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

My rating:

add to my books

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

by Michael Pollan

4.19 · rating details · 50,421 ratings · 8,567 reviews

The bestselling author of The Botany of Desire explores the ecology of eating to unveil why we consume what we consume in the twenty-first century

"What should we have for dinner?" To one degree or another this simple question assails any creature faced with a wide choice of things to eat. Anthropologists call it the omnivore's dilemma. Choosing from among the c...moreThe bestselling author of The Botany of Desire explores the ecology of eating to unveil why we consume what we consume in the twenty-first century

"What should we have for dinner?" To one degree or another this simple question assails any creature faced with a wide choice of things to eat. Anthropologists call it the omnivore's dilemma. Choosing from among the countless potential foods nature offers, humans have had to learn what is safe, and what isn't-which mushrooms should be avoided, for example, and which berries we can enjoy. Today, as America confronts what can only be described as a national eating disorder, the omnivore's dilemma has returned with an atavistic vengeance. The cornucopia of the modern American supermarket and fast-food outlet has thrown us back on a bewildering landscape where we once again have to worry about which of those tasty-looking morsels might kill us. At the same time we're realizing that our food choices also have profound implications for the health of our environment. The Omnivore's Dilemma is bestselling author Michael Pollan's brilliant and eye-opening exploration of these little-known but vitally important dimensions of eating in America.

Pollan has divided The Omnivore's Dilemma into three parts, one for each of the food chains that sustain us: industrialized food, alternative or "organic" food, and food people obtain by dint of their own hunting, gathering, or gardening. Pollan follows each food chain literally from the ground up to the table, emphasizing our dynamic coevolutionary relationship with the species we depend on. He concludes each section by sitting down to a meal--at McDonald's, at home with his family sharing a dinner from Whole Foods, and in a revolutionary "beyond organic" farm in Virginia. For each meal he traces the provenance of everything consumed, revealing the hidden components we unwittingly ingest and explaining how our taste for particular foods reflects our environmental and biological inheritance.

We are indeed what we eat-and what we eat remakes the world. A society of voracious and increasingly confused omnivores, we are just beginning to recognize the profound consequences of the simplest everyday food choices, both for ourselves and for the natural world. The Omnivore's Dilemma is a long-overdue book and one that will become known for bringing a completely fresh perspective to a question as ordinary and yet momentous as What shall we have for dinner?(less)

Hardcover, 451 pages

Published April 11th 2006 by The Penguin Press HC (first published January 1st 2006)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

Best Books of the Decade: 2000s

68th out of 3,141 books — 13,879 voters

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

Best Non-Fiction (non biography)

4th out of 1,568 books — 2,223 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 92,113)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Feb 18, 2008

Anita rated it

Recommends it for: people who care about their health, animals, farmers, the environment, and humanity

Recommended to Anita by: Book review on Salon.com

Michael Pollan is a journalist, and an omnivore, curious about where the food he puts in his mouth comes from. In the book he follows four meals from the very beginning of the food chain to his plate. What he finds is that the food we put in our mouths turns out to be a big decision- a moral, political, and environmental one.

Part One- CORN
The discussion begins with CORN. Part one of this book is shocking. I knew corn was the main crop grown in America and that farmers growi...more

like 60 likes

· see review

view all 7 comments

Hayes Wow Anita, what a lot of work you put into that review for us. Even though you summed everything up so succinctly I'm still going to read it. Thanks.
Nov 18, 2008 11:45am

Kate Anita, I'd like to clarify some statements you make in your review, mainly about cows eating corn being unnatural, because they are ruminants (what yo...moreAnita, I'd like to clarify some statements you make in your review, mainly about cows eating corn being unnatural, because they are ruminants (what you mean by "not built for that", I think). Firstly, corn IS a grass, but I assume you are referring to the kernel portion of the plant. Dairy cattle in the US eat whole corn silage, therefore, they eat at LEAST 50 % forage in their diet, some from corn silage and some from hay/haycrop silage. Secondly, how would a hormone (cholesterol-based or protein, you aren't specific) have anything to do with a cows' rumen? AB that humans may use are given to cattle that are sick. Period. Anything other subclinical use of AB are in the form of ionophores, which change the cell membrane potential in certain bacteria, would most definitely kill a human swiftly, therefore are not used in human medicine. I'm not sure how a "cocktail" of AB and hormones would solve anything if a cow had low rumen pH. I can see how AB will treat a liver abscess, which may be what he/you were referring to. That does happen with beef cattle on a finishing diet, but corn and soybeans produce a volatile fatty acid profile in the rumen which favors marbling, and most Americans prefer that flavor over grass-fed beef. Farming is a business, and in business you give the consumer what they want.

If you calculate the efficiency (feed intake/milk or meat produced) of cows eating a corn/forage diet vs. an all grass diet, you might be surprised to see how inefficient the "old way" ie., grazing really is, and there is significantly less methane and CO2 produced, as well. This fact is certainly not popular among the "organic" and "sustainable" crowd, but it is a fact.

That said, I think you are simply restating what Mr. Pollan wrote, so those are his statements, I assume.

Also, if people are so worried about hormones, how do you think ANYTHING (plants included!) grows? Signalling molecules called hormones take care of that.

And is anyone really surprised that most of the organic food is shipped thousands of miles?? Buy local if you can, but remember: LOCAL GROWN DOES NOT EQUAL ORGANIC.

Also, life is not a circus with puppies and kittens running around...from firsthand experience, slaughter is not a fun thing. That is a fact of life if you choose to eat animal products. And CAFO (confined animal feeding operation) gets tossed around an awful lot just like "factory farming" (which has NO definition). CAFO's are based on the density of animal-units on one farm, and guess what? Grazing dairy cattle can still be a CAFO. So...observers aren't allowed at a PRIVATE slaughterhouse? I'm confused, so all private companies open their doors to the public regularly? What exactly do think is going on behind the closed doors, other than a kill floor?

If this book gets Americans to open their eyes about where their food comes from, then that's a good thing. I hope Americans will continue to support AMERICAN agriculture with common sense, not reactionary ideas like the organic movement, which asks us (farmers, allied industry) to return to a form of farming from 60+ years ago. If that continues, we will most certainly be purchasing much of our food from S. America (we are already on our way to doing that). Or effectively banning technology that has some of the largest scientific body of literature behind it, simply because of the words "hormone" or "GMO".

I'm sure my comment will be unpopular and I am fine with that. I think scientists in general are at fault for basically doing a poor job at educating people, especially about food. As an animal scientist, I hope someday one of US will write a book, with published, peer-reviewed data explaining why things are they way they are. I'm not saying it's perfect, but in our country, one percent of the population feeds the other 99 percent. Food for thought.(less)
Dec 06, 2008 06:25pm

May 23, 2010

Eric_W rated it

Shelves: current-affairs, economics

Update 5/23/2010 Terrific piece by Michael Pollan in the NYRB June 10, 2010, "The Food Movement, Rising" in which he reviews five books: Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal, Terra Madre: Forging a New Global Network of Sustainable Food Communities, All You Can Eat: How Hungry is America?, The Taste for Civilization: Food, Politics, and Civil Society, Eating Animals

I am beginning to wallow and bask in the mire of food politics, subject of Pollan's piece. It's interesting to ...more

like 23 likes

· see review

Dec 09, 2007

Lisa Vegan rated it

Recommends it for: omnivores & anyone interested in the state of agriculture in the U.S.

