2-27-10- Omnivore's Dilemma: Final Word

Michael Pollen ends his adventure in discovering the omnivore’s dilemma by reproducing the cycle of preparing a meal using only what he has. Pollen hunted, gather and forage his entire meal through the help of others. Especially when learning to hunt pigs and picking mushrooms. Even though Pollen had obtained it all physically on his own, he has to depend on others for help and knowledge. Without the experience that others had share, Pollen would not have known which mushroom was poisonous or not and how to properly look for them. This makes me realize how much we’re depended on scientific knowledge and experts to tell us what is good from bad. Now, it seems like those with even the slight bit of authority are abusing our trust by telling us what food we should eat to benefit them instead of us. Also, seeing the process that Pollen goes through to produce one meal, it is hard to imagine doing so much trouble just to eat when we, today, can just drive our car to the nearest fast food joint. Today, we face many problems in choosing what to eat. We decide between organic or industrialized, fat free or non fat free, grass or corn. With that, Pollen leaves us the question: what’s for dinner?

2-22-2010 The Omnivore's Dilemma

To sum up the Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollen discusses the problems that we face today when it comes to food, which include the influence of our past and history has on our food. Certain tribe custom and values has long been the core work of our diet today. We ingest the food that has been passed down from experiences and then pass down what we learn to the next generation. That was the old way. Today, especially in America, the values of choosing food no longer are from passed down knowledge and recipes; it is from scientific studies, marketing and other variables that we trust. My mom, growing up from traditional Vietnamese culture influences her decision in my family food choice; she always encourages healthy balanced meals and junk food would only be consumed sparingly. Living in the US for ten years, I’ve found myself slowly conforming to the American culture of food consumption; trusting restaurateurs and its scientific research to produce my food safely. Our meat consumption is based on ethical values that are sum by denying the fact that the meat eat was killed for that purpose. There isn’t really a “humane” way to kill an animal, because no matter what. It’d be dead. The Omnivore’s Dilemma had done an admirable job of mapping our eating habits from the start to our current condition. With food in mind, we continue to eat both plants and meat graciously.

2-15-2010 Omnivore's Dilemma: Resisting Nature

Grass, one of the most overlooked natural abundance that affects our entire ecosystem in a way that we cannot imagine. Even though we, human, as omnivore don’t consume grass like many others, we live and thrive through it as a balanced system. The sun give solar energy to the grass, the animal that consumes it takes the energy, and the animal that consumes that takes the energy. The cycle goes on to us, in each stage, energy is lost by roughly 10%. Polyface farm look at our already developed system and adapt to it. With rotational grazing, they were able to take and give back to natural, without harming the earth and on the contrary, enrich the soil. Every animal in the farm has their own job that contributes to the successful of the farm. When we think of farming, this is what we think of. Not overly processed, chemical filled, industrialized farming, where everything is sanitized and everything is overly processed, to a point where the energy is just cheap leftover. When we compare the pros and cons, we see that even though industrial farming is “cheap” and efficient, it is nothing more than our nation’s struggle to power. Where the nation that holds the most grain holds the power; corn is just more sustainable in the sense of containment, breaking down, and storability. That’s why our government decided to switch over to corn instead of using the nature system that works so effectively.

2/08/2010 - Omnivore's Dilemma: Sealed with a Barcode

Reading the chapter’s that talk about slaughter house and market in the Omnivore’s Dilemma reminded me how different local and industrial manufacturing of food really are. With industrial food, you get the benefit of having quick, easy, and cheap food. With local food, you get the more authentic and “organic” experience and taste, depends on how your animal was raised. What really interest me is that how certain animals like cow have to go be prepared and package in a federal approved centralized location. This actually increases the risk for them of attaining a harmful disease. When I was reading Fast Food Nation there was a particular chapter where the author speaks with many people working at slaughter houses. They worked in heavy and difficult condition; many of them are low incomes and can’t quit their job because of it job competition, especially to immigrant workers. Many people lose fingers and even arms to accidents that are not fully covered by insurance, most just get it patch up and go back to work. Farmers are making less as money are spent to slaughter animals, packaged, and injecting them with chemicals that help them last longer in a Supermarket. Even though buying these products from your supermarket seems cheaper, much more money is spent trying to clean up problems such as pollution and fossil waste. Weighing out pros and cons of having local food or industrialized products, I have to wonder. What is the best choice?