Forks Over Knives
Forks Over Knives basically posits that everything we eat is going to kill us. Now that’s not really such a bad thing if you enjoy the taste sensation of a, say, Stilton hamburger with lots of mayo, like the way a junkie craves heroin. Now maybe a drug addict would welcome the ultimate overdose and who’s to say that a lover of Bar-B-Q wouldn’t want to die of a massive coronary in the middle of an all you can eat smorgasbord. Isn’t that a bit like dying for what you believe?
FOK unwinds without pretension and maybe this healthy food isn’t as slick as Food, Inc. from a couple of years ago but it states its case with grace. It’s a no-brainer; who doesn’t know that fatty cholesterol from meats and dairy products clogs your arteries or that massive amounts of sugar lead to diabetes. FOK takes a sage stance and dispels wisdom in the form of the career research of doctors T. Colin Campbell and Caldwell Esselstyn. Both have written books on nutrition and cancer and heart disease. Watching these white haired dudes dispense their philosophy with compassion makes for a strong argument.
Time’s also spent exploring the difference in diets in China and America as well as a section devoted to two younger doctors who redefine the notion of personal care. MD’s Matthew Lederman and Alona Pulde (also married to each other) run a wellness center in L.A. that concentrates on a patient’s diet. In countries where people eat a whole food diet with little input from processed versions of food and animal products they have low rates of death from cancer and heart disease.
Some of this may sound boring and perhaps FOK occasionally unwinds like a prosaic cable program on the health network. But constant shots of people eating salads are just not as appetizing as juicy sizzling steak.
I get it – what is often good for you also happens to be an acquired taste. How uncanny that many ancient proverbs seen as titles throughout the film remind the viewer that in another time medicine was preventive with attention to good eating habits. Food for thought indeed.
— Michael Bergeron
- Hazel Bartram Birchenough
