Tangled Up In Blog

Book Review- The Omnivore's Dilemma

One thing we all have to think about every day is what we eat. But, do we REALLY know what we're eating? Does anyone really know what all 15 of those ingredients are in their breakfast cereal? The Omnivore's Dilemma discusses that question...what are we really eating? and why are we eating it? There are many ways to address this question but here Michael Pollan follows the origins of three meals: and industrial meal at McDonalds, a purely organic meal, and a meal that he hunted and gathered himself. Reading the section on the industrial meal was truly frightening. The treatment of livestock and the conditions they're kept in are truly horrific. Even more than that though is the shocking realization that almost everything we eat is CORN. This is a direct result of the glut of cheap corn in the U.S. Cows on factory farms are all fed corn, even though they are herbivores. Also, all processed foods are made pretty entirely of corn. It's a really scary thought.
The second meal is completely organic within the guidelines set out by the FDA, mainly food purchased at Whole Foods. It was really amazing to see how the definition of organic has become so twisted. In the past I had occassionally indulged in organic meat but definitely not anymore. The living conditions are really not much better than for factory farm animals and most of the time the slaughtering process is exactly the same.
For the third meal the author hunts and kills a wild pig himself and then gathers the other ingredients for a meal. He does this mainly to demonstrate that people used to eat like this, and to highlight the disconnect that we currently have from our food sources.
I found that this was the strongest point of the book. Pollan is rarely preachy...he never says "don't eat meat" or "don't eat at McDonalds." The point is that we are ignorant about our food and where it comes from. All he's asking is that the reader educate themselves about their food sources. If you can honestly say that you know what a factory farm is like and you can still eat the meat then fine, if you know that your lettuce has to be shipped all the way from California and is picked by migrant workers then fine, but to remain ignorant is shameful. He also talks about adopting a more common sense approach to eating and ignoring the constant barrage of health claims and studies that seem to come out every other minute. Overall I think it was an excellent book and one that everyone should read.

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

If anyone wants to read this book I will gladly lend it to them...I'll even pay the postage.

Labels: books

posted by carolyn @ 3:05 PM