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.
I like how you tied in personal experiences with your reading. I grew up in a city, but I always have had food bought for me as well. Every once in a while, my father would go hunting for sport and occasionally bring home game, but other than that, we've always had our local firefighter butcher cut up some of his animals for us. I agree with your statement that we can't do everything for ourselves, but we should still at least try to do a little bit more for ourselves also, right? :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that even though we cant completely give up the idea of using a supermarket, we should do our best to eat differently. If everyone just attempted to buy a little more organic, or spend a little extra time preparing our own food, then the lives of animals and humans both would be much better.
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