Book: The Omnivore's Dilemma

The Omnivore’s Dilemma
Michael Pollan

My Rating (1-10): 8

The book follows four meals from creation to stomach.

The Industrial meal, from McDonalds
Ties the history of corn, and then the economics back to why industrial food is the way it is. Corn yields more energy per acre than anything else we have. Push that through live stock or process it into corn syrup and you get cheap food. Cheap food that appeals to our human nature of liking sweet things because sweet is calories. Corn growing is encouraged by cooperate America because it is cheap, so more is grown, which drives down the price. So farmers want more money, so they grow more corn, further driving down the price and the cycle repeats. Companies like Cargill and ADM, private companies, handle all the middle stuff. They buy the corn and process it and sell its derivatives to all comers. They lobby the government to keep corn product consumption high. The result is lots of cheap food that enables the population to expand. The problem is that we can only eat so much, hence marketing to get us to eat more. The tragedy is that animals that wouldn’t usually eat corn are forced to, which is basically against nature, and problems of disease in our food supply (E coli, Mad Cow Disease) flourish. In the end, industrial food appeals to our tastes, it is everywhere, and we eat it.

The Industrial Organic Meal, from Whole Foods
Just because things are done the organic way doesn’t mean that the desire to produce huge quantities doesn’t take a toll on the land. No fertilizers results in over tilling land, etc. All in all, perhaps Organic is better for the land, and by the authors report, and I suppose my own experience, the food tastes better. Most interesting is how the market has manipulated the laws such that certain things are permissive that may not be organic in nature, such as how the crops are designed to fit the specifications of a piece of machinery, that is, organic, isn’t free range. Of course, to be free range, the hen house need only have a little door to the outside land which is avoided because it is barren, and away from the food in the house.

The Pastoral Meal from Polyface Farm
This meal comes from Polyface Farm http://www.polyfacefarms.com/ in Swoope, VA and of all that has been talked about, it makes you want to go there and pay any price for a meal. Everything is tied to everything else, the cows are rotated to “mow” the grass, then come the portable chicken coops to clear the fields or bug larva from the cow pats and add nitrogen to the land via feces. And meanwhile the rabbits with urine high in ammonia suspended over hens that temper the ammonia with the nitrogen rich feces fertilize woodchips that go into the barn. In the winter, in the barn, the cow manure collects, throw in some corn as it happens, bring the pigs in the spring to dive for the corn and till the pile and you have got a bunch of rich compost to spread around the felids. Then send the pigs into the forest, the feed themselves by eating the rye grasses and keeping the trees happy, moisture retaining, farm field cooling, etc. Simply amazing to watch nature and the symbiotic relationships that are so easily (well, a lot of work really) cultivated. And from the sound of it, the food is just simply the best food you might ever taste.

The proceeds are seasonal, red meat in the winter, when it’s cold out, not spring lamb, the ideal birthing time because the grass is lush in April. The industrial food cycle is out of synch with nature (p 253). Polyface products are delivered to Charlottesville, VA to fine restaurants and I’m sure I’ll make the trip. You could also stop by the farm to pick up the products or perhaps find them in a D.C. farmers market, this is eating on a small fresh, scale.

The meal is a Polyface chicken, corn, and a soufflé made with Polyface Eggs, and the author and his friends found the chicken more chickener, as expected. Some discussion is made of the health benefits and you continue to see that the industrial food complex is producing food in ways nature never intended. Out of balance diets for meat make for out of balance diets for humans.

The Hunted Gathered Meal
The hunt is for wild boar in Sonoma, CA and discusses how human instinct is prepared for hunting. How hunters can maintain a still crouch longer as the body adapts to the instinctual activity. Alertness and hunger drive a hunter, stalking thorough the woods. Eventually, the author gets his pig and then, with the aid of his friend, learns to skin his prey.

I found myself closely reading the gory details of the “dressing” of the pig. I had avoided any close reference to industrial slaughter. I felt slightly more comfortable with the pastoral slaughter of chickens, but the hunted pig was easier, this was one animal, which had been well discussed by the author’s friend as to how each part would be used to produce different cuts of ham and sausage. It felt appropriate and comfortable as the pig was eviscerated and prepared.

The human reaction of disgust is mentioned several times regarding how that mechanism protects us from things that shouldn’t eat. Think of the smell of decaying flesh, slaughter, waste, etc; those things disgust us and we don’t want to eat when we feel that.

The last adventure is “hunting” for mushrooms. The entire process of hunting mushrooms is incredible. Science knows little about mushrooms, why they fruit, how they develop, the symbiotic relationship with the trees they are always found near, etc. A forest could have no mushrooms until a fire, which will trigger the fungus to produce the mushroom; it is thought that this allows the mushroom spores to migrate to their new land. Fungi are essential to the land, they decompose leaves, etc, creating the circle of life and if nothing were to decompose, the food chain would end. Interesting there hasn’t been more study.

The meal came from a Pate of Pig Liver, Egg Fettuccine with sautéed Morels (mushroom), braised leg and grilled loin of wild Sonoma pig, wild east bay yeast bread, garden salad, cherry galette, chamomile tea, and a petite syrah. He attempted to follow a few rules, but admits some were bent: 1. Everything on the menu must have been hunted, gathered, or grown by the author, 2. The menu should include animal, vegetable, fungus, and minerals, 3. Everything served must be in season and fresh, 4. No money may be spent, except for already purchased spices, etc, 5. Guests would be folks who helped him hunt and gather, 6. He would cook the meal himself.

In All
This is the sort of book that all high schoolers should read. I come away knowing where my food comes from, for better or worse, and also, where I would like it to come from. Good food takes time and is expensive, industrial food is fast and cheap. The transparency of the hunted and gathered meal is something few of us have experienced. How many times would you say you have sat to a meal and know the story of each ingredient?

As the book progresses you go from disgust to desire, and it would be well worth spending some time procuring food from the wild to truly appreciate what the author refers to as the body of the earth.