Analysis Of Omnivore's Dilemma By Michael Pollan

Improved Essays
As a society we have seen more muckrakers emerge since Upton Sinclair than ever before. The Jungle was only the beginning of an exposé on the food industry that is still relevant today. Great writers and journalists continue to try and educate the public on just where their food is coming from. Michael Pollan presents the reader with his own work of food journalism in the form of Omnivore’s Dilemma, in which he defines industrial logic and how this idea motivates industry to produce the food we receive today, then offers the alternative of local food chains to combat the distrust in supermarkets.
Industrial logic is the force that persuades the agriculture market to transform into one that relies increasingly on industrial means to mass produce
…show more content…
There are many negative externalities that come from this “industrial logic”. There are obvious one such as the health factor of the food that we put in our bodies. There is excessive use of antibiotics and chemicals that are fed to the animals that we eat to shorten the time needed before slaughter. This ensures that the big businesses are getting the most profit possible. Another reason Pollan finds companies use of industrial logic undesirable is because there is environmental damage that occurs with large farms that are akin to Tyson and Monsanto. The world is being overtaken by corn, which is not a huge surprise if one looks on that back of almost all grocery items. But this creates a problem that is known as monoculture, which means the world is becoming too dependant on corn. There are risks that come with monoculture, such as bug infestation and plant disease. Companies avoid these problems by spraying crops with large amounts of pesticides and similar chemicals. The chemicals can enter runoff and eventually end up in bodies of water ranging from oceans to our drinking supply. The same can be said for animal waste. The chemicals that large CAFOs give to their animals ends up polluting their waste, and eventually their waste will become a dangerous part of the environment. One argument that Pollan uses while explaining the ways industrial logic has a terrible effect on us is the treatment of the animals. “Though the industrial logic that made feeding cattle to cattle seem like a idea has been thrown into doubt by mad cow disease, I was surprised to learn it hadn’t been discarded.” (Pollan, 76) The industrial logic that allowed such a practice is the same one that is being followed by almost all food manufacturers. It was a cheap fix to feeding animals, therefore it seemed like a good idea. Because it was the most profitable answer to a question whose other

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The Omnivore’s Dilemma, written by Michael Pollan, and published in 2009 made quite an impact on the food industry and nearly everybody who so happened to read it. The book details what happens behind closed doors of supermarkets, how the food is made, how the animals soon to be meat are handled and treated, and asks the question, how do we know if what we’re eating really is healthy? Chapter 8 of the book: The Modern Omnivore, highlights this question, among others, especially what we’ve been asking ourselves… what is the omnivore’s dilemma? The omnivore’s dilemma is that modern Americans have such a large variety of food making us uncertain about what should and should not be eaten. What food is good food? What food is bad food? What’s healthy…

    • 759 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Food, Inc., a documentary by Robert Kenner, informs the American people in the food industry’s malevolent side. It uses compelling images, such as chickens being brought up in small spaces, and incorporates stories of farmers, government officials and victims of the food industry. Food, Inc. exposes the food industry and the audience realizes wealth has become more of a priority than safety. But, the end of the film invokes a sense of hope when the show reveals how the audience can make a difference. Food Inc. uses rhetorical strategies to build a warning to consumers about the somber side within the food industry.…

    • 531 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Despite its publication more than a decade ago, Pollan’s argument remains relevant today as the globe struggles to find the best balance between accessible or healthy food and efficient or moral food production methods. Regardless of what course the food industry will decide to take, the power it holds over society and our future is…

    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A red barn, with green pastures and cows roaming around happily; this is what enters most our minds when we think of farms, which is naïve. The truth is 90% of our food is industrially grown, where we feed cows through plastic tubes and give them antibiotics by the pint and corn is doused with chemicals. Michael Pollan, through “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” tries to open the eyes of the American people to understand this and to question what we are eating. Similarly, artist Nathan Meltz and the Reuters article “Monsanto replacing GMO canola seed in Canada” work to answer this all-important question by further analyzing our food production. Together, these various sources let the readers comprehend conventional agriculture through multiple lenses…

    • 576 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The article “America’s Food Crisis” by Bryan Walsh is a mind stimulating read on Walsh’s examination of food production. No one really looks into the depths of food production as they should. In this article Walsh attempts to bring out the negatives on food production by stating facts on how it has affected us financially and health wise. Swift states that we should make smarter food choices instead of going by more are better. Walsh prosperously reveals his argument not trying to scare us into being vegetarians, but for us to make healthier food choices.…

    • 539 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Do you know how the food you eat is produced and where it comes from? Have you ever considered what you are eating may have an effect upon your health? Do you really care? These are the issues that author Jonathan Safran Foer brings to light in his literary piece called, “Hiding/Seeking," from his excerpt “Eating Animals”, a triad of three separate genres about the conditions inside the American commercial farm, or “Factory Farm”.…

    • 1309 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    So far in sections one and two of Micheal Pollan, The Omnivores Dilemma, it seems as is all food chains have negative effects on us, the enviorment, as well as the animals we get it from. However that is not true. In this section, Micheal Pollan argues that the food chain called Local Sustainable is the best food chain there is for everyone and everything, they do not use chemical fertilizers or chemical pesticde which is harmful to everyone, they don’t pollute they enviorment because they recyle everything used in the farm and thye don’t burn fossil fuels, and before the animals live their lives as free wild animas should.…

