The Omnivore's Dilemma

[barolo]

A new book by Michael Pollan, reviewed here.

The book is divided into three sections, each on one of "the three principal food chains that sustain us today: the industrial, the organic, and the hunter-gatherer." Each culminates in a meal (two, in the organic section). First stop is the supermarket, the cornfield's point of sale. (Oh, would that he were talking about just-picked ears of corn, their silk still warm, kernels waiting for a knob of butter to make them perfect!) Everything we eat seems to come from the crop. "Corn is what feeds the steer that becomes the steak. Corn feeds the chicken and the pig, the turkey and the lamb, the catfish and the tilapia and, increasingly, even the salmon….

[ludja]

Thank you for pointing this book out. While it may or may not provide easy answers it sounds like it provides a lot of information. I"m interested to read about the ubiquity of corn in many products and also to learn more about what organic can mean in a labeled foodstuff. We've touched on the latter issue in several eGullet threads but I would like to understand more on this topic.

According to Amazon, it looks like the book will be released this week.

[barolo]

A good book which includes a chapter on the ubiquity of corn in all that we eat is Much Depends on Dinner by Margaret Visser.

It was published in 1986 - 20 years ago - but I still think it is worth reading.

Edited April 10, 2006 by barolo (log)

[ludja]

A nice interview with Pollan with Terry Gross on Fresh Air today can be heard here.

I missed the first half hour but will try to catch the rest of it later. Among some of the interesting examples he gave was of the ability to buy grass fed beef from both the Union Sq Market in NYC and from the Whole Foods that is also now located on Union Sq. The beef at Whole Foods is shipped all the way from New Zealand while the beef purchased at Union Sq Market was from a Hudson Valley Farm.

A second story gives another take on "buyer beware" or perhaps " buyer be aware" in understanding what it can mean or not to purchase something labeled as organic.

He desribes a visit to a Northen California organic chicken farm. The chickens live for a total of seven weeks and are raised in a giant chicken 'coop' that is the length of a foodtball field and which houses 20,000 chickens. They are kept in the coop and are fed organic feed for 5 weeks. At the end of 5 weeks small door is opened at each end of the coop with a ramp leading down to a narrow garden of green grass. Apparently having the ability to 'free range' for the last two weeks of their life is one of the qualifications for organic and free range. He says that almost no chickens venture out of the coop as they have only known being in the coop for the first five weeks of their life.

He brings up the concept of "beyond organic". This concept has been brought up by others previoslly on eGullet and might include farmers of fruits, vegetables and animals that might not fulfill every letter of government legislation in order to qualify for an organic certification label but might, in fact, be much more honest overall in trying to create a healthier or more sustaintable product.

Although he gives no overarching conclusions in the interview, apperently his research in writing this book has led him to think that buying locally and seasonally as much as possible might be one of the strongest ways to maximize the benefit to cost ratio. He spoke of the concept of cost including not just the sticker price but also the ecological and health costs and he did this in a pretty specific rather than fuzzy, political or romantic manner. He felt that by buying locally you could really have an impact on maintaining green belts and farms closer to the places where one lives. (These benefits are in addition to reducing shipping costs, environmental impacts and presumably also getting a fresher and better product.)

The discussion on corn and the ubiquity of high fructose corn syrup is one that many are already aware of, but he also had a good discussion on some of the effects the dominance of subsidized corn has on many aspects of the food chain including the raising of animals for meat. (In brief, since it is now apparently cheaper to feed animals purchased, subsidized corn rather than growing the food on the same farm to feed the animals, the practice has emerged to completely separate the rasing of animals from the growing of food. In this case, nitrogen-rich fertizlier produced from the animals becomes an environmental hazard rather than being used, as previously, in place of petroleum-based fertizers.)

