The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals in Science and Inquiry

Oct 23, 2013 David Schwan rated it it was amazing

This was my second time reading this. The authors descriptions of factory farming and the growth of corn are great.

I spent time several weeks a couple of summers working on my uncles Wisconsin dairy farm and so have an idea of what non factory farming is like. When I got out of college I spent several years as a computer programmer and the small company I worked for wrote software for two hybrid seed corn companies both of which could at the time be thought of as large family farms.

The author o This was my second time reading this. The authors descriptions of factory farming and the growth of corn are great.

I spent time several weeks a couple of summers working on my uncles Wisconsin dairy farm and so have an idea of what non factory farming is like. When I got out of college I spent several years as a computer programmer and the small company I worked for wrote software for two hybrid seed corn companies both of which could at the time be thought of as large family farms.

The author offers a compelling view that the industrialization of agriculture is bad, not just how we raise animals for food but more importantly the raising of grains and even vegetables is not sustainable if we contain our current practices. Vegans should not be smug thinking that they are saving the world, raising grain on the scale that we are today really harms the planet. Our current infrastructure requires huge amounts of petroleum is an input to the process.

The author tries to address the issue of animal rights and whether one should be a vegetarian. One interesting thought the author writes about is how some animal rights activists are uncomfortable with animals being carnivores. Some people even raise their pets as vegans (ok of dogs, bad for cats (see "Gulp" by Mary Roach). Animals are part of the complicated system of life. Today we have maybe 100 million cattle in the US, 200 years ago there were maybe 100 million bison (much bigger than cattle). Animal rights activists want to get rid of the cattle and claim global warming will be eased by that, yet those bison made maybe 5-6 times more climate warming gasses than the cattle.

What we do need is smaller, farms, no feedlots, putting livestock back on the farm, feeding more grass, less corn--this will lead to better soil. The author gives many chapters to such a place Polyface Farm, a grass farm which seems very sustainable.

In the US we need to get the government, banks, wall street, and the big ag companies less involved in the growing of food.

Overall an insightful and well written book. ...more

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Jun 13, 2010 David Schwan rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: my-favorites

I've worked on a farm and worked in the agriculture industry so some of the information given in this book I knew already. A great overview of how food is grown, and how it could be grown. ...more

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Nov 14, 2009 Tippy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: culture, politics, economics, food-industry, environment, health

I really loved this book and I will probably read it again. Pollan basically follows 4 different meals to their sources. The beginning is an extensive look into corn. Sounds boring right? What could possibly be interesting about corn? FUCKING EVERYTHING!! Corn is such a presence in our lives in so many ways and what I loved about this section is that I learned a lot. He divides his organic meals into 2 separate meals, one that is large scale organic and the other is a small farm. He describes th ...more

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Dec 08, 2010 Chinook rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 1-kindle

Notes I took to write a review that never did get written:

omnivore's dilemma - the anxiety that comes from deciding what you should eat when you can eat just about anything nature has to offer (compared to specialized eaters.)

- industrial - corn farm George Naylor in Iowa, organic industrial, Joel Salatin grass farm, boar hunting, mushroom gathering, fruit from tree in the city, yeast from the air

"I wanted to look at the getting and eating of food at its most fundamental, which is to say, as a t ...more

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Apr 13, 2010 Eric Bingham rated it liked it

My wife read this book, and she liked it more than I did. I gave the book a 3, but she wanted to give it a 4, so it should probably actually be at a 3.5.

Good things:
-This book had some amazing facts, and it definitely makes you look at your food in a whole new light. (Who knew that corn was in so much of our food, or that 97% of the material that makes a corn plant comes from the air?)
- The author has a fun sense of humor, and his occasional humorous comments kept me laughing.

Bad things:
- The b ...more

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Nov 08, 2009 Heather Schwartz rated it liked it

I felt it was even handed (many may disagree with me) and certainly thought provoking. If I had only heard the guy on NPR's "Wait Wait Don't Tell Me" I would have probably dismissed the book. I'm glad I didn't. And the mobile chicken house? I want one, and some chickens! ...more

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