3/1/2010

Chapter eighteen was a particularly interesting chapter to me because Pollan starts off talking about the thrill and adrenaline rush of hunting. Being a suburban girl my whole life, I have never gone hunting. The idea probably seems so foreign to me because my food has always bee bought. How can someone get pleasure out of killing an animal? It also was interesting how Pollan made humans sound like an animal, sneeking up on prey and attacking.

Chapter nineteen talked about how we, as humans, gather food. When the author went mushroom picking, he pointed out that the fungi hides and some in the patch may be poisonous, which is why gathering should be rephrased as "hunting." Each and everything we take to eat needs strategy and skill, much like hunting.

Pollan closes the book with chapter 20, titled "The Perfect Meal." The book opened with the question: what is the right thing to eat? By this chapter, Pollan answers his own question. He states that he would cook, hunt, gather everything himself so that every dish on the table would be wholesome and worthwhile. In the end I conclude that Americans should live like the pilgrims, live life around the production of food. However, if everyone did this, it would take days to make and prepare a single meal. Maybe we can't completely separate from the supermarket, maybe we can't to everything ourselves. All we can do is try our best to be independent from the market, and buy organic to help the well being of animals, workers, farmers, and ourselves.

2/23/2010

At the beginning of chapter 16, Pollan explains the "omnivore" part of the Omnivore's Dilemma. He explains how our bodies are made to be omnivorous; every part of our body caders to both meat and plants. He also explains a connection with brain size and food variety in the diet. Since humans have big brains, we get more variety. Koalas have small brains, they are picky eaters. This situation kind of made me think of small children and how picky they are. For example, most children do not like salad or sea food, however most adults enjoy such foods. It seem that as one grows mentally, the eating pallet expands as well.

In chapter 17, Pollan addresses the common American diet fads. This includes vegetarianism which is "finding its way into the cultural mainstream" (pg. 305). We, as humans, are made for eating both meat and plants and have been doing so for tens of thousands of years. Why the sudden change? How is eating meat ethically bad? One quote that stood out was "For at the same time many of us seem eager to extend the circle of our moral consideration to other species, in our factory farms we're inflicting more suffering on more animals than any time in history," (pg 307). By this, the author is explaining the two sides of our country and how they are getting more extreme. While vegetarians strive to save all the animals, the omnivores give into the big companies' animal abuse.

2/16/2010

Reading about the farm in chapter 8, we get to see how the world gives back to each other. In this case, the farmer puts animals on the land so they can eat the grass. From there, compost is made to plant the grass again. By the time the new grass is grown these animals have been slaughtered. This cycle continues to rotate, giving this farm no endpoint. I think it was insightful on how Pollan observed this because that is the whole purpose of life on Earth. Each species, plant or animal or human has a purpose and it creates a cycle.

My favorite quote in chapter 10 was, "All agriculture us at heart a business of capturing free solar energy in a food product that can be turned into high-value human energy." (pg.188) The whole subject surrounding this is that nature gives us sun and food. Now society has put a value on food, but everything is food. To a cow, grass is extremely valuable. To us, however the grass is just seen as a middleman to get our beef. All grass does is feed the cow that gives me food.

2/9/2010

Chapter twelve of the Omnivore's Dilemma centered around the slaughtering process. Pollan described it in disgusting detail, including comments on the smell, sight, and feeling of the meat getting scalded, plucked, and then ripped apart. An interesting quote I picked out from this chapter was, "It could be that [the farmer] finds a certain beauty in that compost pile, or at least in its redemptive promise" (237). By this, Pollan is referring to how meat factories recycle their resources by spreading the compost, made from dead animal parts, to grow grass to feed the new growing animals. Knowing this alone, makes me not want to eat meat again. I never took into consideration how much meat Americans consume and how mass killing of animals is necessary for the production of meat.

Chapter thirteen in the novel describes how the "non barcode people" get their meat. Through "sales at the farm store, farmer's markets, metropolitan clubs and small shops" (240) the consumers prefer small-scale meat because it is hardy, fresh, and clean. The local farms "pile it high and sell it cheap" which keeps customers regular. I have always liked farmers markets, however I appose what the consumers in the book say. Chicken from the back of a truck probably hasn't been pasteurized and cured for the public like the chicken in a grocery store.

2/2/2010

Chapter nine of Omnivore’s Dilemma was the most interesting and relevant chapter I have read so far. My mother and sister are huge fans of stores like Trader Joes or Whole Foods, which were the topic of discussion in this chapter. I guarantee if you put anything with “certified organic,” “humanely raised,” or “free range” in front of m mom she would buy it in hopes that it will improve the health of her family. I thought it was interesting to read about Pollan’s comparison to expensive organic meat to the meat sold in Safeway. What makes it better? Like most Americans, I am guilty of buying over priced goods in hopes that they are better for me. For example, instead of buying Wal Mart clothes I buy them from designer stores, thinking that since they cost more, they must be more efficient. My dad thinks the same with cars. Why buy a Toyota when you can buy a more expensive Lexus? Even though they are made buy the same company something must make it better. Many Americans make this mistake when buying all good necessary for living.

Like most every product for sale, marketing and advertising strategies play a part in what we buy. I thought it somewhat funny to read about the pictures on the labels of food. Pollan compares the pictures on the label to a story. How organic brands are the hero saving a poor innocent cow. But Pollan points out that either way the cow still ends up dead in our stomachs. This chapter really made me rethink my family’s shopping habits. Not to say that they cannot go to stores like Whole Foods, but just to think about what the food really is and not to judge the product by its packaging.