They did speak about potential economic "elitism" in buying organic and even local food. That is, that many people can not afford to look beyond the sticker price in makiing decisions to maximize the amount of calories they can buy for a set amount of money. No easy solutions, and perhaps there is more discussion in his book, but he seemed to feel that steps could be taken to reduce the price disparity between processed foods subsidized in large part by low cost corn and soy bean so that fresh fruit and vegetables could compete. (Still no solution for people who feel too busy to cook unprocessed food, but that is another issue.)

The interview has spurred my incentive to read his book. I think he would be a interesting choice for an eGullet Q&A. (The book has just been released so perhaps it would be nicer to schedule this after the book has been out for awhile. giving people a chance to read it first.) We have had many discussions on these and related topics on eGullet. This could be a good opportunity to interact with someone who has devoted some time to studying this topic.

And in case anyone wants to explore buying locally beyond their farmer's markets, here is the link to the website for Local Harvest which has a great geographical listing of community-supported agriculture (CSA) farms in the U.S.:

click

[rancho_gordo]

You can meet him and get him to sign a copy of his book on 4/29. Details here.

[JAZ]

A nice interview with Pollan with Terry Gross on Fresh Air today can be heard here.

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I only caught the tail end of it when it aired, and finally got a chance to sit down and listen to it. I, too, am very interested to read the book (and maybe re-read Visser's book as well for comparison).

Pollan will be on West Coast Live next Saturday. The show will be broadcasted from the Ferry Building and will include interviews with some of the vendors as well.

[SMW]

I really enjoyed this book - I got it for a birthday present, at the time I hadn't even heard about it, which normally makes me a bit suspicious. However, I was a surprised to find that this book enlightened me on topics about which I already know a decent amount.

Yes, the first part makes the point that everything we eat seems to come from corn, but there's a lot more here than that. What I particularly enjoyed was the elegant descriptions that described the various systems that all of our food is embedded in - whether it's an industrial farm or the natural ecology. I also enjoyed his discussion on animal rights.

I've already passed my copy on to a friend, and recommend this book if you are interested in these issues.

[rancho_gordo]

The Napa/Sonoma/Wine Country Slow Food event mentioned above was last night and it was pretty fascinating. He's a very interesting speaker, much lighter and funnier than you'd think, but the message is serious. I'm glad we have such a smart guy on "our side" of this issue. I think the book will have a huge impact and it strikes me that every "foodie" should read it before making another food choice.

[azurite]

I'm 4th or something like that on the waiting list at my library to read that book and wish the people ahead of me on the list read faster as I feel like I've been waiting some time.

Another book that deals w/some of the same issues is "Coming Home to Eat, The Pleasures and Politics of Local Foods" by Gary Paul Nabhan. The book was published in 2002--I liked the book alot. After I finished Nabhan's book, I started trying harder to buy local as well as organically grown. Last spring/summer I started going to my local Farmers' market again to try to find more local foods and was very pleased to see how much it's improved and how many more sellers there are. By the end of last summer, there was a guy offering some 'organic' meat for sale and offering the opportunity to order from a much bigger variety of meat then he'd brought w/him. I can't grow that much where I live (or at least, not without using tunnels or a greenhouse), although blueberries do well in my yard (lettuce, potatoes and sometimes snow peas do ok) providing we get some pretty warm and sunny days during their ripening period. So it was wonderful to have a variety of fresh, organically grown veggies to choose from this past summer.

Nabhan's book talks about foraging--or collecting native/local foods to eat--unfortunately I don't have enough of the native evergreen huckleberry bushes growing in my yard to yield many berries (the berries are small)--and the bushes take a long time to become established, they're not at all like domestic blueberries--although I'm told the berries make a great jam or pie filling. I've let the native coast strawberry grow in my backyard (it's a great ground cover, stays green all year long w/no watering, never grows that tall and doesn't mind being mown from time to time--the only problem is the runners--it invades my herb and flower beds) and sometimes, if rain and sun alternate appropriately and I beat the slugs, I can find strawberries for several weeks. But that's probably the extent of my 'foraging.'

S.H.

