With the recent popularity of books like Fast Food Nation (Schlosser) and Michael Pollan’s output, people are thinking about their diets in new and important ways.  Our diets affect nearly every aspect of our lives and, increasingly, the fate of our planet.  The western diet is changing rapidly while the diets of traditional and indigenous cultures that are intimately tied to their environment, health, culture, art, and industry are disappearing.

Playing at Film Forum on W. Houston currently is a film that takes a wide ranging look at these issues, Food, Inc:

If that gets you thinking and you want to learn more about biodiversity and the preservation of indigenous  plant knowledge around the world, check out the NY Botanical Garden’s Plant Talk blog.  These are cultures that do not distinguish between the concepts of “medicine” and “food.”  Their knowledge, quickly disappearing, has helped the west to locate countless plant derived drugs that are used in health care every day.  This is knowledge we can’t afford to lose.

update: (Greg) i really dont understand what a small magnolia film that is begging for exposure gets by disabling an embed, but apparently it’s a decision they have made. FREECONOMY! Here is a link to the youtube page.