Shelves: reviewed, gr-groups-buddies, non-fiction, philosophy

I was resistant to reading this book because I’m not an omnivore, and also I thought that Pollan’s book The Botany of Desire was brilliant and I suspected I would not feel as fond of this one, which is certainly true. He does write well, but I didn’t find that this book had the eloquence or elegance of the other.

The sub-title of this book could read: It’s Really Ok To Eat Dead Animals, Really It Is. Which I realize for most people it is. But eating flesh foods and other foods made fr...moreI was resistant to reading this book because I’m not an omnivore, and also I thought that Pollan’s book The Botany of Desire was brilliant and I suspected I would not feel as fond of this one, which is certainly true. He does write well, but I didn’t find that this book had the eloquence or elegance of the other.

The sub-title of this book could read: It’s Really Ok To Eat Dead Animals, Really It Is. Which I realize for most people it is. But eating flesh foods and other foods made from animals such as dairy and eggs is simply what the vast majority of this book’s readers and the population as a whole do; it’s not an unique argument.

But, I loved the fungi chapter and the corn section. The chapter on mushrooms I’m sure I enjoyed so much because a close friend of mine has told stories of her rural Indiana upbringing and of the very small morel patch they have on their property. So it was really fun for me to read about the foraging/hunting of the mushrooms, including local morels. (The author lives about 30 minutes drive from me and I recognized many of the locations in the book.) The corn section (about the deliberate infusion of corn products into just about every processed food) made me determined to cut way down on the processed foods that I often eat: the one real way this book changed me, not an insignificant one.

A good part of this (apparently beloved) book seemed to me to be the author’s belabored argument that it’s perfectly fine to eat animals. His treatise looked like his attempt to avoid cognitive dissonance (his term although I was already thinking of it like that) so that he could continue to eat in peace as an omnivore, along with about 97% of the U.S. population; being omnivorous is the dominant paradigm. Anyway, his waxing poetic over the glories of killing and eating animals did not sway me. It’s interesting that Pollan continually rebuts his own arguments, but I wasn’t convinced his questioning was as honest as he wanted it to appear, as it seemed to me he already knew the answers he wanted to arrive at about being omnivorous. And I wouldn’t be surprised if he would agree with me about that.

Some of his facts and figures were off. When he talks about tens of millions of animals killed for food in the U.S. for instance; actually, the latest figures I’ve read are 11 billion every year, not including fish. Even the call to eat locally, which I usually subscribe to, is not to be so simplified. One contradictory example I can think of (this issue is not addressed in the book) is the consuming of products (chocolate, coffee, dried fruit, nuts) from the distant rainforest, which, in my opinion, is much preferable to continuing to cut down rainforest trees, and which the natives will allow if they can’t make their living from the rainforest in other ways.

I know my philosophy is shared by a relative few, but the fast food meals, the description which was intended to highlight the large amounts of corn products in all the foods, while I found that surprising and unfortunate, it was the cow and chicken parts of the meal that disturbed me the most. And, as far as the “idyllic” Polyface Farm, I truly wonder what they could do 100% plant products grown. (less)

like 38 likes

· see review

Mar 30, 2007

Patrick Gabridge rated it

Recommends it for: everyone

Shelves: justfinished

I thoroughly enjoyed The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. He's been one of my favorite writers, ever since I read A Place of My Own, some years ago. And I stumble across stories by him in the New York Times Sunday Magazine, often quite by accident, and then look at the byline to see who this talented writer is, and there's Pollan again.

The book has the distinct danger of making you annoying to your spouse/partner/children, because you'll be reading along and feel compelled to sh...moreI thoroughly enjoyed The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. He's been one of my favorite writers, ever since I read A Place of My Own, some years ago. And I stumble across stories by him in the New York Times Sunday Magazine, often quite by accident, and then look at the byline to see who this talented writer is, and there's Pollan again.

The book has the distinct danger of making you annoying to your spouse/partner/children, because you'll be reading along and feel compelled to share a fact about how industrial corn production has wormed its way into nearly every aspect of the American diet. I know my 12-year-old daughter cringes when we go the store, and I inspect the ingredients, calling out, "Yep, there's corn in this, too."

Pollan is an immensely fun writer, because he enjoys learning about this stuff, and he's skilled at taking the reader along on the journey, not just through the facts, but through feedlots, and chicken slaughtering, and mushroom hunting. He takes a close look at the industrialization of food production (which depends heavily and crazily on corn), large scale organic farming, and then at a sustainable farming operation, and then around a meal that he assembles using his hunting and gathering skills (relying heavily on the skills of others).

For our family, this book seems perfectly timed, since we've been making huge dietary changes around here since Halloween, cutting out animal products and most refined and processed foods. We were doing it for health reasons, but this books adds an entirely new level of justification. Not that Pollan is saying you should become a vegan. Not at all. He's saying that we owe it to ourselves to become more conscious about what we actually put in our mouths, and the effects that its creation is having on us, our culture, and our planet.

My only disappointment is that in the final wrap-up, he focuses on the extreme distance between the industrialized food he and his family consumes and the meal that he makes through hunting and gathering, without mentioning enough of the sustainable farm that he'd visited. (That section made me want to go out and buy some land and start farming. Tomorrow.) We spent so much time with Pollan through this book, I wanted a stronger sense of whether all this had actually managed to change his day-to-day buying and eating habits. But those are really minor points.

(Also, don't miss a terrific essay Pollan wrote for the NY Times in January, Unhappy Meals, about what we really should eat. Really, it's the answer to what was bugging me about the end of his book. It should be included as an addendum to every copy of The Omnivore's Dilemma.)(less)

like 22 likes

· see review

Oct 13, 2007

Sara rated it

Recommends it for: Everyone I know

Shelves: lifestyle

Man, this book is great. The best book I read last year, easily. Mushrooms, chicken slaughter, sustainability, french fries, soul-searching questions, it's all here. Just read it already.

Okay, if that didn't sell you, here's more info, from the review I wrote for my farm community (Stearns Farm, Framingham, MA):

The Omnivore’s Dilemma created a lot buzz since its publication in 2006, so you may have read it already. If you haven’t picked it up yet, consider checking it ...moreMan, this book is great. The best book I read last year, easily. Mushrooms, chicken slaughter, sustainability, french fries, soul-searching questions, it's all here. Just read it already.

Okay, if that didn't sell you, here's more info, from the review I wrote for my farm community (Stearns Farm, Framingham, MA):

The Omnivore’s Dilemma created a lot buzz since its publication in 2006, so you may have read it already. If you haven’t picked it up yet, consider checking it out. At 464 pages, it is definitely on the long side, but it’s an engaging, easy read, and it puts the question “where do we get our food?” front and center in a fascinating way. Its four different sections break up the book nicely (you could read one section a month, for example, if your reading time is limited), and it is also coming out in convenient paperback form next month.

