Mad Cow Sacred Cow (2009)

Terrified of his food, filmmaker Anand Ramayya (Cosmic Current) embarks on a journey that reveals shocking connections between the Mad Cow crisis, Farm crisis and Global Food crisis. Ramayya realizes that the cow is not only his favourite meal but also the God of his Hindu ancestors and the livelihood of his Canadian in-laws, who are small farmers. With a sense of humor and curiosity, Ramayya embarks on a journey to learn more about the modern Mad Cow and ancient Sacred Cow in hopes that their stories will reveal a solution to his fear of food. The journey takes him from his in-laws' family farm all the way back to India, land of the Sacred Cow. Ironically, modern India is also home to a burgeoning meat export industry that threatens to destroy an agricultural economy centered around the Sacred Cow and critical to the livelihood of 65% of India's population. Globalization emerges as a re-occurring character in this journey, revealing a world gone mad, an ecological crisis, religious fundamentalism, a farmer suicide epidemic and record breaking economic growth contrasted by staggering disparity. Is the way we eat connected to all this? Mad Cow Sacred Cow is a universal story that connects the food we eat to the environmental, cultural, economic and health crises we are currently facing on a global level.