Industrial/Corn - Book Report/Review Example

The Omnivore’s Dilemma The Omnivore’s Dilemma The Omnivore’s Dilemma notably is one art that reflects the current alternative food movements. This book explores how modern human beings acquire, produce and even prepare food. Too the book tries to uncover the operations that concern the major facets of food system. Pollan too examines the local food movement, the organic movement and the importance of hunting and gathering. He tries to find out the connections between different systems and also speculates on the importance the different methods for getting food.

In this book, Pollan seems to wax philosophical on the implications of different aspects of food. For instance, other than taking us as the caretakers of corn plant, he makes a strong assertion for corn as the active agent in most of our day to day reliance on the plant. The corn has become so appealing that human beings do all it takes to eliminate or do away with its competitors. This school of thought encourages one to recap on the relationship he or she has with all types of plants and animals.

This has generated numerous symbiotic relationships with all kinds domesticated species (Pollan, 2007). Pollan reveals the truth behind the organics. He asserts that the organics are grown in a system very similar as industrial as conventional but with small amounts of pesticides and chemicals. He condemns nobody or none of the systems but he compares the industrial organic with the initial system. The industrial organic do not appear that great in this comparison only that it keeps off spraying chemicals on large pieces of land.

The dilemma remains that we are supporting or calling for industrial system despite purchasing organic versions of foods. Pollan in his book alerts that corporate foods will dominate us because of our ignorance (Pollan, 2007). In The Omnivore’s Dilemma, the four food chains vary in length, from production to consumption. It is asserted that food from a short chain is healthier, more sustainable and tasty. The book avoids one- side judgment on the meals that Pollan tracks from production to consumption.

Pollan believes that so as to appreciate the food, we have to appreciate the cost of that food. Many of us do not think on how much it cost to feed ourselves. This book The Omnivore’s Dilemma tries to bring out the aspect of one eater realizing the costs of his existence and how the costs can be so little. In the end Pollan suggests that it would be beneficiary to all of us when we know how appear in the environment’s balance sheet (Pollan, 2007). Understanding the effects of being very costly eaters and knowing what it amounts to feeding ourselves, we may be motivated to reducing our impacts.

In the long run, we might end up eating tasty food and eating healthy too. The book goes a mile extra from a journalistic material that digs into the industrial food realities to a personal venture recounting adventures taken learning to grow someone’s own food and then to hunt and gather food. This is a clear reflection when food systems are examined. Research is required in industrial food systems so as to navigate (Pollan, 2007). On the other hand only engagement to an extent is required in the organic food system.

Pollan’s book starts by looking in industrial food but ends up immersed in hunting. The Omnivore’s Dilemma links all our foods in a single coherent story, establishing connections between organic, industrial, hunted/gathered and local food that would have remained unseen. Pollan goes an extra mile to inform us that food is not just the meal itself, but includes a long chain of stories and people who form section of its nourishing qualities. The dilemma in the book is that in the end, we the omnivores, what we eat depends on us.

Therefore the extent to which we have to choose what is good for us and what we eat is within our ability. Leaving the job to someone else will mean compromising our health for money as we will be provided with anything in exchange of money.ReferencePollan, M. (2007). The omnivore’s dilemma: a natural history of four meals. New York: Penguin publishers.