In the book, Michael Pollan traces the history and ingredients of four different meals: one from McDonald's, one from Whole Foods market, one from a small farm in Virginia, and one composed of ingredients that he gathered (and killed) on his own. The meal from McDonald’s (about 70% of which is derived from corn) allows him to take a trip down the rabbit-hole into the world of high fructose corn syrup and the massive, genetically-modified mono-farms that produce the majority of corn in this country. The Whole Foods meal is obviously a step up from this, although here Pollan explores the conundrum of eating organically if that means flying peaches in from Chile in December. This section of the book does a fine job explaining that “organic” does not necessarily mean sustainable. Next Pollan spends a week on a farm in Virginia that serves in many ways as an idyllic model for where to get your food. (Hello, Stearns!) Finally, in a section that is as much “adventure series” as it is agricultural critique, Pollan creates a gourmet meal for his friends using only items he gathered himself, including bread made with yeast collected from his backyard and sea salt procured from the Northern California coast on which he lives.

Hunting and gathering all of your own food these days may seem unfeasible, especially to create the kind of elaborate feast Pollan does. (Although Stearns provides the opportunity to get much closer to that goal). However, even if you are unable to rustle around in the woods for wild boar or visit a fire-blackened forest to pick morel mushrooms, as Pollan does, you will come away from the book re-energized with the commitment to eat locally and sustainably. Pollan may not have deliberately set out to promote CSAs such as Stearns Farm, but that is a happy side benefit of the work. He also writes sensitively and without a sense of moral superiority—it can feel unusual to read a book on this subject that doesn't make you feel bad about yourself. And yet, the information Pollan presents simply and persuasively will compel you to both thought and action, making The Omnivore’s Dilemma an excellent read and great inspiration for the next time you are out in the pick-your-own beds, gathering food for your family’s dinner.
(less)

like 16 likes

· see review

Jun 26, 2007

Tracy Rhodes rated it

Recommends it for: anyone who eats

Shelves: nonfiction

I'll never look at corn the same way again.

This book provokes a lot of thought about the origins of our food and the biological, political, social and economic implications of those origins. I liked that Pollan approached the topic journalistically, with admirably little in the way of political agenda. To structure his book, he uses the format of following the path of four finished meals from origin to plate - one McDonald's meal, one comprised of supermarket organic products, one ...moreI'll never look at corn the same way again.

This book provokes a lot of thought about the origins of our food and the biological, political, social and economic implications of those origins. I liked that Pollan approached the topic journalistically, with admirably little in the way of political agenda. To structure his book, he uses the format of following the path of four finished meals from origin to plate - one McDonald's meal, one comprised of supermarket organic products, one from a "beyond-organic" self-sustaining farm in Virgina, and one he forages almost entirely on his own.

Pollan goes into food science labs and discovers how ubiquitous the use of corn has become in modern diets, and how corn-derived food systems are synthesized and refined into ever more variations to increase our usage and meet industrial demands for market growth. The McDonald's meal he and his family share, for example, ends up being comprised of over 70% corn or corn-fed product (from beef and milk cows fed corn silage and loaded with antibiotics when it sickens them, to corn starches used in buns and chicken nugget fillers, to the high-fructose corn syrup used to sweeten soda and milkshakes). Pollan makes a strong case for how corn and its refined offspring have contributed to the ever-expending girths of Americans in recent decades.

Next he looks at the organic market, examining the compromises that many organic producers have had to make to support the demands of national chains like Whole Foods, and what "organic" does and does not necessarily mean. He contrasts corporate organic production with a week he spends working on a farm in Virginia run by a maverick Christian/libertarian farmer who carefully manages a "beyond organic" operation of interdependent, high-yielding crops and livestock on his land. The story of how this farmer guides his farm in a sustainable, symbiotic cycle is absolutely amazing.

Lastly, Pollan goes off the grid completely in growing and foraging the means for an entire omnivorous meal - not only growing vegetables/herbs and learning how to scout for edible mushrooms, but actually learning how to hunt and shoot a wild pig in N. California (something my own husband recently did, much to our culinary benefit). The vast majority of people who eat meat will never even lay eyes on the living body of an animal they eat, let alone take responsibility for its demise; so I find a lot of honesty in Pollan's having taken that step in his exploration of the food chain.

Overall, this book rocked my world in terms of understanding our modern food chain and its impact on all of us both individually and as a society. As a result, I've been doing a lot of thinking about how I can improve both my diet and my contribution to local/organic food sources. I'm determined to find more ways to eat locally and organically, and I feel lucky to live in one of the best places to do so.(less)

like 13 likes

· see review

Jul 14, 2011

Stacie rated it

Recommends it for: People who eat food

Shelves: borrowed, non-fiction

From the very beginning, Omnivore’s Dilemma, it had me thinking a lot about my childhood. I grew up on my grandparents’ farm in MN, where we had draft horses, cows, chickens, a garden filled with vegetables, apple trees and rows upon rows of corn. I learned how to take an ear off the stalk at a very young age – probably around the same time that I learned how to bale hay – because across the farm from the rows of corn, we also had a field of alfalfa and wheat. While my grandpa grew corn to sell ...moreFrom the very beginning, Omnivore’s Dilemma, it had me thinking a lot about my childhood. I grew up on my grandparents’ farm in MN, where we had draft horses, cows, chickens, a garden filled with vegetables, apple trees and rows upon rows of corn. I learned how to take an ear off the stalk at a very young age – probably around the same time that I learned how to bale hay – because across the farm from the rows of corn, we also had a field of alfalfa and wheat. While my grandpa grew corn to sell to buyers like Blaney and Stauffer, we didn’t feed the corn to our animals – they received baled hay of alfalfa and wheat, or at the grass in the pasture they roamed every day. I always figured it was because my grandpa didn’t want our animals eating his potential profits, but after reading OD, I wonder. Unfortunately my grandparents are no longer around to ask.

What I sometimes think is ironic, is that while there are over 60 of us, not one of us stayed on the farm, even though the farm never really left us.

In my family, we are gardeners – whether we are tending a flower garden or a vegetable garden – we are growing some of the food that will be presented at our tables. Hunting was always a big thing in my family as well. My grandfather taught his children and grandchildren at an early age how to shoot a gun, but never expected anyone (I am not a hunter, but know how to shoot a gun) to hunt if they didn’t want to. What he did teach us was that you ate what you killed. Hunting and fishing (another thing we did a lot of) was not a sport, it was a way of life – it was a way to feed our family.

While I liked this book for the memories of childhood lessons it conjured for me, it also helped to remind me of my ideals around food. Ideals that have become lax of late. One example: I made all of my daughter’s food when she was a baby. She did not partake in any pre-made food, and was a vegetarian until she was about two years old. I am not sure when my desire to feed her naturally ended, but now she eats processed food when I feel busy – processed food that I sometimes cannot pronounce the ingredients much less figure out where it came from. With many things (I am looking at your Twinkies) we have a rule that if you can’t pronounce it you don’t eat it, but this goes out the window when I am too busy to make a homemade meal.

Pollan, without ever preaching, without ever scolding, reminds the reader that we owe it to ourselves and to our families to know where are food is coming from. I felt this was a very well written book – both in its content and writing. It is a book that will make you stop and think about what you are putting in your mouth.

