The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals | 
 enlarge | Author: Michael Pollan
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Category: Book
List Price: $26.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  451 reviews
Sales Rank: 3548
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 464
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.6
ISBN: 1594200823
Dewey Decimal Number: 394.12
EAN: 9781594200823
ASIN: 1594200823
Publication Date: April 11, 2006
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Product Description
The bestselling author of The Botany of Desire explores the ecology of eating to unveil why we consume what we consume in the twenty-first century
"What should we have for dinner?" To one degree or another this simple question assails any creature faced with a wide choice of things to eat. Anthropologists call it the omnivore's dilemma. Choosing from among the countless potential foods nature offers, humans have had to learn what is safe, and what isn't-which mushrooms should be avoided, for example, and which berries we can enjoy. Today, as America confronts what can only be described as a national eating disorder, the omnivore's dilemma has returned with an atavistic vengeance. The cornucopia of the modern American supermarket and fast-food outlet has thrown us back on a bewildering landscape where we once again have to worry about which of those tasty-looking morsels might kill us. At the same time we're realizing that our food choices also have profound implications for the health of our environment. The Omnivore's Dilemma is bestselling author Michael Pollan's brilliant and eye-opening exploration of these little-known but vitally important dimensions of eating in America.
Pollan has divided The Omnivore's Dilemma into three parts, one for each of the food chains that sustain us: industrialized food, alternative or "organic" food, and food people obtain by dint of their own hunting, gathering, or gardening. Pollan follows each food chain literally from the ground up to the table, emphasizing our dynamic coevolutionary relationship with the species we depend on. He concludes each section by sitting down to a meal--at McDonald's, at home with his family sharing a dinner from Whole Foods, and in a revolutionary "beyond organic" farm in Virginia. For each meal he traces the provenance of everything consumed, revealing the hidden components we unwittingly ingest and explaining how our taste for particular foods reflects our environmental and biological inheritance.
We are indeed what we eat-and what we eat remakes the world. A society of voracious and increasingly confused omnivores, we are just beginning to recognize the profound consequences of the simplest everyday food choices, both for ourselves and for the natural world. The Omnivore's Dilemma is a long-overdue book and one that will become known for bringing a completely fresh perspective to a question as ordinary and yet momentous as What shall we have for dinner?
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| Customer Reviews: Read 446 more reviews...
 One of the most interesting books you will ever read. October 5, 2008
I went into this book with the expectation it would shove a bunch of ideals down my throat, and try to turn me into a vegan. This couldn't be further from the truth. From the very start of The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan simply presents the facts (and his own experiences) and leaves the rest up to you. But even more, he does this with clear, compelling, intelligent writing that truly opens your eyes and makes even the most mundane science about corn more interesting than you could ever imagine. His conclusions are interspersed with fascinating stories about his experiences at farms throughout the country. And his facts are clearly presented and supported by reliable sources and impressive research. No matter how you look at food (or even if you don't, as I hadn't), this book will keep you intrigued and get you thinking about your eating habits. If you leave the book wanting more concrete advice for what to eat (or what not to), check out Pollan's next book, In Defense of Food, (another great read).
Excellent Book, Great reading September 30, 2008
Feels good to be aware of what is going on w/ our food, our world, our economy, and others around us. Don't be an Ostrich....
 A Great Two-Thirds of a Book I Couldn't Finish September 28, 2008
My title says it all. I ripped through the first two-thirds or so thinking this was one of the greatest non-fiction books I've read. I learned a ton about the business of food production I never knew, told in a excellent narrative style that made the book a page-turner. But then he went pig hunting and started to bore the bejesus out of me, and the mushroom hunt was even worse. I finally put the book down during the mushroom chapter, never to pick it up again. Five stars before the pig hunt, one star afterwords.
 An important read concerning global resources September 18, 2008
Ominivore's Dilemma is a must read for those concerned both with the mis-allocation of agricultural resources. Everyone deserves to know what Pollan tells us: the commodity corn industry has perverted the entire food production process, from the destruction of the land due to overplanting of corn and the intense use of nitrogen-based chemical fertilizers, to the force feeding of corn to beef cattle whose bodies can not naturally tolerate it, to the production of health-destroying products such as high fructose corn syrup and many other ingredients upon which the fast food industry is based. The need for markets for subsidized commodity corn encourages cruel and unsanitary practices in the raising of meat animals and poultry, as well as the production of milk and eggs. Even the organic food industry is caught up in this vicious cycle. While Pollan's style is repetitive and his ultimate solution (completely self-sustaining local food production and consumption) a bit out of reach for most of us, his account is one that every informed citizen should read before he or she makes another food purchase or casts another vote.
The dilemma - where do we shop, and what do we buy? September 7, 2008
Michael Pollan comes through with another excellent book to trace food from the ground to the dinner table. I appreciated his conversational style and narrative that started from step 1 and ended with a dinner with his friends and family. Pollan muddies the waters about how we should be eating - sustainable, not, organic, not, "natural", not - it is certainly complex to figure out what we should be purchasing and eating, and what we should not.
I did appreciate that Pollan calls out a number of shady practices in the organic food world. Free range chicken is not always as described, industrial egg production isn't sustainable, and you probably would not be interested in eating beef from Wal-Mart after finishing the book.
It does not, however, push people to go vegetarian, organic, vegan, or anything outside of our omnivore heritage. In fact, Mr. Pollan goes through a number of excellent arguments about why to eat meat, or not eat meat, depending on the reader's perception. An excellent book that kept my attention straight through.
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