Just Eat It: Documentary Analysis

What do you think when you hear the words grocery store? Do you visualize perfect fruit and vegetable fillings the aisles? This is concept that many consumers have come to know. What many consumers do not realize is this is not ideal. These were my same thoughts before I started volunteering at a Farmers Market. These markets offer an array of benefits. As a consumer at a Farmers Market you are not only supporting local growers, but also reducing your environmental foot print, and diminishing the idea of perfect produce.

With the production of big business, such as Publix, Walmart, Sams, etc. many local and family farms cannot compete with such demand. Therefore, they struggle to survive. At the Farmers Market in which I volunteered there was a gentlemen there with his wife. They attended every Farmers Market that the school hosted. They also participated in other local farmers markets, however, they did not make as much sales as they did at other locations. This family survived off the profits from the selling

their produce. Not to mention, fruits and vegetables that are locally grown taste significantly better than those that could be found in the grocery store. This is due to the fact that the produce is picked when it is ripe, rather than picking it early and then gassing it to then speed up the ripping process. Not only is the produce gassed but most of it is imported. Only 2.3% of imported food is sampled by the Food and Drug Administration (Newsad, Ripley, & Shepherd, 2016).
When a consumer goes grocery shopping they generally think of the amount of gas to get to the store, the amount of money, time and energy they will spend at the store, and the amount of gas to get back home. Nobody typically looks a shelf and thinks, “Wow I wonder how much energy has gone into this fruit. I wonder how much went into making that produce, and then having it shipped out to x miles to get it on the shelf.” If a consumer bought from a local market, the reduction of environmental harm would be significantly reduced since the produce does not have to be transported as far. For instance, the family that came to our market traveled from Immokalee, versus produce from the stores generally come from all of the country, and even different parts of the world.
Recently, I had the opportunity to watch the film “Just Eat It.” This documentary provided so much information on food that nobody thinks about.

We as a world, waste so much food. “In 2010 133 billion pounds of edible food at the retail and consumer level went uneaten (1,249 calories per person per day) with about two-thirds of this waste attributed to consumers” (Qi & Roe, 2016). Much of the produce is essentially “thrown out” because grocery stores want to sell the perfect produce. If an apple has a bruise because it fell from the tree it cannot go into the grocery store. Instead it goes to a waste land, farmers market, or even donated. This idea was something I did not think about at all. However, after watching this film I was able to value a Farmers Market so much more. I do not wish to continue the idea of perfect produce, therefore I will ensure I get my future produce from local growers. This film truly changed my perception of food in

general.
After fulfilling my volunteer hours at the Farmer’s Market, my entire perception of food has changed. Initially I made this decision to volunteer with the market because I wanted to explore a realm in which my knowledge lacked. I work at a garden center so I see things from a landscape/designer perspective, however, I have no knowledge of fruits and vegetables. I didn’t realize that grocery stores had consumers brainwashed into thinking that produce has to be perfect or it’s no longer good. Not to mention, the energy put into making the produce! With the addition, of watching the documentary “Just Eat It” my entire idea of food changed. It actually broke my heart, especially since many people lack food while we throw the majority of ours away.