If you eat, you should read this book.
(less)

like 11 likes

· see review

Dec 12, 2011

Hayes rated it

· review of another edition

Recommended to Hayes by: Xmas giftie from Sam and Kate

Shelves: read-in-2011, re-read

This was incredible. First of all because Pollan writes beautifully, which in itself is a rare pleasure, whether or not you agree with what he is saying. There is also evidence that he has read Proust, and so is one up on me.

The first section of the book was deeply disturbing, for a number of reasons. Mostly because I realize that I have changed so much and that my native United States has changed as well. I have changed for the better, and my homeland has changed for the worse.
...more

like 6 likes

· see review

May 26, 2008

Mandy Nelson rated it

· review of another edition

Ok friends, I LOVED this book. It was a little long and it kind of meandered and changed tone in the last 1/3 but it was good all the way through. This book is about the industrial food chain and the author's adventures in trying to trace where his food comes from. He researches the 3 different processes that go into 3 types of meals: an industrially produced meal (McDonald's), an organic meal (Whole Foods) and a hunter/gatherer meal (he kills/collects everything he eats for this meal). If ...more

like 6 likes

· see review

Dec 13, 2007

Laura rated it

He makes some good points but in the end, it smacks of well-off white man over simplifying an incredibly complex issue. What the book has going for it is that it's a best seller, especially to the faux-liberal, over educated set and it's at least making them THINK about where their food is coming from. What I don't like though, is that it lets them off the hook as far as accountability if they just go about buying the RIGHT kind of meat. Well, all of that free range "humane" meat go...more

like 14 likes

· see review

Dec 21, 2009

Richard rated it

Shelves: non-fiction, environment, food

I thought when I started this book that a review would be superfluous—after all, it was published three years ago and has been reviewed thousands of times. But the material is provocative, and some reviews on this and similar books induce yet more thinking.

There's certainly a lot to talk about when it comes to food. I suppose that has always been so, but two relatively new topics have shoved their way onto the bestsellers list. Well, perhaps "two" is too limited, but its a ...more

like 5 likes

· see review

Nov 07, 2008

Trevor rated it

Shelves: evolution, food, psychology, science, social-theory

I love food. I really love food. I believe it is one of the most fascinating cultural facts in our lives. I particularly love food that is taken as meals and then the words that gather about meals – not least that most beautiful word ‘sharing’. Because food is never better than when it is shared as ours.

Recently I was delighted to learn the etymology of the word ‘companion’. That has become my favourite way to describe the people I’m fond of. The word comes from Latin and mea...more

like 14 likes

· see review

Jan 25, 2009

Rashaan rated it

Shelves: academics-textbooks-pedagogy

A wise man recently told me, "Capitalism is here to stay." With that in mind, Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma is a feel good guide to consumerism at its most sustainable, organic, locally grown, and ultimately high-end. Yes, this is an eye-opening read that will, at first, make you want to stop eating all together then compel you to grab a sturdy pair of boots you can kick around in, throw on some clothes that will certainly get dirty, if not bloody, and step into the splendors...moreA wise man recently told me, "Capitalism is here to stay." With that in mind, Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma is a feel good guide to consumerism at its most sustainable, organic, locally grown, and ultimately high-end. Yes, this is an eye-opening read that will, at first, make you want to stop eating all together then compel you to grab a sturdy pair of boots you can kick around in, throw on some clothes that will certainly get dirty, if not bloody, and step into the splendors of the natural world. Pollan leads us on an epicurean journey that most of us could take only through the guiles of his literary skills and a comfortable armchair. We dredge through the horrors of industrial farming, contemplate over the simplicity of small, sustainable growers, and track through the forests of Northern California hunting wild boar and foraging for chanterelles. What we discover on his trek for the "Perfect Meal" is no real surprise to anyone who pays attention to the news. Americans are squeezed tightly between the behemoth corporate Charybdis that's killing us with corn-fed livestock and wreaking havoc across the country, spilling into our oceans. Then there's Scylla to our left, the over-priced, just beyond our reach, pure and golden harvest of sustainable, organic, locally grown food. However, unless you live in Northern California--and Pollan does!-- or one of the few corners of the U.S. where you can easily access this food on a weekly basis without the guilt of carbon footprints, or have the property to grow for yourself--ahem! subprime mortgage crisis, you'll just have to imagine the good life and take Pollan's word for it.

Pollan seems to willfully neglect the chasm between the haves (those who can waltz into Chez Panisse, meet with Alice Waters, and enjoy fresh goat cheese and endive) and the vast amount of have-nots, who demand and therefore fuel our fast food nation. In one chapter Pollan indulges in the quintessential American family experience of ordering 2 Big Macs, super-sized fries, and a Happy Meal. He queasily downs the over-processed, cholesterol clogging feed with his family in the comfort and convenience of his convertible car. What he fails to recognize is that people do this not necessarily because its fun, but if we're treated as "Human Resources" we will act like Human Resources. Just pull onto your nearby freeway, and you'll see for yourself. It's not hard to spot any nameless driver passing by, cheeseburger or breakfast burrito in one hand, steering wheel in the other. For most people, eating is not a ritual to be shared with the family and support local businesses. Eating is simply re-fueling; something workers or resources do on their way to or from work. Expressways as feedlots is by no means acceptable, but it is the state of our society, or at least a stratum and economic phenomenon that Pollan has decidedly left out.

Pollan means well and we certainly can't go on eating the same food in the same way. Lest we keep pumping money into a health and food system, which in turn pumps our television with commercials that in one minute entice us with grease-laden, over-processed meat to clog our hearts and arteries. Then the next minute another commercial urges us to get hooked on Lipitor or Lopressor, which we probably wouldn't need if we hadn't eaten those cheeseburgers in the first place. We also can't ignore that the cost of our appetites is speedily deteriorating the Elysian fields that made us a First World Super power.

Capitalism is here to stay, and consumers need to be informed--should be informed, about what we put in our bodies and how we feed our children. We need to start paying the real cost of food up front instead of getting hit with the hidden costs through doctor's bills and E Coli recalls. Still, Pollan's feast is difficult to swallow, much less nearly impossible to sit down to and really enjoy because he has an expense account and two years to scour the East and West Coasts for his meal. The Omnivore's Dilemma is perilous indeed. But I can't help wonder who exactly is this omnivore that Pollan's referring to? Poring over his book, I learn his omnivore has time to hunt for morels, knows how to make a souffle, and has two weeks to spare to arrange a dinner party for twelve guests among the bountiful gardens of Berkeley, California. Pollan's omnivore's dilemma comes down to what to eat and how to eat it when you have the time and means to contemplate. That's all very well and good, but the rest of us "omnivores" are still over-worked, under-nourished, and starving.
(less)

like 9 likes

· see review

Oct 27, 2008

Kristin rated it

Shelves: foodie

This was an amazing book. Pollen takes the reader on a food adventure that is thought provoking, disturbing and quietly challenges they way we all look at the meal in front of us - all without being obnoxious or righteous.