[ludja]

The Napa/Sonoma/Wine Country Slow Food event mentioned above was last night and it was pretty fascinating. He's a very interesting speaker, much lighter and funnier than you'd think, but the message is serious. I'm glad we have such a smart guy on "our side" of this issue. I think the book will have a huge impact and it strikes me that every "foodie" should read it before making another food choice.

←

Despite having yet still only heard a few radio interviews with him and not yet having read the book, I agree with you on his potential large and beneficial impact through his books, other writings and presentations. (He is also a prof in the UC Berkeley Dept of Journalism so he is also busily filling minds each semester. )

I think part of what is so appealing, and I think, ultimately powerful about his information, style and approach though, is that his discussion transcends some traditional "sides" associated with this and related issues. The content and commentary he provides is intelligent, balanced and just makes sense.

What I mean to say, is that sometimes the "sides" include a lot of other issues where some people could be lost. That is not to say that the side issues are not valid or important in the various cases, but I think he has found a good way to really pinpoint some of the key issues associated with the politics/health/economics/environmental issues surrounding food and to keep that somewhat separate from some other political issues or agendas. While there is a place and a right for all sorts of people working towards change in this area to operate in their own way and according to their own conscience, I think the clarity and balance he brings to the discussion can only help the overall situation.

As a scientist, my perception is that he also appears to be quite adept and knowledgeable speaking about scientific issues and in translating them in an accessible and what seems to be an accurate way to the public. This quality is very rare in much reporting of scientifically-related issues to the general public.

Here is another good article/interview on his new book which was published in a Berkeley publication: click

Pollan's section on animal rights and vegetarianism, by the way, makes for very thought-provoking reading. He concludes that it's not the principle of eating animals that's wrong, but the practice: the manner in which most cows, pigs, and chickens are raised for food in this country is truly abhorrent. Healthier and more humane options do exist that are better for the animal, for our health, and for the planet. (Pollan is pretty persuasive on the ecological havoc that would be wreaked if we all became vegetarian.) "You can buy grass-fed beef right here at Berkeley Bowl. And I still buy Rosie's. I saw it, and I still eat it," offers Pollan. "Rosie chickens are not leading idyllic chicken lives, but I don’t think they're suffering" — they're not debeaked or as overcrowded as conventional birds, nor are they eating rendered chicken parts or reconstituted manure.

Ultimately, it's about incremental improvements. "I'm a half-a-loaf guy. You take it as far as you can, and inevitably you make compromises," he says. "We get three votes a day, actually more, when we eat. If we cast some of those votes with full consciousness of what's involved, and try to make better choices — which might entail spending more money or going out of our way — then that will help create the food chain we want."

He shrugs: "I'm sorry it's not easier, but it's also not that hard." And with that, Michael Pollan picks up a piece of bread and polishes off the last tasty bits of sauce from his lunch. "Mmm. This was really good."

Thank you for also pointing out Nabhan's book, azurite. It sounds like a complementary read.

Edited May 9, 2006 by ludja (log)

[Pitter]

Mr. Pollen also has a blog on the NY Times web page, up since Sunday, and already with quite a few replies. This will be interesting to follow.

[Bantams]

Here's an article I wrote for my high school newspaper, published last Thursday. I hope you guys like it!

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A Book Review for the Eater: The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Michael Pollan, author of the newly released The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, at a reading of his new book on Friday, April 21, at Elliot Bay Book Company. Pollan, a New York Times bestselling author of three previous books (The Botany of Desire, Second Nature, A Place of My Own), is a contributing writer to the New York Times Magazine and the Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals is Pollan’s latest book. This fascinating read is a real eye-opener to the world of food, industry, and government. Pollan strives to find out where, exactly, his food comes from, and he doesn’t settle with “the supermarket” as an answer.

Over the course of this compelling story, Pollan explores four meals in depth; in fact, probably a bit more in depth than one would think possible. Not only does he follow his McDonald’s burger back to the feedlot, but he also follows the path of corn from an Iowa farm, through the processing plants and the feed mill, and into the feedlot where his steer is being fattened.

