The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
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The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

Michael Pollan (Author)

Most       us        at      great distance from our food. I don't mean that we live "twelve miles from      lemon,"       English wit Sydney Smith said about      home      Yorkshire. I mean that our food bears little resemblance       its natural substance. Hamburger never mooed; spaghetti grows on        pasta tree; baby carrots come from      pink         blue nursery. Still, we worry about our meals -- from calories       carbs, from heart-healthy       brain food. And we prefer our food       be "natural,"       long       natural doesn't involve real.

In The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan writes about how our food      grown -- what it is,      fact, that we        eating. The book      really three      one: The first section discusses industrial farming;        second, organic food, both       big business         on      relatively small farm; and        third, what it      like       hunt         gather food        oneself. And each section culminates in      meal --      cheeseburger         fries from McDonald's; roast chicken, vegetables and      salad from Whole Foods;         grilled chicken, corn and      chocolate soufflé (made          fresh eggs) from      sustainable farm; and, finally, mushrooms         pork, foraged from        wild.

The first section is      wake-up call        anyone who has ever been hungry. In        United States, Pollan makes clear, we're mostly fed by two things: corn         oil. We may not sit down       bowls       yummy petroleum, but almost everything we eat has used enormous amounts       fossil fuels       get       our tables. Oil products        part of        fertilizers that feed plants,        pesticides that keep insects away from        m,        fuels used by        trains         trucks that transport        m across        country, and        packaging      which        y're wrapped. We're addicted       oil,         we really like       eat.

Oil underlines Pollan's story about agribusiness, but corn      its focus. American cattle fatten       corn. Corn also feeds poultry, pigs         sheep, even farmed fish. But that's just        beginning. In addition       dairy products from corn-fed cows         eggs from corn-fed chickens, corn starch, corn oil         corn syrup make up key ingredients      prepared foods. High-fructose corn syrup sweetens everything from juice       toothpaste. Even        alcohol      beer      corn-based. Corn is      everything from frozen yogurt       ketchup, from mayonnaise         mustard       hot dogs         bologna, from salad dressings       vitamin pills. "Tell me what you eat," said        French gastronomist Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, "and I will tell you what you are." We're corn.

Each bushel       industrial corn grown, Pollan notes, uses        equivalent       up to      third       a gallon       oil. Some of        oil products evaporate         acidify rain; some seep into        water table; some wash into rivers, affecting drinking water         poisoning marine ecosystems. The industrial logic also means vast farms that grow only corn. When        price       corn drops,        solution,        farmer hopes, is       plant more corn        next year. The paradoxical result? While farmers earn less,        re's an over-supply       cheap corn,         that means finding ever more ways       use it up.

Is eating all this corn good        us? Who knows? We think we've tamed nature, but we're just beginning       learn about all that we don't yet know. Ships were once provided          plenty       food, but sailors got scurvy because        y needed vitamin C. We're sailing on        same sea, thinking we're eating well but still discovering nutrients      our food that we hadn't known were        re -- that we don't yet know we need.

We've lost touch with        natural loops       farming,      which livestock         crops        connected      mutually beneficial circles. Pollan discusses        alternatives       industrial farming, but        se two long (and occasionally self-indulgent) sections lack        focus         intensity --        anger beneath        surface -- of        first. He spends      week at Joel Salatin's Polyface Farm in        Shenandoah Valley,      farm that works          nature, rather than despite it. Salatin calls himself      grass farmer, though his farm produces cows, chickens, eggs         corn. But everything begins with        grass: The cows nibble at it at        precise moment when it's at its sweetest         are moved from pasture       pasture       keep        grass at its best height. Their droppings fertilize        grass, and        cycle      under way. There's      kind       lyrical symmetry       everything that happens       this farm. Even        final slaughtering       chickens      done quickly         humanely, in        open air. It isn't pleasant, but compared to        way cattle        fattened         slaughtered      meat industry feedlots         slaughterhouses, it      remarkably reasonable.

We needn't learn how       shoot our own pigs,       Pollan does;        re's hope      other ways -- farmers' markets,        Slow Food movement, restaurants supplied by local farms. To Pollan,        omnivore's dilemma      twofold: what we choose       eat ("What should we have        dinner?" he asks in        opening sentence       his book)         how we let that food be produced. His book      an eater's manifesto,         he touches on      vast array       subjects, from food fads         taboos       our avoidance       not only our food's animality, but also our own. Along        way, he      alert       his own emotions         thoughts,       see how        y affect what he does         what he eats,       learn more and       explain what he knows. His approach      steeped      honesty         self-awareness. His cause      just, his thinking      clear,         his writing      compelling.

Be careful       your dinner!

464 pages
April 11, 2006
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1594200823
ISBN-13: 978-1594200823

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