Michael Pollan

Delves into facts about food, life expectancy, and the global health implications resulting from food choicse made by people around the world, encouraging readers to consider their eating habits.

The Secrets Behind What You Eat

The Omnivore's Dilemma

An ecological and anthropological study of eating offers insight into food consumption in the twenty-first century, explaining how an abundance of unlimited food varieties reveals the responsibilities of everyday consumers to protect their health and the environment. By the author of The Botany of Desire. 125,000 first printing.

A Natural History of Four Meals

Timeo Williams

Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, is a very thought provoking book. It's not often that food is connected to one's morals, but Pollan makes the case for it. But not only does Pollan take a hard line approach in favor of veganism, he shows the downsides to such a movement. Pollan explores food, its source, how it is made, and how our habits have changed surrounding it. 

He did this by comparing eating food at Mcdonalds to foraging for food in the wild. These two contrasts and the exploration of veganism as the in between, is the central theme in the book.

For further reading, I will be reading books by Joel Salatin and Peter Singer, but I appreciate the general understanding of food and its source given to me by this book.

maryam

this was so interesting and good, just the last part of the book dragged a bit, but overall, would completely recommend

Laura Mauler

I did not like this book as much as I expected. The first section was almost unbearable - a long, depressing, science lesson about corn. The rest of the book was much better. I especially enjoyed the hunting/foraging section's vivid details and interesting discussion of animals rights. Basically the purpose of this book is to horrify and shame the American public, and in that regard it is pretty successful (it certainly worked on me). Is it a good read, though? Meh.

It will definitely challenge you to think twice about the food you eat and where it came from. 

You might even become a vegetarian, but the author doesn’t take sides so much as show you sides or angles of our food production process. 

This will definitely influence my diet for the rest of my life. 

Doug Lane

It will definitely challenge you to think twice about the food you eat and where it came from. 

You might even become a vegetarian, but the author doesn’t take sides so much as show you sides or angles of our food production process. 

This will definitely influence my diet for the rest of my life. 

Joy Bush

I learned so much from this book and I want everyone to read it.

Absolutely fascinating and enlightening. I can't imagine reading this book and not coming away feeling like your life has been changed.

Before I was halfway done I was already researching my local farms and CSA programs to come up with new ideas about how we'll eat.

It could fundamentally change how you think about food.

Kyle Sawatsky

Absolutely fascinating and enlightening. I can't imagine reading this book and not coming away feeling like your life has been changed.

Before I was halfway done I was already researching my local farms and CSA programs to come up with new ideas about how we'll eat.

It could fundamentally change how you think about food.

Keven Wang

First re-read. Even though it is a diet book.

Jeannette Ordas

This wasn't earth shattering information but it definitely puts eating and food production into perspective. It was shocking however to read just how and why corn overproduction is kept so cheap and plentiful and just how much of the North American diet is made up of corn in some form or another. Scary stuff. I'm now finding myself looking at labels more (a good thing) and dreaming about one day owning a peice of land of my own where I can grow my own food and have chickens.

"Includes 12 important food rules"--Jacket.

The Secrets Behind what You Eat

Izza

Aditi

Aditi Verma

Dana Kraft

Actually read the young readers edition bc my son has to read it for school. Definitely an interesting and thought provoking book. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, "how many things must one ignore in order to act?" Corn on the cob suddenly doesn't sound so good.

I'll be interested to see what the kids get from this one.

Bec Taylor

Offers insight into food consumption in the twenty-first century, explaining how an abundance of unlimited food varieties reveals the responsibilities of consumers to protect their health and the environment.

Udit Desai

Learnt a lot about corn and how wild the agriculture industry it. Also learnt about grass farming which was super cool.

Alper Kanyilmaz

I read it relying on the rating it had. In the beginning it was a little interesting, than after one quarter, it kept giving ordinary information between very long and useless "life experiences" of the author. As I was feeling fooled in the end to have paid for it, in the conclusion part I was offered to read the next book of the author to have more info on what to eat etc.. Loss of time in my opinion.

Melody Izard

This book certainly makes you think. Not that I had not been thinking already. I mean why would you ever pick up this book, or audiobook in my case, if you had not been thinking about the ethics of eating the majority of the available groceries? Mistreated migrant workers, hens stuffed in tiny cages, cows being fed bits of other cows - all in the name of providing cheap food to Americans - or something more sinister - all to allow the belly of Big Corporation to lop, disgustingly over his belt while gouging on more ways to make money. 

