Book Review: The Omnivore's Dilemma

Reproduced from http://www.MySpace.com/GaddyBergmann

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Review of The Omnivore’s Dilemma

Current mood: contemplative

Category: Food and Restaurants

I just finished reading the nonfiction book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, by journalist Michael Pollan. This book came recommended to me by a coworker, and when I heard the title, I just knew I had to read this book. And I'm glad I did.

The basic idea behind that book as that, eating may be commonplace but it's not simple, and what we eat has all sorts of ramifications not only for the enjoyment of our meal, but for our health, our economy, and our environment. In the words of Pollan, the answer to the question of "What's for dinner?" is actually pretty complicated.

Pollan personally investigates four systems for making food, and then samples a meal from each system. The first system is the modern industrial food chain, exemplified by McDonald's. The second system is the commercial organic system, exemplified by food from Whole Foods. The third system is the local agricultural one, exemplified by meat, dairy, and greens from PolyFace Farms, a small, local grower and distributor of foods in the Northeast. And finally, the fourth system is the hunter-gatherer one, exemplified by food that Pollan and his associates personally hunted and collected where they live in Berkeley, California.

Pollan shows that the McDonald's food not only doesn't really taste all that good (big surprise), but from the perspective of personal nutrition, economic sensibility, animal welfare, and environmental impace, it's absolutely unconscionable. He also shows that the organic food market, although it does not use pesticides, hormones, or antibiotics on its plants and animals, is not that much better because it still greatly disrupts the landscape, and doesn't even necessarily treat the animals that much better.

The local food provider turns out to be the best one. His food is the most delicious and the most nutritious; his animals are treated the most humanely; and the economic and environmental sustainability of his system is the highest. Although not always practical for people who live in the city (at least at this point in our society's development), this system proves to be the most satisfying on most levels.

Finally, Pollan tries his hand at playing the hunter-gatherer. He hunts feral pig, collects wild mushrooms, plucks cherries off the tree, grows his own bread from yeast he easily cultures himself, and then prepares the meal himself, too. Although he admits that this kind of food production is not really practical anymore, it not only tasted good but also did wonders for reminding him and his friends just where the food that sustains us comes from. In short, it helped him be thankful.

I thought this book was great. Not only is Pollan a gifted writer, but he is also adept at exploring the multitude of levels behind deciding what to eat: nutrition, environmentalism, animal welfare, economics, history, politics, and personal contemplation. I'm not a "foodie" myself, but I easily got into this book because it blended the practical and the theoretical so effortlessly and meaningfully.

I think this book is very important, and I even predict that it will go down as one of the more significant books written on the topics of either of cuisine, ecology, or both. It bears similarity to the book Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser; the documentary Supersize Me, by Morgan Spurlock; and even the unique writings on environmental history and ethics by one of my favorite authors, Daniel Quinn. The Omnivore's Dilemma examines the pros and cons of eating different kinds of foods, leading different kinds of lifestyles, and making certain kinds of decisions. It takes something seemingly unimportant and mundane, shows us just how important it really is, asks us to take it seriously, and invites us to make up our own mind. That makes it one of the best kinds of stories out there.

Gaddy Bergmann

http://www.GaddyBergmann.com

Currently reading :

The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

By Michael Pollan

Release date: 28 August, 2007