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FILM REVIEW
“Supersize Me”
Academy award nominated Morgan Spurlock`s “Supersize Me” has recently been released on DVD, and is a welcome, thought provoking polemic on the obesity problems of America. A controversial film that directly targets the fast food industry and in particular McDonalds, many of the issues that occupy food technologists are covered in the film.
Spurlock puts himself on a 30-day diet of only McDonalds food. Needless to say this is far from the balanced diet most nutritionists recommend and predictably the consequences for his health turn out to be grave. This is the main storyline of the documentary, which from a scientific point of view, proves little, but as a story telling device that communicates interesting information on obesity, food processing, education, marketing to children, nutritional labelling, and food addiction, works very well.
There are many parts of this film that will annoy food scientists. Food processing is given a bad name, for example Spurlock`s partner is a very healthy looking vegan that eagerly awaits the end of his diet so she can feed him full of “cleansing vegetables”. Juxtaposing two extreme diets, veganism and a 30-day McDonalds binge makes for good film but does little to further scientific understanding. McDonalds do not appear to have co-operated with the film which means there is very little mention of the benefits of producing cheap food, convenient food, and what options McDonalds have introduced to inform their customers and give them healthy options.
Overall the entertaining, surprisingly informing and provocative nature of the film, puts food science and obesity right into the sitting rooms of everybody, making it a must see for anybody interested in food. For Irish media watchers it will be interesting to see if our two channels will risk their advertising revenue by broadcasting the film when it becomes available for terrestrial television! Have a look and make up your own mind…
Kevin Smith
(This article is based on the opinions of the reviewer and does not represent IFSTI policy)