because of this food system.”
Food, Inc. is a “story of our rights as citizens,” Kenner claimed. “Time after time we’re being told that it’s not in our interest to get this information. That’s the biggest thing I learned in making this movie.” Kenner followed with a clip from Food, Inc. about Oprah Winfrey’s trial against the beef industry after being sued for speaking out about mad cow disease on her talk show. Using this as a bridge to discuss economic incentives for corporations, Kenner then asked, “how do we change the idea of quarterly profits for corporations? We have to expand the concept of what it means to be a shareholder.”
Claiming that consumers can affect change in corporations, Kenner ended the keynote with ways to change this centralized system, starting off on the individual level by changing personal diets. He then suggested putting pressure on corporations to make them “better citizens” and changing the government to create a “fair and balanced playing field.”
Finally, Kenner closed the address with a relatable message: “We need bold journalists who are ready to go out and tell the truth,” Kenner stated. “When you’re telling the truth, people listen and we can make big changes.”
Medill sophomore Maryam Jameel said she has never seen the film but now wants to. “Everything he said was very compelling,” Jameel said. “I’m not really sure what to eat now.”
Full Disclosure: Maryam Jameel previously contributed to North by Northwestern.