The book got a little long in many places. But perhaps Mr. Pollan felt the need to hammer over and over on a point to make sure that the idea was implanted in his own head as well as the reader's. 

Well I have certainly been impaled.

Bill Mazza

Should be required reading for all Americans (and really any impacted by the Western Diet) - great book that really changed how I approach food and eating. Read In Defense of Food next! 

Chris Aldrich

Really generally impressed at the overall story/reportage here. I had expected a lot more rhetoric and bashing of the military industrial complex, but it all seemed very well researched and thorough. It certainly takes a point of view in its presentation, but gives a great deal of fact.

For works in this particular sub-genre, between this and Fast Food Nation, I'd definitely recommend reading just this if one is pressed for time.

Jeni Enjaian

Contrary to my rating, I really enjoyed this book. I was absolutely fascinated by almost all of the topics that Pollan covered in this fairly widespread book. However, I could have done without his heavy handed opinion laced through every page of the book. (Yes, I read this as an audiobook but I'm fairly certain he managed to finagle his opinion onto every page of the book.)

Pollan certainly did his research and actually makes a good case for the "dilemma" in the title. If you want to learn more about how food is processed both industrially and on the small, labor-intensive farm, this is a pretty good book. Just be prepared for heavy-handed preaching.

Luca Conti

Richie Chevat

The Omnivore's Dilemma for Kids

Sophie Shrimpton

A well structured and compelling book that provides an insight into global food supply chains. It answered many questions I had about organic food and provided the first persuasive defence of eating meat I've encountered: that if we are going to have local, sustainable food systems, they need domesticated farm animals to complete the ecological system. If we don't have them, we have to use artificial fertiliser and be more picky about farm location, which undermines sustainability. It's all about balance.

After reading this I'm going to put effort into eating seasonal, organic veges and fruits from farmers markets. I'm a bit nervous about learning to cook seasonally, but it will be worth it. I'm also gradually going to cut out food with more than five ingredients, or that has ingredients I don't understand. I'll also try and avoid high fructose corn syrup. This is for my own health rather than to "vote with my fork". "Voting" in that way has some systemic effect, but not enough. There are many who can't afford to "vote" in the same way. Instead there needs to be government intervention through regulatory change e.g. in the U.S., no longer heavily subsidising corn farmers. A sustainable food system that produces healthy food requires challenging the roots of capitalism (the profit motive encouraging firms to induce demand through a horrific amount of sugar, salt and fat). 

I accidentally got the Young Readers edition. I'm curious about how it differs, but not enough to read the normal version. This was an an audiobook 'read'.

Some other ideas/facts I enjoyed:
Most of the potatoes we eat are grown in Idaho. They are doused in pesticide, which is so dangerous to a human's nervous system that farm workers can’t go in the field where it's sprayed for five days. Also, the pesticide soaks into the potatoes and so they need to sit in a barn for six months until chemicals fade and they are (legally) safe to eat 

There are four models of farming: industrial, industrial-organic, local sustainable, hunter-gatherer

Corn is everywhere. 1/4 of supermarket foods contain corn. Corn = maize. McD's soft drinks are 100% corn. 

Corn used to be the word for any grain. Industrialisation caused the word to be attached to one specific grain - maize.

Industrialisation of the food chain has caused a shift from 1/4 of Americans being farmers to there being 2m farmers out of 300m people. Farmers used to be able to feed only 12 other people, but now one farmer can feed 140 people. 

Soy is also everywhere. It is in 2/3 of processed foods.

Hybrid plants changed the industry. Hybrids require farmers to buy new seed every year because the first growth is perfect, but the offspring is not. Farmers need maximum yield to survive and hybrids quadruple yield (bc they have strong roots and stalks so they can be planted closer together). Therefore, they need to buy seeds from agribusiness every season (and are exploited bc of this dependency)

Farms used to function based on a solar/nitrate loop. Now they are fuel-run - through the fertiliser, tractor and distribution. This is inefficient in terms of energy, even if it is efficient in terms of time. Previously, natural fertilisers meant 1 calorie went into making 2 calories. Now farmers use 10 calories to make 1 calorie. 