Along with this McDonald’s meal, he traces the origins of a meal prepared with Whole Foods’ ingredients; a meal of chicken, vegetables, and eggs from a sustainable farm in Virginia; and lastly, a meal of wild ingredients that he hunted, foraged, and gathered.

In stark contrast with the well traveled, fossil fuel paved paths of his McDonald’s and Whole Foods’ meals, the two meals prepared from local, non-corporate sources illustrate the balance of human, plant, animal, and fungi; life and death in a complete circle.

Pollan shows us how it is possible to live in balance with nature, by raising animals on pasture rather than feedlots, keeping our farms diversified, and eating locally.

Pollan manages to convey a complicated, intricate story in a very clear and riveting way, and the result is surprisingly entertaining.

During his talk, Pollan said, “I like to write about nature in the supermarket; I like to write about nature in the garden…. As someone coming from that perspective, I understand eating is about nature, something a lot of us have been able to forget. Eating represents our most profound engagement with the natural world.”

At the book reading, Pollan gave some insight into his impetus for writing The Omnivore’s Dilemma.

“What should I eat? I realized before I could answer the question ‘What should I eat?’ I had to know what I was eating. And it turns out that is a very complicated thing right now,” he said.

“Our food has probably changed more in the last 50 years than in the last 5000 years…. There are foods, actually I call them food products; they don’t really deserve to be called food, that your great grandparents would not recognize as food. Show your great grandmother a tube of Go-Gurt…. We’ve reinvented a lot about the way we eat.”

Pollan also read a passage about each of the four meals in his book, and discussed some of the more important topics The Omnivore’s Dilemma focuses on, such as how the American food chain is based upon a monoculture of primarily corn (as well as soybeans) and how corporations and money influence so much of the way we think about and buy food.

While the McDonald’s and Whole Foods’ meals showed the reality of the highly industrialized, environmentally degrading food system in America today, Pollan also had a positive outlook on the future of the sustainable farming model.

“I think we’re on our way to creating another food culture in this country; I think that there are a lot of positive developments going on…. Chefs are leaders of this movement. I think that people are coming to appreciate the values of slow food. I think we’re relearning how to eat; we need to. The end of the industrial food chain is an industrial eater…the person who wants their strawberries twelve months of the year, who wants their food to be microwaveable, who wants to eat in the car, who wants to be above anything else. And we won’t change the industrial food chain until we change the way we eat. And when you go to the farmer’s market, you won’t find anything microwavable. You have to cook. So we need to rediscover cooking, too,” he said.

I asked Pollan how writing The Omnivore’s Dilemma has changed the way he eats.

“The main change is I don’t eat industrial meat; I only eat grass-fed ruminants, grass-fed beef. I joined a [sustainable co-op]; I don’t shop in Whole Foods anymore…. I try to shop at farmers markets as much as I can; I try to stay out of the supermarkets. I eat with more consciousness than I used to, which I find very satisfying. I don’t find it a burden at all; I find it a real pleasure,” he said.

Pollan had some advice for Vashon students.

“That idea of voting with your fork, it’s really really important, that even before you’re old enough to vote, you can vote with what you eat. You can choose not to participate in practices you don’t approve of, and you can support practices you do approve of. Get out in the garden, learn to garden, and to cook. Cooking is a very important skill to acquire that a lot of people don’t have anymore,” said Pollan.

Michael Pollan is a thoughtful, intelligent person with a very important message for all of us. Anyone who has ever eaten anything should read The Omnivore’s Dilemma.

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The Riptide, VolumeVII, Issue 10, May 4, 2006.

Kelsey

[Pontormo]

Kelsey: I'm impressed. It is heartening to know that you're interested in such a sophisticated book. I hope your review inspires other students and teachers in your school to read it too.

P.S. Check out the most recent issue of The New Yorker (May 15, 2006) where Steven Shapin discusses Michael Pollan's book in conjunction with two related publications that address organic farming as Big Business.

