Book 14 - The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals - Michael Pollan
What's for dinner? That's the question posed by Michael Pollan in this rather important exploration into the production and acquisition of food in America. Pollan explores the food industry by taking four different meals and tracing them back through their respective food supply chains: modern industrial farming, industrial organic farming, sustainable farming (usually organic, but not necessarily so), and Hunter/Gatherer. Each meal takes us increasingly closer to our primitive selves and the way that our bodies evolved to eat.
The first meal is modern industrial farming and corn is king. Pollan explains the evolution of the modern farm. How it stripped the land of biodiversity and henceforth fertility, the result being that it must be added back chemically in order for things to grow. This monocultural farming, ideally suited to the production of corn, combined with farm subsidies, has kept the price of corn low. What's wrong with cheap corn, one might ask? You might be surprised to learn its implications. Cheap corn results in cheap chicken and cheap beef. Again one might ask, what's the problem with that? Corn equals cheap calories - but not necessarily healthy ones - and these cheap calories in the form of sodas and high fat processed fast foods are largely responsible for the outbreak in obesity and its related diseases, not just in adults but in children as well.
It turns out that modern industrial organic is only marginally better, Pollan tells us. That's because a modern organic supermarket chain has one of the same problems a regular supermarket does: how to stock the shelves consistently and efficiently. Although they will feature some locally grown items, it is too inefficient for the organic supermarket chains to buy most of their stock from small producers. So while their producers might be leaving out the hormones, antibiotics and pesticides, many are using the same industrial techniques that conventional farmers use: monoculture, feedlots, tightly enclosed spaces for animals, etc. There has also been the development of "organic" convenience foods, which are just as highly processed as their conventional cousins.
Pollan then takes us to a sustainable farm. Pollan's sustainable farmer, Joel Salatin, is not so hung up on labels such as "organic." In fact many of these designations are a hindrance. Salatin concentrates more on creating sustainable ecosystems that cultivate food, rather than manufacture it. He raises chickens, cows, pigs, and a variety of crops, but principally, he regards himself as grass farmer. He carefully manages his plants and animals such that his farm is a symphony of symbiosis, each group of plants or animals providing benefits for another group.
Pollan's last meal is that of the hunter/gatherer. Pollan has never hunted before, but he befriends a man who teaches him to hunt wild pigs and forage for mushrooms in Northern California. Pollan explores the ethics of hunting, as well as the dangers of foraging and ties it all in with the theme of the Omnivore's dilemma.
This is a fascinating and thought-provoking book, and I recommend it to anyone that has to eat to survive. While it did not make me want to become a vegetarian or completely shun the conveniences that modern food production brings us, it certainly made me start to think about the true cost of cheap food. Pollution, loss of biodiversity, animal cruelty, obesity and other health problems are but a few of the hidden costs of our cheap food. Michael Pollan just wants us to get the math right.
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