Corn costs more to grow than its market value. This is because corn farmers are subsidised by the US government, which pushes prices lower, incentivising farmers to make more corn to survive, pushing prices even lower and so on.

The same subsidies makes junk food containing corn extremely cheap. 

It is legal to feed cows bits of other cow, chicken poop, cement dust and cardboard (and farmers do in feedlots). 

Corn feeding cows causes a lot of problems because cows are supposed to eat grass. Some health problems include bloating of the rumen until it chokes the cow to death, an acidic rumen (when it is supposed to be neutral), and more bacterial disease (because acid eats through rumen walls), which is why we need to feed cows anti-biotics (you don't need to on grass-fed farms). Also, bacteria used to grow in a cow's non-acidic rumen then die in our acidic stomach. Now their rumens are acidic so bacteria adapt and can make us sick (and even die). There is e. coli in 40% of feedlot cows, and 70k Americans get sick/yr.

Food companies have created resistant starch which can't be digested by humans (so just travel through our digestive system then get expelled). They are going to use it as a 'diet' food.

Organic produce is good because pesticides have been shown to cause cancer (US regulator says ‘tolerable’ at low levels but corporate capture). There are also significantly less environmental effects from e.g. nitrate poisoning. However, industrial organic food still emits around the same amount of fossil fuels. Organic food has been proven to have more nutrients, particularly polyphenols. There may be even more we have not discovered/are aware of. 

Prior to modern industrial food chains, we relied on tradition and seasonality to tell us what to eat (and it worked, was tried and tested). Now we worry because we have so much choice from availability all year round and no culture fall back on.

Dpt of Argiculture in US has rules around labelling something "organic". "100% Organic" contain only certified organic ingredients. "Organic" must have 95% organic ingredients. "Made with organic ingredients" must have 70% organic ingredients. No restrictions on use of other labels such as "no drugs or use of growth hormones", "sustainably harvested" and "free range". Influenced by agribusiness lobbying. 

If the 16m acres used to grow corn to feed cattle in US became well-managed (grass) pasture, it would remove 14b pounds of carbon from the atmosphere each year. Equivalent of taking 4m cars off the road. Trees store carbon in trunks where grass stores carbon in roots, which then becomes soil when they die - this is better for climate change. Grass also produces more protein, and is more likely to survive dry spells/droughts than corn.

Farming locally is about creating balanced ecosystems. Like any system, there is a certain size that works best e.g. Polyface Farm does not grow but stays the same size. The focus is on balance and natural instinct rather than input/output and efficiency.

Organic food is less expensive even though seems more expensive because it takes into account all externalities. The true cost is not shifted to society. 

Omega-3 made in leaves of plants, omega-6 made in the seeds. Need them in balance. If animals are not having healthy balance (they aren't if corn-fed) then that not passed on to us when we eat them, and can actually cause heart disease. Maybe not all meat is bad for you, but just corn-fed meat. 

Hunter-gatherers only worked for about 17 hours a day. They also ate better, grew taller, lived longer and were healthier than "civilised" people. We only caught up recently due to medical technology.

Yeast, mildew and mould are also fungi. Mushrooms are the "flower" of fungi - most is underground. Saprophytic fungi live off dead plants. Mycorrhizal fungi live off living plants. They have symbiotic relationship with plants - they gift each other minerals and sugars. They are a secondary root system of a plant. They also provide protection from bacteria.

Cool mushrooms: shaggy mains can push through asphalt, inky caps can mushroom in hours then dissolve into blackish ink within a day, oyster mushrooms can digest petro-chemical sludge and transform it into protein, jack-o-lanterns can glow in the dark (blue light)

When searching for something you fix its visual pattern in your mind then it seems to pop out of the background

Pollan writes about the ecology of the food humans eat and why--what it is, in fact, that we are eating. Discussing industrial farming, organic food, and what it is like to hunt and gather food, this is a surprisingly honest and self-aware account of the evolution of the modern diet.

The Search for a Perfect Meal in a Fast-food World

Erlank Pienaar

Read it. Industrialised, commercialised, processed factory food is killing us. Time to go back to basics and humane treatment of the earth and all its denizens. 

The Omnivore's Dilemma The Secrets Behind What You Eat

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