Anita's review
The Omnivore's Dilemma
by Michael Pollan
I bought this book a couple of weeks ago, and it is next on my reading list - I've been looking forward to it for a while. I'm also very interested in his newest, "In Defense of Food".
This sounds really interesting. I'm glad you wrote a detailed synopsis. I've always avoided processed/pre-made foods of any kind, and eat very little meat, but it's really enlightening knowing the details of why it's garbage. Support your local coop! Create small communities where people actually know each other (this is possible even in a big city) instead of super-networks! We should talk more about this because I think there are a lot of issues surrounding this one--the industrial revolution, our society's laziness and apathy, etc, etc. Americans tend to want to be spoon-fed information instead of doing any kind of research themselves, so they tend to just take the word of advertisers, authority figures, etc. Like how most people think oranges have the highest percentage of vitamin C because of advertisements funded by orange-growers, when really strawberries have even more. (Just a random example). Have you heard of the book China Study? Written by a vegan about the politics of food and nutrition in our country, like the food pyramid. Anyway, good stuff.
Excellent synopsis. It is a carnivore's moral issue. Can we choose what we eat minimizing our contribution to a weakening of the natural environment and in the process diminish the unnatural changing of our body chemistry? At the moment (and into the near future), unlikely. Thanks for this fine write-up.
Well Done, Anita! Great synopsis. So good, in fact, that I was tempted to use some of your lines to describe this book in my listing. I give you credit for it. Please let me know if it's not acceptable to you, and I promise to delete it. Isn't the section on Corn so powerful? It's information that truly needs to be shared. Thanks again.
Anita's review
The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Anita's review
rating:
recommended for: people who care about their health, animals, farmers, the environment, and humanity
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 growing it are in big trouble, requiring government subsidies just to stay afloat, but Michael Pollan unravels how it got to that point.
After leaving the farm, most of the corn finds its way to the Confined Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) where it is fed to cows, pigs, chicken, turkey, and now even fish. This is problematic due to the fact that cows aren't built to eat corn. They eat grass. This unnatural diet leads to various health problems for the cow that must be countered with a cocktail of antibio...more
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 growing it are in big trouble, requiring government subsidies just to stay afloat, but Michael Pollan unravels how it got to that point.
After leaving the farm, most of the corn finds its way to the Confined Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) where it is fed to cows, pigs, chicken, turkey, and now even fish. This is problematic due to the fact that cows aren't built to eat corn. They eat grass. This unnatural diet leads to various health problems for the cow that must be countered with a cocktail of antibio...more
I bought this book a couple of weeks ago, and it is next on my reading list - I've been looking forward to it for a while. I'm also very interested in his newest, "In Defense of Food".
This sounds really interesting. I'm glad you wrote a detailed synopsis. I've always avoided processed/pre-made foods of any kind, and eat very little meat, but it's really enlightening knowing the details of why it's garbage. Support your local coop! Create small communities where people actually know each other (this is possible even in a big city) instead of super-networks! We should talk more about this because I think there are a lot of issues surrounding this one--the industrial revolution, our society's laziness and apathy, etc, etc. Americans tend to want to be spoon-fed information instead of doing any kind of research themselves, so they tend to just take the word of advertisers, authority figures, etc. Like how most people think oranges have the highest percentage of vitamin C because of advertisements funded by orange-growers, when really strawberries have even more. (Just a random example). Have you heard of the book China Study? Written by a vegan about the politics of food and nutrition in our country, like the food pyramid. Anyway, good stuff.
Excellent synopsis. It is a carnivore's moral issue. Can we choose what we eat minimizing our contribution to a weakening of the natural environment and in the process diminish the unnatural changing of our body chemistry? At the moment (and into the near future), unlikely. Thanks for this fine write-up.
Well Done, Anita! Great synopsis. So good, in fact, that I was tempted to use some of your lines to describe this book in my listing. I give you credit for it. Please let me know if it's not acceptable to you, and I promise to delete it. Isn't the section on Corn so powerful? It's information that truly needs to be shared. Thanks again.