On Sunday afternoon I headed over to Hillcrest to see Food Inc. It's a great thing to have exceptional story tellers, investigators, film producers, and marketers telling this story. They do it much better than I do!

The message of the movie is that the food system in the U.S. is good at providing a large amount of food for a low cost in dollars at the cash registers. That low cost, however, is because of government subsidies, destruction of the environment, poor conditions for animals and workers, and a food product that is often unhealthy.

After the movie, I made a list of how we buy food at the restaurant.

Never Buy This Food: commodity meat, overfished fish, farmed fish (except shellfish)
Food to be avoided: food shipped more than 1,000 miles (with exception for things like coffee) and conventionally grown foods
Preferred: organic foods grown regionally, regional grass-fed meat, regional fish with healthy populations and little by-catch, shade grown-organic-fair trade coffee, tea, and chocolate
Food That Rocks!: small Southern California farm-direct organic produce, grass-fed meat, and fish bought directly from local fisherman

An easy place to start buying better food is at a farmer's market, especially if you live or work near one of the neighborhoods below.