The book begins simply enough in an Iowa cornfield as Pollen breaks down the history of corn and the future of this simple grain. He deftly weaves this into how we eat this product and what it’s doing to us and agriculture. From Iowa we travel with him as he visi...moreThis was an amazing book. Pollen takes the reader on a food adventure that is thought provoking, disturbing and quietly challenges they way we all look at the meal in front of us - all without being obnoxious or righteous.

The book begins simply enough in an Iowa cornfield as Pollen breaks down the history of corn and the future of this simple grain. He deftly weaves this into how we eat this product and what it’s doing to us and agriculture. From Iowa we travel with him as he visits his steer (#534) in the Colorado fields and in the feedlot of Kansas (Nebraska?).

The middle portion of the books moves into sustainable agriculture at its finest as he spends a week at Polyface farm. As a person familiar with farms, Polyface was amazing. Pollen starts the week on his stomach in a field examining the soil, he helps to move the cows from pasture to pasture, he assists in moving the chicken pens and describes they symbiotic relationship between the chickens and the cows. He talks about the rabbit and chicken house and the symbiotic relationship that exists there, he describes the cow barn in the spring and how the pigs turn 3 feet of cow muck, hay and fermented corn into black compost. And Pollen contrasts and compares “conventional farming” with this picture of “sustainable farming”.

In the third segement, Pollen has moved to California and examines what it means morally and ethically to be a vegetarian (giving up meat for a month). He has also decided to make a meal completely from those items he has grown, foraged and hunted himself.

This book is presented in such a down to earth matter that the reader can’t help but start to question how their food arrived on the table. Pollen doesn’t pontificate. He doesn’t raise his fist and pump it toward the sky and tell us we are all Bad People for Eating Meat. He doesn’t bombard us with anthropormophisism or silly sentiment. He took himself on a quest, shown us what he found, and I appreciated that more than anything.

Has this changed how I view my eating habits? You bet it has. Even more surprising, it changed the husbands. (less)

like 4 likes

· see review

Sep 04, 2007

Jake rated it

1)Corn is Bad, Grass is Good
2)Eat Seasonally, Eat Locally, Eat Humanely, & Eat Organically
3)Eat Sh*t and Die. Well, Actually, Eat Sh*t and Flourish.

Each of these would have been a more classy title for the book "Omnivore's Dilemma". To paraphrase another reviewer 'The dude structures this book by following the path of four finished meals from origin to plate - one McDonald's meal, one comprised of supermarket organic products, one from a "beyond-organic...more1)Corn is Bad, Grass is Good
2)Eat Seasonally, Eat Locally, Eat Humanely, & Eat Organically
3)Eat Sh*t and Die. Well, Actually, Eat Sh*t and Flourish.

Each of these would have been a more classy title for the book "Omnivore's Dilemma". To paraphrase another reviewer 'The dude structures this book by following the path of four finished meals from origin to plate - one McDonald's meal, one comprised of supermarket organic products, one from a "beyond-organic" self-sustaining farm in Virginia, and one he forages almost entirely on his own. This book tries to provokes a lot of thought about the origins of our food and the biological, political, social and economic implications of those origins, and for the most part, it is successful.'

So after reading this book I realize that maybe, just maybe, I don’t argue with people about food enough. Ever since I read Fast Food Nation and watched Supersize Me I have been pretty good about avoiding eating at Mc-stablishments and drinking soda. Knowing these efforts aren’t enough, but not having had the ...chutzpah ... to make the leap to full fledged, "morally superior" vegetarianism. I am way to lazy to manage an urban garden, -- preferring rather to watch one made on TV

OD presents, as a moral alternative to growing, actually hunting and eating wild game. The parts of the book that describe this stuff, although not seemingly not feasible, reinforced these previously formed notions about foraging. Still, it is pretty interesting to see the details fleshed<b/> out.

One thing discussed in the book that i hadn't internalized, and that makes sense when I think about it, is that going to whole foods and buying an organic Chilean artichoke in the winter can be a lot worse ethically than eating a fat juicy steak from a locally raised mature grass fed cow. I guess that the ethical answer culled from the book on how to shop food in the city is to buy at farmers markets or join one of these CSA’s. Take the extra step and get to know your farmer, know how they grow, know how they feed and treat the animals is the right thing to do. This seems like undue effort and cost but the ethical equivalent seems to be to hunt and dress bloody dead animals or forage for mushrooms in central park. In that perspective, the first options seems like less effort .(less)

like 5 likes

· see review

Sep 25, 2007

Ginny Messina rated it

Shelves: food

A truly important book by gifted writer and journalist Michael Pollan. It's not without its flaws, however, and for all the promise of the first two-thirds of the book, it kind of leaves the reader hanging at the end.

In the first part, Pollan exposes the damaging effects of industrial agriculture, and—-importantly—-this includes large-scale organic production which is not nearly as benign as most people would like to believe. Later in the book he addresses the inhumane aspect of in...moreA truly important book by gifted writer and journalist Michael Pollan. It's not without its flaws, however, and for all the promise of the first two-thirds of the book, it kind of leaves the reader hanging at the end.

In the first part, Pollan exposes the damaging effects of industrial agriculture, and—-importantly—-this includes large-scale organic production which is not nearly as benign as most people would like to believe. Later in the book he addresses the inhumane aspect of industrial agriculture as well—-organic production included. He puts it succinctly: you look away, or you stop eating meat.

In the second part of the book, we see farming as it should be, on Polyface Farm in the Shenandoah Valley. Here, farming practices are closely tied to nature including the natural behavior of farm animals. While the system doesn't adhere completely to organic regulations, it is far more sustainable and humane than industrial organic agriculture and certainly more so than conventional agriculture. Polyface Farm is not able to separate itself from industrial agriculture completely (by law, the steer are killed in conventional slaughterhouses) but it still seems like a very nice place. Unfortunately, the scale on which it operates means that this type of sustainable farming can never produce enough food for the U.S. population. Food from farms like Polyface is likely to be available to only a privileged few.

The last part of the book struck me as downright nonsensical. Pollan explores the possibility of putting together the ultimate local meal—-one composed of food that he himself has hunted, gathered and grown. But don't try this at home, he says. It is not at all a realistic way to eat. Well—-no—-not if you do it by gathering chanterelle mushrooms with a bunch of chefs from Chez Panisse, hunting wild boar in the California woods, and diving for abalone along a rocky coast. Granted, most Americans would be hard-pressed to produce their own food, but Pollan doesn't even explore the option in any kind of realistic or meaningful fashion.

In the end, it appears that the problems associated with food production are insurmountable. Industrial agriculture provides most of the food in this country and is a wasteful and unsustainable system. But more sustainable systems are not realistic for feeding the population. Pollan does not offer any clear cut answers, much to my surprise. (I didn't expect him to solve the problem; I did expect a little guidance!) But the thoughtful reader can still pull together a plan of action to minimize the environmental and ethical cost of a meal. Reduce intake of animal foods. Buy locally-produced food. Grow or produce as much as is realistic for you. Pollan makes his readers think about where their meals come from and how to measure the true cost of our "inexpensive" food. This is a must-read for anyone who expresses a desire to live and eat responsibly.
(less)

like 5 likes

· see review

Nov 05, 2007

Tien rated it

This is a really good book that gets only two stars because it gets annoying. He starts by taking a fascinating look at corn and our very odd decision to be continually dependent on it. And then he walks through Whole Foods and dissects its philosophy and discovers that, surprise, the foods there aren't as organic and local as they advertise. (But he still shops there, of course. It's still Whole Foods.). And then it goes a bit downhill from there. Will a foodie please, please write about h...more

like 16 likes

· see review

Feb 19, 2009

Stephanie rated it

Recommends it for: Nerds like me

Recommended to Stephanie by: Idahospud's Book Club

It’s not every day you read a book that threatens to change your life. I use the word “threaten” very deliberately, because they are changes that I know I'm going to find challenging.

