Bringing it All Together — The Omnivore’s Dilemma
Being a huge fan of The Botany of Desire, when I heard a recent interview on NPR about an new book by Michael Pollan, I immediately ordered it.
Following four meals literally from start to finish, it provides an amazing insight into the way the american food industry works. From corn and it’s life, to the meaning and value of organics in an industrialized food production world, he brings a wonderful and informative view on how our food makes it’s way to our stomachs.
I’m now about 1/3 of the way through the book, and felt compelled to post something about it immediately. I don’t know where to begin frankly. It’s so packed with interesting/scary information that any place I start makes me simply want to copy some pages straight. Kate @ the Accidental Hedonist has opened my eyes to the world of HFCS, but I didn’t understand just how strongly tied to corn we were until I read the first meal: a fast food dinner eaten while driving in a car.
Corn is the #1 crop in America, 80 million acres are planted. This despite the fact that farmers don’t make enough money growing corn to make any kind of reasonable living. All that corn needs to go somewhere. So it feeds our cattle (causing a downright scary number of issues. I will now shy away from corn-fed beef). It’s processed into HFCS, glucose, citric acid (citric!?) and god knows what else. 45 of the 60 menu items at McDonalds have corn as a major ingredient, which sadly comes as no surprise. And 10% of fuel these days is Ethanol, a corn product. His single meal for 3 people that he traces back contained over 4K calories, and took over 1.3 gallons of oil to produce. Scarier to me, half the pre-packed items I picked up at Sigona’s (a local fruit stand that I usually love) just today had some corn in them. Explain to me why basil needs glucose again?
I can’t do this book justice with a summary. I can’t even begin to talk over some of the key points, there are just too many. Please, read it now, and let’s start discussing some of the issues he brings up.
chuck said,
April 30, 2006 @ 4:53 pm
will pick this up. it’s funny that no one mentions food as one of the top oil consumers in the world.
why does food need to criss-cross the globe before it reaches your plate?
Olivia said,
May 1, 2006 @ 8:31 pm
I’ve been “second-hand reading” this book as Oren makes his way through it (I get it next) and, frankly, it’s depressing, but we need to know. Everyone does. Yes, in our current culture, the only way to really live cleanly would be to completely drop off the grid. However, that’s not a reason to completely throw up our hands; there are things we can do to make a difference: buy local produce, avoid foods made with corn, spread the word. It’s a start.
(I posted a little more info about Pollan’s first book in the All In food book guide.)
Teich.Net :: All In » Eating Uber-Local said,
May 1, 2006 @ 10:03 pm
[...] This is not another depressing post about the problems with our food production current system. (If you’re scratching your head in confusion, read about The Omnivore’s Dilemma, or better yet, read the book itself.) Rather, today’s post is about one positive and rewarding way that I’m dealing with this information: I’m eating what is best described as uber-local, at least for this dinner. [...]
Olivia said,
August 16, 2006 @ 8:02 am
San Francisco Gourmet has also posted a thoughtful review that includes links to some of the recent debate this book has sparked, including the three volleys between John Mackey, Founder and CEO of Whole Foods, and Michael Pollan: 1, 2, and 3.