    • 1203 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, he explains the journey of how corn developed to what it is today. In 1866, “corn syrup . . . became the first cheap domestic substitute for cane sugar” (Pollan 88). Then as corn refining started to be perfected, high-fructose corn syrup became quite popular. Pollan states that high-fructose corn syrup “is the most valuable food product refined from corn, accounting for 530 million bushels every year” (89). Once these different food processes were discovered, processed foods began making their way into the country. At first, the point of having processed food was to free “people from nature’s cycles of abundance and scarcity,” so to have food preserved longer (Pollan 91). But as time went on, the goal changed from “liberating food from nature” (Pollan 91) to “improve[ing] on nature” (Pollan 91). Since processed foods began to be so easy to make with the help of high-fructose corn syrup, the cost to make it was relatively cheap compared to the natural farmers. Pollans statistics show that “a dollar spent on a whole food such as eggs, $0.40 finds its way back to the farmer . . . by comparison, George Naylor will see only $0.04 of every dollar spent on corn sweeteners” (95). So ultimately, the increase in processed foods have to do with its easy and cheap…

    • 2977 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan is how our food choices affect our health greatly. Pollan’s purpose for writing the book was simple- if nothing else, inform readers about what they are putting into their bodies and possibly change their eating habits entirely. The book was published in April of 2006 and healthy eating has been a debate for many many years. People have questioned if they should be vegan, vegetarian, etc. for many years and this book explores why eating habits are a big deal and what option is “best.” Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser was published around the same time as this book. Pollan was clearly not the only person who felt the need to address people’s eating habits. Other books have been written…

    • 842 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the modern world today, many people cook and eat organic foods. They do this because they believe that it is better for them, despite the higher price. Robert Paarlberg noticed this when he was writing his article, “Attention Whole Food Shoppers”. While writing this article, he brought up the fact that while this entire process helps local farmers and fight climate change, the global issue of hunger is not solved. He approaches this topic by pulling in his readers with an ethical appeal, and supports his argument with factual evidence as well as a very confident, firm tone. While doing all of this, Paarlberg is able to convince his audience that we must worry about world hunger more than how our fruits and vegetables grow.…

    • 815 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Omnivore's Dilemma

    • 816 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Michael Pollan’s book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, he writes about the journey that our food takes from the farm to our plates. The “omnivore’s dilemma” can be seen as humanity not thinking about everything that goes into making the foods that society enjoy, such as corn-based products. Our agriculture business produces tons of corn every year and corn is an important part of our society. His book is attempting to show the negative sides to the agriculture business that is in place today. Society has known for years that the current system is not a good system, yet it has not changed. If humanity decided to make a shift from where it is currently, it would involve time and effort. In the generation focused on convenience, a big change requiring time and effort will be something humans decide to push off so someone else can do it. This fact shows how humans care more about completing things quickly than the effect that their…

    • 816 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The final book that really spiked with my interest and stayed with me was Michael Pollan’s “The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.” In this book, we followed Mr. Pollan as he explained the food that we eat in three parts, two of which we read. In Part 1 of the book I realized that our government has set us up to buy processed food in order to feed into the large companies that continue to control this nation’s economy. Consequently, as it does not care about our citizen individual health, it is my perception that if more people knew this, and if they understood that by buying more organic products, it would cause the demand to go up and the prices down, then they would. However, with the current way the system is created,…

    • 698 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Omnivore's Dilemma is a book which modified the way people looked at their food and also what they ate. In Chapter 8 “The Omnivore's Dilemma”, Michael Pollan explains that omnivores like the modern day American can eat just about anything, but the problem is that they are uncertain of what should be eaten. Americans obtain a variety of choices when in a supermarket, but do they recognize what is good for them? Michael Pollan also argues that the reason we experience so many diet fads is that Americans have no food culture to fall back on. So, according to Pollan, the omnivore's dilemma is that the modern-day American doesn't know what to eat because we have no food culture to fall back on.…

    • 478 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    After watching the documentary Food Inc., a film in which Michael Pollan was a key interviewee, I was horrified by the highly technical method in which our food is processed. Furthermore, learning about the corporate monopoly over farmers practically dissuaded me from ever buying from a big chain supermarket again. With my eyes uncovered to the ways of the food industry, I desired to gain more information about the modern food industry and what other food processing methods they are hiding from the public. The Omnivore’s Dilemma, proved to be a wonderful supplement to my…

    • 626 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Humans are omnivores, which means that they eat both plants and animals. Ultimately, the human can decide whether or not they are going to consume animal meat. I am analyzing the article “Against Meat” in the They Say I say collection of articles. Jonathan Safran Foer talks about his experiences with his struggles of becoming a vegetarian. He gives the intended audience and inside look on how making dietary choices are often difficult, and how it has positively impacted his life, as well as keeping his morals and values in check. I found this interesting because Foer and I both share some of the same views on the food industry and what we choose to put in our bodies. Humans are very uneducated on the food industry, and should research different…

    • 1034 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays