Food fight continues with 'Food, Inc. 2'

WASHINGTON — Between the first “Food, Inc.” and the sequel, a few things have changed. A pandemic tested the American food supply, formula shortages rocked the nation, and Pringles came out with a limited-edition “Baconator” flavor which was supposed to taste like a juicy Wendy’s cheeseburger.

That wasn’t the way director Robert Kenner thought it would go after seeing subscriber-focused “community-supported agriculture” and farmers markets explode after the first film’s release in 2008.

“All the healthy food options at the supermarket grew,” he said. “And we felt, perhaps naively, that we’d done our job.”

Now Kenner is back with “Food, Inc. 2,” which he directed alongside Melissa Robledo. Farmers and fast-food workers share their views from inside the system, while disrupters tout the promise of lab-grown meat. But corn, wheat, soy and rice still rule the grocery store shelves, and some familiar voices return to take stock.

“We need to change the incentives so the government is subsidizing healthy calories, not unhealthy calories,” Michael Pollan says in the film.

Both Pollan (“The Omnivore’s Dilemma”) and Eric Schlosser (“Fast Food Nation”) are listed as producers. Their optimism comes with a caveat. “It’s all doable. It’s all fixable — if we tackle the big problem of antitrust and agricultural policy,” Pollan says before the credits roll.

Directors Kenner and Robledo joined “Political Theater” to talk about why they came “back for seconds” and how they found support from two Democratic senators, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Jon Tester of Montana.

The transcript below has been edited and condensed. To hear the full interview, listen to the podcast here. “Food, Inc. 2” is now streaming on demand.

Q: Take us back to 2008. Your documentary became iconic.

RK: We basically were taking a look behind the veil to see how our food was made. It was a relatively new look into the food industry. And I think between our film and Michael Pollan’s book and Eric Schlosser’s book and others, people became very interested and started to buy with their conscience and their values.

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