Edited May 12, 2006 by Pontormo (log)

[Pontormo]

I'm bumping this up due to recent discussion of the open letters exchanged between the author and John Mackay.

I am going to wait until I finish until I defend the author further or qualify previous expressions of appreciation, though I have to say Pollan knows how to make agricultural science compelling.

One little quibble, so far, though, in response to an image I otherwise love. The issue raised will resonate with many members who have discussed Jamie Oliver's lamb, Bill Buford's stint with an Italian butcher, and even now, the policy regarding the sale of live seafood at Whole Foods:

"...in [the] Meat [Department] the creaturely character of the species on display does seem to be fading, as the cows and pigs increasingly come subdivided into boneless and bloodless geometrical cuts.  In recent years some of this supermarket euphemism has seeped into Produce, where you'll now find formerly soil-encrusted potatoes cubed pristine white, and "baby" carrots machine-lathed into neatly tapered torpedoes."

Can you do that with POTATOES? With a special vacuum-sealed packaging and an envelope of water around the cubes to retain their whiteness, like a plastic uterus or something?

[Pontormo]

Of course, you could cook them prior to sale, but it looks as if a dissertation on the subject was written over a decade ago, so I guess I just haven't seen these things for sale: Click.

And picture.

Edited June 17, 2006 by Pontormo (log)

[Jensen]

Can you do that with POTATOES?  With a special vacuum-sealed packaging and an envelope of water around the cubes to retain their whiteness, like a plastic uterus or something?

←

When I was younger, I worked in a chip shop; the potatoes were chipped using a wall-mounted chipper, with the chips falling into a big ass plastic garbage can filled with some sort of solution. Water and some chemical...I have no idea what it was (phosphate, maybe?) but its only purpose was to keep the potatoes white.

Oh, and cause asthma attacks...

[MarketStEl]

While not meaning to diminish the validity of the author's argument--and to fully engage it, I would want to wait until I've read the book--if I had to divide the world of food politics into two camps, which I will arbitrarily label for now "masscult" and "virtuecrat", this clearly falls into the virtuecrat camp and thus is more like Whole Foods than unlike it.

And neither address one big question except by way of noting how the corn subsidy distorts everything else on down the food chain from the cornfield. That question being:

So what should the average struggling Jane who has to spend her money very carefully do? "Buy local and seasonal" is nice advice, but when doing so adds anywhere from 25% to 100% to your food bill, it loses some of its luster.

And what about the people like the 38,000 or so souls around my workplace, for whom shopping for groceries means the Save-a-Lot two towns over or the Pathmark two towns in the other direction, or some expensive small grocer with a limited selection? Does buying local and seasonal even make it onto their radar screens?

Or have I just been deaf to their responses to these questions?

[zoe b]

So what should the average struggling Jane who has to spend her money very carefully do? "Buy local and seasonal" is nice advice, but when doing so adds anywhere from 25% to 100% to your food bill, it loses some of its luster.

Really, do read the book--I understand the worry about a SMUG ALERT ( I saw the last few minutes of South Park last night and this cracked me up)

but I didn't get preachiness from him--he's a journalist more than a moralist. I think what Pollan is trying to do is show just how difficult--near impossible--it is to eat responsibly--his one meal that was totally hunted, grown or gathered by him probably took 100 hours to produce, and he wasn't advocating that anyone else do this.

And actually, one of his arguments is about price--and it is hard for us to swallow, but convincing--we spend less on food than any other developed country--because our industrial food is heavily subsidised--the Farmer's Market price for real food, grown responsibly is more a true cost for food.

We Americans would have to shift our spending and the way we spend our time --to be able to buy this way on a regular basis--maybe less on fast food and restaurant meals and more on basic ingredients.

[jsolomon]

Well, it really doesn't take a lot of time to forage/grow/hunt a lot of food, actually. So, with judicious choice of foraged foods, you can offset the cash crop juggernaut to a certain extent.

Of course, the other side of the coin is that every time you pay taxes you pay into the cash crop subsidy juggernaut. So, how about voting and writing letters?