Michael Pollan challenges his readers to examine their food a little closer, to consider where it comes from. And it's a logical request I think. We can spend days searching for the perfect doctor or mechanic, but how much time do we take to really think about our food? Do you know where your steak came ...moreIt’s not every day you read a book that threatens to change your life. I use the word “threaten” very deliberately, because they are changes that I know I'm going to find challenging.

Michael Pollan challenges his readers to examine their food a little closer, to consider where it comes from. And it's a logical request I think. We can spend days searching for the perfect doctor or mechanic, but how much time do we take to really think about our food? Do you know where your steak came from? Is your asparagus from a nearby farm, or far-flung Argentina? Are your peaches organic, and if so, what does that really mean? Most of us have no idea how to answer these questions.

In most cases, the answers are simple. Most of our food likely comes from a massive industrial farm or feed-lot hundreds of miles away, fed by incredible amounts of fossil fuels -- the fertilizer, the machines used for harvesting, the trucks it took to transport the food to your local mega-mart, to name just a few uses of fossil fuel. Pollan's descriptions of these farms (and in particular, the feed lots) can be quite disturbing. However, Pollan does not outright condemn this "industrial food chain." He concedes that it would be difficult to feed billions of people inexpensively without it. Instead, he advocates having several different avenues for delivering food to our tables, and he describes several alternatives. It is up to the reader to determine how they want to eat.

As for me, my eyes have been opened to the appeal of "eating locally," where possible. (Emphasis on "where possible." There aren't too many oranges grown in Idaho.) By eating foods produced as close to my home as possible, I support the local economy, less fossil fuels are used, and the food should have fewer preservatives, hormones, and other chemical ingredients. Best of all, the food should be fresher and more flavorful. Yes, it will cost more, but I think it will be worth it. At least I'm willing to try it. Consider it an experiement. I've already found local sources of milk, eggs and meat that I'm going to try.

I found Pollan's writing engaging and easy to read. (Disclaimer: I am a huge nerd, and the topic really spoke to me. If you don't like science, you may not find this book as fascinating.)

A few words of warning: if evolution makes you uncomfortable, you may not like this book, as it often talks about the evolution of plants, animals and humans. Also, there were two or three instances where objectionable language was used. (less)

like 4 likes

· see review

Aug 04, 2008

Josephine rated it

Shelves: non-fiction

On our recent road trip, Kevin and I listened to Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma on audiobook. Our farmer friends recommended it, oh, two whole years ago, so we finally decided to pick it up.

Now, this is a long audiobook for a single car trip. 13 discs. 15 hours and 58 minutes of super-detailed nonfiction. I wasn't sure I could handle it. But Michael Pollan's prose is engaging, and his subject matter completely absorbing. I was hooked.

Essentially, The Omnivore's D ...more

like 3 likes

· see review

Dec 03, 2007

Peter rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: people who want to understand what they are eating

I started into this worried it was going to force me into vegetarianism, that I was going to read some passage about calves born into rancid waste, and a blue light somewhere in my brain would turn green and a gag reflex would accompany the thought of meat moving forward.

...Which speaks either to my penchant for pessimism, or the ominous relationship we have to our food chain, where we _don't_ really want to know how food got there, we just want to eat it.

But read the boo...moreI started into this worried it was going to force me into vegetarianism, that I was going to read some passage about calves born into rancid waste, and a blue light somewhere in my brain would turn green and a gag reflex would accompany the thought of meat moving forward.

...Which speaks either to my penchant for pessimism, or the ominous relationship we have to our food chain, where we _don't_ really want to know how food got there, we just want to eat it.

But read the book I did, fearful to encounter that meat-snatching passage within the book. Thankfully, Pollan is not an alarmist, but rather a quite methodical inquisitor about the roots of our food. It sounds kind of..esoteric, but he makes it fascinating, like a great humanities teacher he tells the larger story of food: of why we grow so much fricking corn in America, and how it's bad for almost everyone involved: ourselves, our diet, farmers in other countries.

The good thing is that the book never descends into a polemic, unlike Michael Moore's work, Pollan's evenhandedness keeps the reader open to what he is saying. Nothing is extreme or revolutionary or incendiary.

I feel like this book will, in the long term, shape the way I think about food by giving me a vocabulary for considering my personal and our cultural relationship to food. He discusses how America as a nation of immigrants never developed a stable national cuisine (unlike France or Italy), and the absence of that makes us vulnerable to an endless array of fad diets (coughAdkinscough) and an overall menu that is out of balance.

There is a fascinating chapter on mushrooms and fungi, which details how they are utterly different from plants, and grow from this crazy underground symbiosis with decomposing nutrients and tree roots, taking a single drop of sugar from the tree root in exchange for processed minerals from the soil.

There is an extended look at a farm outside Charlottesville--Polyface Farm--which models itself after natural ecosystems and creates this method of rotating cattle and chickens with grass growth cycles to create this wonderful whirlwind of spreadsheets, efficiency, and microdata on growth patterns of grass.

To wit: it's better to have grass pasture surrounded by trees, because a blade of grass will burn X calories turning the face of it's blade toward the sun to receive solar energy. Planting forests around removes wind, allowing the grass to grow higher. Brilliant.

In the end, it's about food, but it's also about systems in general. It begins to feel like a universal look at the interrelationship of history and commerce, and how everything is this big interconnected fabric, but that you can begin to see some of those connections, and kind of surf those links to great personal and collective gain.

12/2007

(less)

like 5 likes

· see review

Nov 22, 2007

Chris rated it

Pollan's book is not just a fascinating look at the modern state and evolution of our industrial food complex; it's not merely an anthropological investigation of the history of eating and cultural rituals; it's more than a scientific discourse of the biological nature of corn, small farm ecosystems, and fungi -- it's also, surprisingly, a page turner. When I was finished, I wanted the book to be twice as long.

The book is also not (as many people seem to think) a political screed or...more

like 3 likes

· see review

Jun 05, 2008

Joanna rated it

Shelves: books-on-food

Lengthy review to come. In the meantime, let me just say---I learned a lot from this book. I also enjoyed some segments very much.

I would have done some extensive editing.

The final chapter is sublime.

OK, my real review:

I am a convenience eater. Michael Pollan's work is transforming me into a conscious eater. Two concrete changes in my behavior: I will now pay the price of a fancy mocha coffee beverage for a dozen eggs gathered from happy ch...more

like 3 likes

· see review

Sep 06, 2007

Tim rated it

Has served to overcome my general revulsion of journalists mascarading expose as scientific truth (e.g. Malcolm Gladwell or Thomas Friedman). Well worth reading, though a second, scientific perspective (read "not Schlosser") would be a good companion to fill out what this book offers.

