Food Book Review – The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
By Jesse | January 27, 2010
In previous reviews and articles, you’ve heard my opinions on the industrial food system and the problems associated with it. Many of the evils of industrial eating have recently come to the front of the media, even in an era ripe with social, political, and economic concerns. On the forefront of this food movement is Michael Pollan, a journalist and educator by trade. Mr. Pollan is often cited in news articles, books, and even documentaries like Food INC.
I recently finished reading Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma. The book traces the creation of four different meals, consumed by Pollan, along our food system. The meals range from a fast food McDonalds drive through to a wild hunted California Boar, tracing their path of production. The book’s journeys down the varied food systems are both enlightening and entertaining.
Pollen begins by reflecting on America’s collective eating disorder. A disorder mostly consisting of a people obsessed with healthy food that eats largely unhealthy. The United States, as a big melting pot of a variety of cultures and food traditions has lost touch with eating over the last fifty years or so. Much of what we see in the grocery store or eat at the table is drastically different from the food that we’ve been eating for thousands of years due to processing. This has led to major food related health issues like obesity, type 2 diabetes and my personal favorite, food bourn illnesses.
Contrary to what one would assume, Pollan’s descriptions are not preachy. He doesn’t tell the reader what to eat, but rather focuses his own musings and “dilemmas” facing the simple decision of “what should we eat”.
I really enjoyed the book. I was both entertained and informed. Pollan’s adventurous along the food system were surprisingly entertaining due to his informative and humorous prose. Some parts dragged, like the long scientific explanations of corn development or the personal accounts of picking wild mushrooms. However, I really recommend this book to anyone that eats food. As a nation, we need to pay better attention to something as intimate as where the food we put in our bodies every day is comes from. Many of you may actually significantly change how you eat.
Pick up a copy at Amazon.com, your local library, or trade for one on Swaptree.com.
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January 30th, 2010 at 7:17 am
Jesse,
This sounds like a great book, I’ll have to pick it up! I never thought about America having a collective disorder, just that we are gluttonous. It is so true, obsessed with being healthy, but are not. Thanks for the recommendation.