Book Review: The Omnivore's Dilemma

Review by Andrew Heisler
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You should read this book.

At first, I found it pretty intimidating, considering it was 400 pages and had tiny-ish print, but I found that I flew it relatively quickly. Author Michael Pollan has a very distinct writing style that is not only informative, but fun also. I found that I could relate to him very easily, and that made the book almost personal, (in a good way).

In "The Omnivore's Dilemma," Pollan outlines very specically three sections of how the American diet works, how it has evolved, and how it can be applied to real life. The first section focuses most on corn, not just the sweet stuff we eat off the cob on a warm summer night, but the industrial corn, corn that doesn't have much a purpose except to be used as an industrial sweetner in your brand name yogurt or soda.

Basically, farmers, who are having a tough time making straight-cash homie, are growing monoculture crops (just one type, not a variety) to make money because corn and soybeans, the main ones, are in highest demand. This is because they are featured in a majority of the foods we eat today.

In one case, Pollan talks about his family's trip to McDonald's. He got a Big Mac, his wife a salad, and his kid some McNugget's. Not much corn is present, you might assume. But after reading this book, you'll realize his meal was nearly 80% corn. The french fries fried in corn oil, his burger made of cows fed a corn-based diet, his wife's salad dressing containing high-fructose corn syrup. It's eerie reading this book. You are a living, breathing, walking stalk of corn.

The second part addresses the organic movement: how it started, how it gained popularity, and the newfangled credibility of it. He talks about "what is organic?" Is everything from Whole Foods organic? Well, that's ultimately your decision, but Pollan lays it on thick, explaining that quite possibly, organic is become as common a term as "low-fat," and holding as much credibility as "all-natural."

Lastly, Pollan explains on how a omnivore like a human reacts with finding naturally organic goods in real life. This means going hunting for your own meat and foraging for your own mushrooms. Briefly, Pollan goes on a rant about the morality of killing and slaughtering animals, and he gets pretty graphic, (he worked on a legit organic farm in Virginia for a week. While there, he was asked to do the day's work of slaughtering chickens.)

Reading this book has taught me a lot about my diet and made me more aware of what I'm putting into my body. Under my current roof, I have little say in what I eat, because if I told my mom I wasn't eating what she made, she'd probably tell me I'm SOL. But going to college next year is a golden opportunity for me to take charge in what I eat and how much of it I eat. Many kids gain weight while off at school. Hopefully I won't fall under this umbrella.

Thanks Mr. Pollan.

You are pretty cool.