Is ignorance bliss? We like to think that our readers want to know more about the food they eat so that their food choices come from a place of knowledge and understanding. With hidden videos from slaughterhouses being leaked to the public and more awareness around factory farming, it’s hard to ignore that sometimes the meals we love are produced at the expense of our ever-decreasing green pastures and at the suffering of animals.
This is a varied list of hand-picked documentaries that will hopefully create an urge in you to find out more about where your food comes from, the impact it can have on the planet and how you can make healthy diet decisions. We’re not trying to convince you to chuck out your eggs and say goodbye to Saturday night steak, just to be accountable for the choices you make.
1. Earthlings
An oldie but a goodie; this looks at the ways in which we use animals, whether that’s for food, as pets, in the fashion industry, for entertainment and for medical science. It uses hidden footage and is a great eye-opener to just how much we rely on animals in our everyday lives. You can watch the feature-length film straight off of YouTube.
2. Cowspiracy
This groundbreaking feature-length environmental documentary follows intrepid filmmaker Kip Andersen as he uncovers the most destructive industry facing the planet today, and investigates why the world’s leading environmental organisations are too afraid to talk about it.
3. Fork Over Knives
Researchers explore the possibility that people changing their diets from animal-based to plant-based can help eliminate or control degenerative diseases. It’s a must for anyone who is wondering about changing to a plant-based lifestyle for health reasons.
4. Seaspiracy
Filmmaker Ali Tabrizi, AKA The Friendly Activist, created this extraordinary short documentary about the health of our oceans and the fish living in it. When we think about eating animals, fish are often overshadowed by their feathered friends, cows, lambs and pigs. Yet we can’t continue to take the abundance of food in oceans for granted.
You can learn more about this from his talk at Vegan Futures.
5. Speciesism, the film
Filmmaker Mark Devries investigates the underworld of “factory farming” and soon discovers a growing political and intellectual movement that considers animals as important as humans. It’s funny, frightening and will make you rethink everything you thought you knew.
Are there any other films that have affected your food choices? Let us know in the comments below.
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