---Finished: I take back what I said, what I thought was gearing up to be analytical and thought provoking really unwound over the course of the book. Pollan comes off a lot more like a hom...more

like 4 likes

· see review

Aug 27, 2008

Ruth rated it

Very interesting book exploring the differences and connections between three ways of eating. Factory farming, small farming/organic and foraging. I had no idea this country floated on an ocean of corn.

For a while there I thought Pollan was going to drag me kicking and screaming into vegetarianism, but eventually he let me off the hook.

He tells you everything you never thought to ask about how the food chain works. The bad news is that no way of eating is perfect. It’...more

like 2 likes

· see review

Feb 02, 2010

Huyen rated it

Shelves: science-math-phys, history-politics-religion

If i could think of this book as a meal, then indeed Michael Pollan is a marvelous cook. He writes well, vividly and convincingly.As dense and informative as it is, the book doesn't make me feel bloated, but nourished :] I can't remember the last time I have discussed a book so many times, with so many different people. Chapter 17 on the ethics of eating animals is just mind-blowing and alone can make this book a worthwhile read.i can't resist talking about it before anything else.
...more

like 3 likes

· see review

Jul 23, 2009

Shelley rated it

Shelves: food, cultural-studies, non-fiction

It all started when Christen and I went to see Food Inc. one lazy, Friday afternoon, and Matt B's worst fears were realized...

We watched a large portion of the movie through splayed fingers that partially protected our eyes as we tried our best to stifle gasps and a vacillating urge to vomit. Suddenly the ethics of eating supermarket meat - industrial, "agribusiness" meat - was suddenly called into question. As an animal lover and a person who takes pride in preparing rea...moreIt all started when Christen and I went to see Food Inc. one lazy, Friday afternoon, and Matt B's worst fears were realized...

We watched a large portion of the movie through splayed fingers that partially protected our eyes as we tried our best to stifle gasps and a vacillating urge to vomit. Suddenly the ethics of eating supermarket meat - industrial, "agribusiness" meat - was suddenly called into question. As an animal lover and a person who takes pride in preparing reasonably healthy meals for my family, I felt I could no longer be complicit in this sinful, deceptive, dehumanizing and inhumane process. It sounds dramatic, and a little self-righteous I admit, but it's true. And because locating good sources of wholesome, humanely raised and slaughtered meat often seems like a daunting challenge in this day and age, I even flirted with the idea of becoming a vegetarian. That's where panic set in for veggiphobe Matt B. His wife, whose specialty had always been meat and potatoes, was suddenly prepared to eradicate all meat from our home and replace it with sprouts, tofu, and mashed yeast!

And that's where this book came in, my attempt to learn more about where our food really comes from. Is there a way I could still eat meat and feel okay about it? (Matt B certainly hoped so). Although Michael Pollan and I have very different presuppositions about the world - I got the sense that he is an atheist who believes morality is an ever-evoloving social construct - I wholeheartedly love and appreciate this book. Sometimes I disagreed with the paths he traveled in order to reach his conclusions, but I almost always agreed with the conclusions themselves, if that makes any sense.

Because this book is so dense with information, I had to abandon all other reading projects and enter into a monogamous relationship with it, if I planned to finish before next year. While I certainly didn't permanently absorb every last detail, as this book is truly a feat of research, I feel that I learned a lot about subjects I've never considered before - the history of corn's conquest over the food industry, how McDonald's changed the way beef is raised and processed, the secret deception of Whole Foods (!), the mysterious nature of the mushroom, and alternatives to buying meat from the supermarket, among other things.

This book also delved into the ethics of eating meat. I thought he made a rather compelling case for eating meat in response to Peter Singer and other "animal liberationists." A lifelong friend of the beasts, I feel comfortable with his conclusion that eating meat is an ethical practice, as long as the animal has been treated humanely and with respect. With Christen's help, I have located a grass fed farm that does things humanely, right here in south Georgia. (Enter Matt B with a sigh of relief!)

I heartily recommend this book with the caveat that it will gross you out and make you feel really sad if you love animals. If you would like to remain blissfully ignorant of the contents of your Chicken McNugget, and what happened to the poor chicken who suffered unspeakable acts of cruelty to bring it to your local McDonald's, do not read this book. I, personally, found it totally worth the effort and the time. Michael Pollan is an extremely talented and engaging writer. After all, he brought drama and nuance to the subject of corn!(less)

like 2 likes

· see review

Aug 13, 2008

Amy rated it

I just finished The Omnivore's Dilemma the other day and really enjoyed it. My favorite parts of the book were when Pollan wrote about Joel Salatin's sustainable "grass" farm (where he raises beef cows, chickens, turkeys, eggs, rabbits, and a few plant crops). I love that Salatin describes himself as a Christian-Conservative-Environmentalist-Libertarian grass farmer, and I was so amazed at the symbiotic/synergistic relationships Salatin drew from his farm that was almost free from out...more

like 2 likes

· see review

Sep 13, 2008

melissa/missy rated it

Recommends it for: people who eat stuff

Shelves: non-fiction

I can say without hesitation that this is a life-changing book. It's elegantly written and unflinching. Pollan is honest about his own cognitive dissonance about being an omnivore, which means he never sounds self-righteous (an impressive feat for the genre). And I love the widespread anthropomorphism of the book, the mysticism that Pollan is willing to embrace as he cites scientific sources.

That said... Halfway through the book I was so depressed that I went home and ate graham c...more

like 3 likes

· see review

Aug 15, 2008

Zak rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: anyone who eats food

Recommended to Zak by: Carl Unger

The Omnivore's Dilemma, as author Michael Pollan sees it, is the horrendously complicated process of how Americans today go about answering the simple question of what to have for dinner. Fortunately, we have a writer as skilled as Pollan to uncover what happens to our food before it gets to our mouths, and how we can use the knowledge we gain along the way to nourish our bodies as well as our minds. Subtitled A Natural History of Four Meals, the book tells us not just what we're eating, but whe...moreThe Omnivore's Dilemma, as author Michael Pollan sees it, is the horrendously complicated process of how Americans today go about answering the simple question of what to have for dinner. Fortunately, we have a writer as skilled as Pollan to uncover what happens to our food before it gets to our mouths, and how we can use the knowledge we gain along the way to nourish our bodies as well as our minds. Subtitled A Natural History of Four Meals, the book tells us not just what we're eating, but where it comes from, how it gets to our plates, and what impact those processes have on the world we live in.

Pollan's genius is in both how he structures the book and how he uses the characters behind each meal to engage the reader; it's clear this guy knows a thing or two about storytelling, not to mention food.

Those with a weak stomach, be warned: Part I, in which we are introduced to the industrial food chain that flows on a "river of corn," is a tough read. Most of us know in the deeply denied backs of our minds that life for a steer on a factory farm is pretty grim, and as Pollan follows "cow 534" from ranch to feedlot, even the most carnivorous among us may lose our appetites. But it's not just the treatment of animals one finds troubling here; it's the degree to which our entire food chain is awash in corn, and the implications that has for public health, the environment, and the economy of the Heartland, that is most unpalatable.

