The Truth about the American Food System
What should we have for dinner? This is a question that goes through the minds of nearly everyone at least once or twice. Sure, it may seem like a straight forward or easy question to answer, but, for Americans in particular it is actually quite a difficult one. Michael Pollan attempts to explain and answer that very question, in his book The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Pollan is a journalist who has a B.A. from Bennington College and a M.A. from Columbia University, both in English. His articles have been published in Best American Science Writing and Best American Essays. Pollen has written for different prestigious journals and magazines such as National Geographic, the New …show more content…
The first section focuses largely on the toll that the current reliance on industrial agriculture has on the American environment, specifically the mass amount of fossil fuel going into it. In the second section he examines the problems with large-scale production of organic goods and goes on to demonstrate how small-scale local organic production lacks those same problems. Finally, in the last section he describes his own experiences hunting and gathering, but admits is not a practical solution. The book overall recognizes the negligence and ignorance that Americans have when it comes to their everyday food choices. It also presents potential solutions to changing this, however recognizes that there is not simply one …show more content…
By making himself relatable, He provides a much-needed story line in a very fact-based subject. This also keeps the book interesting for the reader. An example of this is presented in chapter four, Pollan uses a personal account to exemplify the problems, not only the environmental but the moral as well, with the production of feedlot beef. He begins by going to a “cow-calf” operation and explaining how a cow is born and how the beginning of its life is not much different than the life’s of cows have been throughout history. There he picks out and purchases a cow, specifically describing the memorable features of the young calf in detail, to follow through the industrial meat process (p. 69). He demonstrates that the feedlot process relies on fossil fuels and how this has extremely negative health effects on the animals. He argued, “So this is what commodity corn can do to a cow: industrialize the miracle of nature that is a ruminant, taking this sunlight- and prairie grass-powered organism and turning it onto the last thing we need: another fossil fuel machine. This one, however, is able to suffer.” By picking out a steer and nearly making a character out of it in the chapter, he made the readers see everything in the way that he was seeing it in real life. Following the cow all the way from the “cow-calf” operation where its life
What should we have for dinner? This is a question that goes through the minds of nearly everyone at least once or twice. Sure, it may seem like a straight forward or easy question to answer, but, for Americans in particular it is actually quite a difficult one. Michael Pollan attempts to explain and answer that very question, in his book The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Pollan is a journalist who has a B.A. from Bennington College and a M.A. from Columbia University, both in English. His articles have been published in Best American Science Writing and Best American Essays. Pollen has written for different prestigious journals and magazines such as National Geographic, the New …show more content…
The first section focuses largely on the toll that the current reliance on industrial agriculture has on the American environment, specifically the mass amount of fossil fuel going into it. In the second section he examines the problems with large-scale production of organic goods and goes on to demonstrate how small-scale local organic production lacks those same problems. Finally, in the last section he describes his own experiences hunting and gathering, but admits is not a practical solution. The book overall recognizes the negligence and ignorance that Americans have when it comes to their everyday food choices. It also presents potential solutions to changing this, however recognizes that there is not simply one …show more content…
By making himself relatable, He provides a much-needed story line in a very fact-based subject. This also keeps the book interesting for the reader. An example of this is presented in chapter four, Pollan uses a personal account to exemplify the problems, not only the environmental but the moral as well, with the production of feedlot beef. He begins by going to a “cow-calf” operation and explaining how a cow is born and how the beginning of its life is not much different than the life’s of cows have been throughout history. There he picks out and purchases a cow, specifically describing the memorable features of the young calf in detail, to follow through the industrial meat process (p. 69). He demonstrates that the feedlot process relies on fossil fuels and how this has extremely negative health effects on the animals. He argued, “So this is what commodity corn can do to a cow: industrialize the miracle of nature that is a ruminant, taking this sunlight- and prairie grass-powered organism and turning it onto the last thing we need: another fossil fuel machine. This one, however, is able to suffer.” By picking out a steer and nearly making a character out of it in the chapter, he made the readers see everything in the way that he was seeing it in real life. Following the cow all the way from the “cow-calf” operation where its life