Omnivore's Dilemma By Michael Pollan

The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, by Michael Pollan, is about one man’s journey through the food production system and how he arrives at the conclusion that although hunting and gathering may be an excellent means to keep oneself healthy, it is really up to the individual as to what they are willing to put in their body.

Farmers are paid to overproduce corn, which is sold for less than the cost of production. Much of the excess is used as a cheap sugar substitute in various products, and much of it used to feed cattle; to produce bigger, meatier cows. It is at this point we learn of the unintended consequences of constantly putting quantity before quality, in the chapter aptly titled ‘unintended consequences.’ Cows fed a corn diet produce deadly strains of e-coli, leading to numerous safety recalls of beef in recent years. Pollan at one point tells us that simply feeding cows grass for a period of five days would virtually eliminate any strains of the contaminate, but that this is seen as a fiscally excessive exercise by the corporations. He is presented as somewhat of an authority on the matter, but all we are really told is that he is an author with interest in mass produced foods, an attempt at ethos that falls somewhat flat. Instead of doing this however, a new industry has emerged: one that combines ammonia with hamburger filler for the companies, killing any strains of e-coli before they can reach the consumer. The film attempts to portray a deadly cycle, where untested solutions often produce deadly side-effects; which are in turn fixed with even more untested solutions, a technique that seems quite effective.

Corn is not the ideal nutritious food. It wreaks havoc on the animal;s' digestive system and gets turned into sweeteners that makes people obese, aside from giving us an unhealthy diet. In other words, the industrial food chain that American man is sustained on is largely based on corn, whether in its direct form, fed to livestock, or processed into chemicals such as glucose, and the cheapest forms of these are high-fructose corn syrup and ethanol. The former, particularly, through a combination of biological, cultural, and political factors, appears in the cheapest and most common of foods that constitute the American diet. It is the ingredient that results in obesity, and, since it appears in the cheapest products, the ingredients that more poor, than wealthier individuals, consume.

Pollan begins his journey of exploring the industrial food chain by taking a trip to the supermarket. Reason being, most Americans, buy their food from such stores. During this trip, he finds what seems to be a wide variety of choices. However, majority of these choices have one thing in common: they have corn in them or

A writer can relate to their audience in different ways, one of them can be pathos. Pathos is using an emotional connection with the audience to better relate too. Michael Pollan’s pathos in The Omnivores Dilemma are shown in many forms such as, humor, nostalgia, and pessimistic. By doing this Pollan is able to keep his audience’s attention and to make his case. Pollan particularly used in chapter 7 in his book.

Have you ever walked down the grocery store aisle and wondered where your chicken comes from? Or if the ham you just bought is healthier for your family, than the other brand of ham you saw? In “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”, Michael Pollan states that there are four different food chains. They’re the industrial, the industrial organic, the local sustainable, and the hunter-gatherer food chains. I believe that the best food chain for everyone in the United States would be the local sustainable. The local sustainable food chain is the best for the United States because it is better for the animal, and better for the environment. Although the local sustainable food chain would take a long time to get used to, it would be the best option for the United States.

“The Omnivores Dilemma” a book written by Michael Pollan, where he asks a very straightforward question of what we should have for dinner. In the first chapter, titled “The Plant”, tells a story from the perspective of Pollan himself as an everyday shopper in a modern day American supermarket. Pollan brings up the fact that from a naturalist’s perspective our grocery stores are absolutely astonishing, because where else are you going to find an array of different cultured foods in just one store. He then goes on to pose a question: Do you really even know where the food you eat comes from? Pollan decided to do some digging of his own, seeing if any completely opposite foods had anything in common. To his surprise, a lot of these diverse foods did have something in common when it came to ingredient and it was corn. From finding out that information he goes on to compare Americans consumption of corn, to Mexicans consumption of corn. Pollan’s findings show that Americans do in fact consume more corn than our neighbors to the south, Mexico. This first chapter really made me think about how much, we Americans, consume corn (or some derivative of corn) and if there is a healthier option to choose from. So my question that I must ask is: why is corn a more efficient and beneficial option than any other plant, and is there a plant that would be a better option?

If you ask almost any American, they will admit to standing in a grocery store aisle, looking at food labels and brand names, trying to decide what to buy. This is a modern example of what experts call “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”. In his book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan explores different ways of getting the food that you eat. He talks about how our food goes from living to packaged. The book is divided into four parts based on different meal types. Pollan argues that this dilemma is fueled by American’s lack of food culture, inability to follow their instincts, and the insane number of choices they face.

Michael Pollan the author of Omnivore 's Dilemma discusses and asks, “what should we have for dinner?” He attempts to answer one of the pressing questions of sustainability in today 's society, to save money or to save the planet, and how? Pollan talks about how humans are omnivores and we have the choice to eat whatever we want, no matter the health and sustainability implications of our decisions. Pollan discusses three main food chains, industrial (corn), organic, and hunter/gatherer. He analyzes each food chain, learning eating industrial is basically eating corn, and goes into the complex issues

Have you ever stopped and asked yourself: what are you really eating? Recently, I’ve come to the realization of what I’m eating on a daily basis isn’t entirely healthy for me. Michael Pollan, who is the author of the book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, has opened my mind. While reading the first couple of chapters of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, I’ve realized that I don’t know much about the food I eat daily. For example, I didn’t know that farmers not only feed corn but also antibiotics to their animals (Walsh 34). In The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Pollan makes a strange statement, “You are what what you eat eats, too” (Pollan 84). Pollan continuously emphasizes this remark through various examples and he’s right, because strangely enough the food that our food eats not only affects them but us as well.

What am I exactly eating? Where does our food come from? Why should I care? “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” may forever change the way you think about food. I enjoyed Mr. Pollan’s book, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and learned a great deal of information. Pollan’s book is a plea for us to stop and think for a moment about our whole process of eating. Pollan sets out to corn fields and natural farms, goes hunting and foraging, all in the name of coming to terms with where food really comes from in modern America and what the ramifications are for the eaters, the eaten, the economy and the environment. The results are far more than I expected them to be.

During the second week of class, we were to read chapters six through nine of The Omnivore’s Dilemma. So far this week I have learned a lot about calories. First my chemistry class, then biology, and now this class. I find it interesting, though, because I never really put much thought into it. In high school, I had a friend who was obsessed with counting calories and then there was me who just ate whatever was in sight. Pollan made me realize how much calories do affect us and the difference between good calories and bad calories. I learned in biology that we need calories to give us energy and we crave foods that are high in calories. We find ourselves craving fatty and sweet foods and that

Amidst giant supermarkets and effortlessly accessible meals, Americans eat whatever is in the grocery store. But the question remains, where did that “cage-free” chicken really come from? Americans are lost in their understanding as to where their food actually comes from. The author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan, asserts that Americans are facing a modern-day version of the omnivore’s dilemma wherein they don’t know what to eat. This is because of fickle science that influences confused Americans, America’s lack of a food culture, and people’s unfamiliarity with the food process.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan is a comprehensive look into the present day food culture of the United States. Throughout the book the author tries to find out the true composition of the diet that is consumed by Americans on a daily basis. There is an excessive dependence by the American population on the government to know which food is good for them. This paper will critically analyze the book as well as the stance that the author has taken. Since there is a deluge of information about diets and health available today, the relevance of this well researched book in the present day world cannot be emphasized enough. Its relevance is not limited to the United States alone but to the entire human society which is moving towards homogenous food habits.

The answers Pollan offers to the seemingly straightforward question posed by this book have profound political, economic, psychological, and even moral implications for all of us. Beautifully written and thrillingly argued, The Omnivore’s Dilemma promises to change the