To bring the point home, we meet George Naylor, the Iowa farmer who understands exactly what he's doing as he sells corn for less and less money every year, why his grandfather's multi-crop farm made so much more sense, and ultimately, why he can't afford to change anything he's doing.

One's appetite improves somewhat in Part II, which takes us through the world of "Big Organic," or as Pollan dubs this section's meal, "supermarket pastoral." On the one hand, the more we buy from large-scale organic farms, the supposedly healthier our food is, not to mention the people working the fields where pesticides aren't sprayed, and the waters in which chemical fertilizers don't wind up killing all of the downstream marine life. Unfortunately, all that organic produce we feel so virtuous for buying? It's shipped thousands of miles in many cases, particularly to those of us on the East Coast, and the carbon footprint created is significant.

Gene Kahn comes to symbolize the contradictions at the heart of Big Organic. Once a pioneering hippie founder of the organic movement, Kahn is now a General Mills vice president running Cascadian Farms, the massive organic operation that supplies a great deal of what we purchase at Whole Foods.

And then, as soon as have a grasp of what big business has done to our food system, Pollan takes an abrupt left turn in Part III, and spends about 100 pages talking about grass farming. Yep, from the point of view of Joel Salatin, the "Christian-conservative-libertarian-environmentalist-lunatic farmer," it's all about what you do with a pasture. Salatin's Polyface Farm becomes in many ways, the ideal the book is searching for. It's practically off the grid, but it still finds a way to prosper economically because its efficiencies aren't dictated by the free market; they're based on how nature itself works. By harmonizing Polyface's operations with the natural world, Salatin is a throwback, but given what Pollan has to say about the meal, this crazy farmer is doing something right.

The fourth and final meal occupies the rest of the book, and since it's primarily acquired by hunting and gathering, two omnivorous dilemmas are central to Part IV: the ethics of meat eating and, with respect to mushrooms, how do we know which ones won't kill us? Pollan devotes a great deal of energy (and angst) to the first question, and it's a great service to all of us who've ever flirted with vegetarianism. The second question, in which he ventures to the top of the snowy Sierras to forage for fungi, is no less fascinating. As are his hunting and foraging companions. One of these is Angelo Garro, a Sicilian archetype of the "slow food" movement, who guides the author through the sometimes bloody world of the 21st-century hunter-gatherer, at least as far as one who resides in Berkeley, California, can be spoken of in such terms. Ultimately, Pollan's "last supper" is probably the most satisfying, but it requires the most work on his part, and as he points out, it's not an option for most of us. What is an option, now that we've learned where our food comes from, is to make more conscious choices about what we eat. We may just figure out what to have for dinner after all.(less)

like 3 likes

· see review

Jan 06, 2008

Gwen rated it

The first section of the book, in which Pollan follows the path of corn through the industrial food chain and discusses the effects of corn on our diets, supermarkets, and the environment, is fascinating. Despite being trained in the sociology of agriculture and specifically in the analysis of commodity chains, I learned a lot and found few details to quibble with (the main exception being his tendency to anthropomorphize corn, discussing it as though it intentionally chose to evolve in certain ...moreThe first section of the book, in which Pollan follows the path of corn through the industrial food chain and discusses the effects of corn on our diets, supermarkets, and the environment, is fascinating. Despite being trained in the sociology of agriculture and specifically in the analysis of commodity chains, I learned a lot and found few details to quibble with (the main exception being his tendency to anthropomorphize corn, discussing it as though it intentionally chose to evolve in certain ways). If I were teaching a class on food, I would totally assign that section of the book.

The second section of the book is also good, though not as great as the first. Probably this is because I already knew that "organic" and "sustainable" are not the same and that Horizon-brand organic dairy products come from huge dairies that, from the point of view of the cow, the quality of the milk, and the environment, are little better than regular non-organic ones.

But the final section is really annoying me. Most of the things that are irritating me are much more clearly discussed at http://www.powells.com/review/2007_08_28... but there were a few other things as well. Pollan keeps talking about how only omnivores have any trouble deciding what to eat, using koalas and cows as examples of animals that, being specialists, don't need to worry about whether something is an acceptable food source or not. Anyone who raises cows will tell you he's highly underestimating cows' experimentation with non-grass foods. They eat weeds and poisonous plants; they get nails and wire and bones stuck in their throats. It's a pain in the ass to have to try to remove a deer vertebra some cow has managed to lodge in her throat. I suppose this seems like a minor detail, except his entire argument is that humans (and other omnivores) are unique in facing problems deciding what is and isn't safe to eat.

Connected to that is Pollan's reference to "human nature" from time to time, something that drives me nuts when my students do it and is even more exasperating from someone who at least ostensibly has the intellectual capacity and training to not fall back on such a simplistic explanation (that is, "humans do it, therefore it's human nature"). He seems to buy in to the popular conception that there's a "human nature" that we've just smeared a little civilization and culture on top of (think of frosting on a cake).

I don't think I can finish the book--I'm increasingly irritated by his tone and the problems with his argument. It's too bad, because the book really did start off well.(less)

like 3 likes

· see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 3070 3071 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Fighter Jets, Spo...: January Meeting	1	4	Dec 27, 2011 11:56am
What we eat	1	107	Sep 28, 2011 04:39pm
The Farm Bill 2007	36	86	Sep 21, 2008 03:01pm

combine
Other Editions (22)

More editions...

Genres

Non Fiction

1,846 users

Food And Drink > Food

1,206 users

Science

240 users

Health

215 users

Book Club

122 users

History

108 users

Environment

106 users

Health > Nutrition

79 users

Politics

76 users

Food And Drink > Cooking

66 users

See top shelves...

Readers Also Enjoyed

About Michael Pollan

Michael Pollan is an American author, journalist, activist, and professor of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is also the director of the Knight Program in Science and Environmental Journalism.

Excerpted from Wikipedia.

More about Michael Pollan...

Books by Michael Pollan

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto

The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World

A Place of My Own: The Education of an Amateur Builder

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Pin It

Trivia About The Omnivore's Di...

6 trivia questions

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from The Omnivore's Dilemma...

“The single greatest lesson the garden teaches is that our relationship to the planet need not be zero-sum, and that as long as the sun still shines and people still can plan and plant, think and do, we can, if we bother to try, find ways to provide for ourselves without diminishing the world. ” — 39 people liked it

“So that's us: processed corn, walking.” — 22 people liked it

More quotes…

Groups That Shelved The Omnivore's Di...

Sustainable Foodies

1100 members

last activity Feb 03, 2012 06:11am

shelf: currently-reading

Green Group

422 members

last activity Feb 04, 2012 07:10am

shelf: currently-reading

Good Reads Vegetarians

545 members

last activity Feb 04, 2012 04:08pm

shelf: read

title link	preview: The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
avg rating	preview: The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals Goodreads rating: 4.19 (50421 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3109.The_Omnivore_s_Dilemma?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1309200117m/3109.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3109.The_Omnivore_s_Dilemma?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan[/url]

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

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Readers Also Enjoyed

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website