Take on "The Omnivore's Dilemma"

I just finished Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals," one of the heftiest books I've decided to tackle all summer when I realized the college library actually had it. After being unable to put it down for a week, I now have time to do other things, such as uncontrollably telling my boyfriend fun facts about corn and whatever else I can loosely link to any subject we start talking about. The fact is, there are so many facts jammed into this book I can't even begin to cover them all. I highly recommend everyone at least read the first section of the book because it's extremely applicable to all of us: we all eat food, and many of us are omnivores.

Pollan organizes the book into three sections: corn (industrial), grass (pastoral), and the forest (personal). Corn focuses on how our modern society treats food; Pollan calls it our "national eating disorder". America in particular has always had a hard time finding a national identity in food - because of this, we easily fall prey to any diet fad that comes our way. Remember when carbs were bad? Are they still bad? The only bad thing I see about bread is the fact that most of it, even kinds labeled as "whole wheat" or "7 grain" contain high fructose corn syrup. I only found two brands of bread at Superfresh that didn't contain high fructose syrup. And corn is what this section is about: the history of corn, what is made out of corn, and why corn is so prevalent in everything we eat today. In summary, because of government subsidies and the transformation of war chemical facilities into fertilizer facilities (outcomes of WWII and beyond), our country's farmers are now dependent on growing excessive amounts of corn to make any amount of profit. And this excess of corn has led to the question of how to get rid of it. The government does this by forcing cows (which can only naturally digest grasses) to eat corn (along with antibiotics and a slew of other nasty stuff), and then setting the beef standard so that it favors corn-fed beef instead of grass-fed. Corn then also gets used as a substitute for whole ingredients such as sugar (substitute: high fructose corn syrup) and a bunch of other compounds that make up much of our processed food today.

Game #1: Go through all of the food in your kitchen. Put it into two categories: corn products and non-corn products. See how much of everything you eat contains corn (it's scary). Even though I eat a lot of whole foods, there were still a ton of products on the counter that were in the "corn" pile. This week at the grocery store I compulsively read the label of everything I put into the grocery cart. Just now I compulsively read the label of my Clif Bar and celebrated quietly to myself that it didn't contain corn.

Part 2, grass, follows two types of farming: industrial organic and grass-fed beef. Organic industrial is what much of our organic produce is in the grocery store: industrial practices changed slightly to meet government "organic" standards (which, it turns out, isn't very much). Pollan then travels to Polyface Farm in Virgina, where grass pastures form an ecology focused around cattle, chickens, pigs, and rabbits which ensure sustainable practices. Here the focus is on whether or not what we think of today as organic is really sustainable, or if it is an ideal that has been lost in the industrial machine.

Game #2: Go to your grocery store or local whole foods/organic store and look around. How organic is that microwaveable dinner? Where did that lettuce come from? Then, travel to your local farmer's market or nearby farm stand and look around. There is a world of difference. Look into local CSA programs and cattle/chicken farms, and, if it's legal, local dairies (or if you're lucky enough to have small farmers for friends). Eatwild.com is an excellent source for finding local meat.

Part 3, forest, is Pollan's personal reflections on his journey to create a meal that he himself hunted and harvested, including a wild boar, mushrooms, fruits, and vegetables. It turns back to the hunter-gatherer ideal, that although is rewarding, is not possible anymore in society in large scale.

Game #3: Get a book on local wild plants and see if you can find anything that is edible around your house. Chances are, many things are. Dandelions anyone?


There are so many more parts I could cover, but I hope I provided enough to provoke some interest. It really opened my eyes to how I should look at the food ecosystem, from the industrial to the local, and what the real ramifications are for a 99 cent double cheeseburger from McDonald's. Just remember: nothing is cheap.