[Devotay]

So what should the average struggling Jane who has to spend her money very carefully do?  "Buy local and seasonal" is nice advice, but when doing so adds anywhere from 25% to 100% to your food bill, it loses some of its luster.

←

It's not as expensive or complicated as it seems. Produce at a farmers market is often cheaper than at the grocery store, and is always tastier, fresher more nutritious (produce loses nutrients the longer it sits).

For simplicity, consider a CSA, in which you put your money up front, like a magazine subscription, and receive fresh, seasonal produce throughout the year.

And remember that the total at the end of the receipt is not the only thing to consider, because it's not the only thing you pay. There are real, and serious, costs to cheap food. They come in the form of Ag subsidies, healthcare costs related to diabetes, obesity and other diet-related disorders, and the environmental impact of all that procewssing, packaging and shipping. You think you don't pay for all of that? You pay, believe me.

Here's a good example of the positive impact buying locvally could potentially have. My home county, (Johnson, IA), has about 45,000 households. if each of those households were to redirect just $10 of their weekly food budget to buying locally - from a farmers market, CSA, whatever - that would keep nearly $24,000,000 in our local economy. Think what that could mean for our infrastructure! For our schools! For our quality of life! no translate that to your own community. Imagine what that same idea would mean in a city the size of Philly? Or New York or Boston or LA? Serous money to drive the local economy to new heights.

[MarketStEl]

So what should the average struggling Jane who has to spend her money very carefully do?  "Buy local and seasonal" is nice advice, but when doing so adds anywhere from 25% to 100% to your food bill, it loses some of its luster.

←

It's not as expensive or complicated as it seems. Produce at a farmers market is often cheaper than at the grocery store, and is always tastier, fresher more nutritious (produce loses nutrients the longer it sits).

For simplicity, consider a CSA, in which you put your money up front, like a magazine subscription, and receive fresh, seasonal produce throughout the year.

And remember that the total at the end of the receipt is not the only thing to consider, because it's not the only thing you pay. There are real, and serious, costs to cheap food. They come in the form of Ag subsidies, healthcare costs related to diabetes, obesity and other diet-related disorders, and the environmental impact of all that procewssing, packaging and shipping. You think you don't pay for all of that? You pay, believe me.

Here's a good example of the positive impact buying locvally could potentially have. My home county, (Johnson, IA), has about 45,000 households. if each of those households were to redirect just $10 of their weekly food budget to buying locally - from a farmers market, CSA, whatever - that would keep nearly $24,000,000 in our local economy. Think what that could mean for our infrastructure! For our schools! For our quality of life! no translate that to your own community. Imagine what that same idea would mean in a city the size of Philly? Or New York or Boston or LA? Serous money to drive the local economy to new heights.

←

I'm aware of your point about farmers' markets vs. supermarkets, but my own forays into Philadelphia's best produce market--the Reading Terminal Market--produce inconsistent data.

Usually, the most expensive produce sold at the RTM is sold by the Lancaster County farmers who travel into the city to sell their own and by the local/organic farmers who hold sway in the market's center court on a rotating basis or sell their produce through the Fair Food Farmstand, while the two full-time produce stands that buy their wares through the usual wholesale channels (and thus carry mainly stuff from Florida and California except when the large local cash crops like Jersey tomatoes are in season) usually have the lower prices, which are consistently lower than those at local supermarkets.

I have, however, decided to put my money where my mouth is, and have shifted some of my produce purchases to the Lancaster County folk and the FFF. There is a noticeable difference in quality and freshness, judged by how long things keep in my crisper, so it may well be that the local product, despite the price difference, is actually the better buy.

Something else to factor into this equation is community gardens, which are fairly common in Philadelphia thanks to a decent supply of vacant land where houses or factories once stood in many neighborhoods. I don't know whether they make a significant difference in the eating habits of Philadelphians, but I suspect they do help make up for the relative lack of access some poorer neighborhoods have to good, fresh produce.