We are what we eat, but what are the powerful forces shaping our food choices? This is the key question explored in Robert Grillo’s presentation, Fictions, Facts and Food Choices. Billboards, Facebook ads, buses wrapped in signage, TV commercials, Netflix movies, web news posts, cooking shows, food courts, Pandora radio, Whole Foods “feel-good” product displays and “farm-to-fork” restaurant brands. These are all daily examples of fictions and fictional devices used by the multi-billion dollar food industry which influences our purchasing decisions.
This visually-engrossing presentation reveals how the powerful forces of popular culture shape our beliefs and manipulate the food choices that stem from those beliefs, often without our knowledge. In this fictional world, animals are willing participants in whatever it is we choose to do with them. Grillo presents a sampling of the most common food fictions by showing us concrete and recognizable examples from everyday life.
Grillo describes the intended audience as very broad for this presentation because, he writes, “we are all impacted by this cultural indoctrination from birth. None of us are immune from it unless we live in a hole and never come out and never watch TV, browse the internet, read any magazines or newspapers, etc.” “And for animal advocates, I also see an added value in understanding these fictions — and being able to identify them in our everyday lives — as an important way to empower our advocacy,” which he expects to elaborate on at his upcoming presentation at the National Animal Rights Conference later this month.
His presentation also serves as the foundation for an upcoming book of the same name which will expand upon the subject in greater depth and detail.
