10 Food and Nutrition Documentaries You Need to Watch Today

Food insecurity and malnutrition represent some of the most pressing social issues today. Furthermore, the extensive industrialization of food has introduced significant instability to public health.

Discover 10 documentaries below that focus on building awareness, highlighting the risks of certain dietary habits, and investigating how our food is actually produced.

Food, Inc. is an acclaimed 2008 American documentary directed by Robert Kenner that takes a deep dive into the United States food industry. The film reveals how the fast-food sector and a small handful of mega-corporations have drastically transformed the way food is produced, prioritizing profits over public health, the environment, workers' rights, and animal welfare.

The production criticizes the fast-paced manufacturing methods used to prepare certain foods at the expense of quality, encouraging viewers to rethink the choices they make at mealtime.

A lighter option is this docuseries produced by Netflix, which presents a fascinating case study by putting the physical impacts of diet to the test.

The study follows identical twins over the course of 8 weeks on distinct diets, where one sibling follows an omnivorous diet and the other goes entirely vegan. The series captures how the participants adapt and handle the entire experience. Will they manage to stick to their new routines, and how much will their bodies actually change?

Morgan Spurlock chronicles his insane experiment where he forces himself to eat every single meal, from breakfast to dinner, at fast-food chains for 30 consecutive days. Super Size Me documents this dangerous adventure as Spurlock tracks and records the physical changes his body undergoes along the journey.

The documentary criticizes the American government's negligence regarding dietary health, given that a considerable portion of the population relies heavily on fast and processed food. This lifestyle can lead to various medical issues, ranging from hormonal and physiological changes to emotional and behavioral shifts. The director even notes that his motivation to exercise plummeted during the experiment. What do you think the final results looked like?

This is one of the most eye-opening films on the list because it addresses something almost all of us consume regularly. That Sugar Film closely documents the changes a person experiences when introducing a high amount of sugar into their daily routine. Even though we know sugar is unhealthy, seeing its effects manifest so abruptly can be shocking.

The film reveals that while the dosage shown is incredibly high for the body, it actually comes close to the average daily intake of many people, highlighting the severity of the issue and prompting reflection on our dietary habits.

Forks Over Knives follows the research of two medical scientists who develop the hypothesis that many human health issues and chronic diseases share a single root cause, our dietary habits. The documentary examines how certain processed foods can increase the likelihood of developing chronic illnesses and offers insights on how to prevent them.

What the Health was produced by an investigative filmmaker obsessed with studying health and uncovering why major health organizations might be hiding or downplaying the health risks of certain foods that compromise lives. This investigative journey seeks to confront major industries that generate massive fortunes at the expense of public well-being.

In a quicker and more streamlined format, The Hidden Costs of Hamburgers shows that the industrialization of food affects not only physical health, but also ecology and the economy. The study presents how mass meat production can damage the environment, causing the devastation of green areas and the loss of biomes for cattle ranching, alongside massive water consumption and chemical usage. All of this involves massive financial investments.

Although the documentary focuses specifically on hamburgers, these environmental impacts apply to other forms of processed meat as well.

Serving as a great companion piece to the previous entry, Meat the Truth explores how global issues such as global warming, climate change, and ecological imbalances have intensified alongside the rise of mass meat production. Using data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the film translates the impact of meat consumption into practical statistics, proving that everyday activities like driving a car pollute the planet less than maintaining our current consumption of animal products.

How to Feed the World is a short documentary film that proposes several hypotheses on how we can restructure food production and distribution to alleviate some of our greatest social challenges, namely hunger and malnutrition.

The film also explores ways to reduce waste and make nutritious food more accessible to everyone. Watching this brief story can help inspire alternative solutions capable of making a real difference.

Taking a more historical and cultural approach, Food Fight is a documentary that maps out the timeline of how the modern food industry was built, with a special focus on the world of fast food. Centered on the United States market, the film explores political and socio-historical factors, tracing the story from the initial push for mass-produced agriculture to our current food systems.

Have you watched any of these documentaries before? Were you surprised by the environmental impact of food production on our planet? Let us know in the comments below!

If you enjoy documentaries, we also have an article featuring series based on real-life tragedies. See you next time!