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Title: The Omnivore's Dilemma
Author: Michael Pollan
Genre: Food journalism
Thingummies: 4
Synopsis: A journalist tries to trace back the origins of four meals, tackling America's relationship with food and farming in the process.
Thoughts: Pollan is a well-known enough figure and this book was written long enough ago that I had a pretty good idea of his conclusions going in. But it still makes for an interesting read, and the details were still thought-provoking.
He has a tendency to veer to the smug and the glib, the kind of writing that makes conservatives rant about elites. Fortunately, at his worst, he has the self-awareness to reign himself in and the transparency to let us watch him do it.
As for the content--it's certainly compelling. (Although I was pretty aware of most of the factory farm info from Fast Food Nation.) Is it compelling enough to make me change my somewhat lazy ways? I'm not sure. We cook a lot of our food from scratch already, and purchase much of our produce from local farmers when it's available. We've tended to wince away from the organic small farm meat and eggs with their high price tags, though. (Thanks to my kid's food allergies, our dairy consumption in the last few years has plummeted.) Pollan makes a pretty good case for why we're still paying high prices for factory farm meat, just indirectly. But it's still not an easy choice. As for organic...it's complicated, and he lets us see that. I think I trust his lack of strong answers more than I would have trusted someone insisting that there was in fact a solution.
Author: Michael Pollan
Genre: Food journalism
Thingummies: 4
Synopsis: A journalist tries to trace back the origins of four meals, tackling America's relationship with food and farming in the process.
Thoughts: Pollan is a well-known enough figure and this book was written long enough ago that I had a pretty good idea of his conclusions going in. But it still makes for an interesting read, and the details were still thought-provoking.
He has a tendency to veer to the smug and the glib, the kind of writing that makes conservatives rant about elites. Fortunately, at his worst, he has the self-awareness to reign himself in and the transparency to let us watch him do it.
As for the content--it's certainly compelling. (Although I was pretty aware of most of the factory farm info from Fast Food Nation.) Is it compelling enough to make me change my somewhat lazy ways? I'm not sure. We cook a lot of our food from scratch already, and purchase much of our produce from local farmers when it's available. We've tended to wince away from the organic small farm meat and eggs with their high price tags, though. (Thanks to my kid's food allergies, our dairy consumption in the last few years has plummeted.) Pollan makes a pretty good case for why we're still paying high prices for factory farm meat, just indirectly. But it's still not an easy choice. As for organic...it's complicated, and he lets us see that. I think I trust his lack of strong answers more than I would have trusted someone insisting that there was in fact a solution.
