The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

This book literally has made me rethink how I view eating. Within 24 hours of finishing it, I have decided to make HUGE consumption changes based on the loads of information I learned. Pollan's writing is always amazing and informative, and this book was no different.

This book covers the complexity of the human omnivore. Pollan, with inquisitiveness, dives into the the search From the BBQ pits of North Carolina, the stock yards of the midwest, studies on corn and then to the seeking of the perfect meal in California. This odyssey is at times funny, but is always informative. This is a favorite for me.

If you're trying to decide whether or not to buy this book, there really shouldn't be any dilemma....just buy it. You will thank Michael Pollan later. Our copy arrived on Tuesday and our 9 year old daughter has been devouring it. My husband and I have read the adult version and we are all having fantastic dinner time conversations about the education we are receiving from Mr. Pollan's work. I truly believe that the information in this book holds some of THE MOST IMPORTANT lessons we can teach our children. As a matter of fact, I am ordering 4 more copies today....one to donate to my daughter's classroom at school, one for the school library, one for the health teacher and one for the public library. My daughter and her friend have decided to read this book together on the bus to school in the morning and are then going through their cafeteria lunch line to read the ingredients on the "edible foodlike substances" (they both bring their lunches from home :-) ) I can't make this stuff up! They completely came up with this "research" project on their own because of this book. Thank you Mr. Pollan, for making our parenting job so much easier! We're on to reading Food Rules now....that, too is a good family read. Very different than Omnivore's Dilemma, but a good, quick family read.

Food has been getting a spanking for quite some time now and America is taking the brunt. We all know the fast food industry has been playing a large role in making the country's youth obese, but how much more do we really know? And what else is the government not telling us? Journalist Michael Pollan has taken it upon himself to find answers to arising questions and to literally experience what it means to grow food, raise chickens and eat differently than the norm. As opposed to his shockingly raw //Omnivore's Dilemma//, the author has toned down the drama and presented a yet still absorbing kid's version. Knowledge is power, and Mr. Pollan doesn't hold back when describing the vicious effects of mass production, preservatives and the danger behind slaughtering animals in inhumane ways. Even as a grown-up the book was not easy to digest--no pun intended--for there is no evading the hard, cold and often brutal truth behind the food chain, but by the end you arise informed enough to make a difference in not just your own life, but possibly in the world as a whole. Reviewed by Natalie Fladager

I originally bought this book for my son as I had read the "adult" version. I think this one may be an easier read for adults who don't really get into foodie/nutrition/enviromental style books. So I would say it is not just for kids!!! Also, this version has a few photos that area great addition.

Here is an example on why you read books. To read a newspaper article or watch a TV news broadcast about animal rights or healthy eating is to get besieged by politics and heated debate, but to find little thought or consideration. Pollan takes the opposite tack, approaching what we eat and where it comes from in as open and thoughtful a manner as possible. Pollan sets out to corn fields and natural farms, goes hunting and foraging, all in the name of coming to terms with where food really comes from in modern America and what the ramifications are for the eaters, the eaten, the economy and the environment. The results are far more than I expected them to be. It is Pollan's open-mindedness and his insistence that he personally experience the entire process of getting the food to his plate from its very beginning stages before making any judgements that makes this book so good. He brings a reasonable approach to the discussion that makes for a great book, but probably wouldn't sell newpapers or draw TV viewers. The conclusions Pollan draws from his experiences tend to eschew the ideas of radicals on either side of the food argument and instead focus on coming to terms with what we eat by truly appreciating where it comes from and what it consists of. He constantly refers back to a time when we were comfortable looking at the process by which our food got to our plates and still being comfortable eating it. Reading this book, you can't help but come away thinking that our inability to do that today has partly to do with the path the food takes to our plates today, a little to do with our becoming strangely uncomfortable with our true nature, and something to do with what we choose to put in our bodies. All in all, this is a great book that will leave you thinking differently about eating and probably eating differently because of it. Highly recommended.

This is one of those rare books that gets a person thinking seriously about topics not usually pondered: How has our food system, in just a few decades, developed into today's industrial, factory-fed, subsidized corn-based model? What are the costs and consequences of the model? Who pays them? Why is our system usually portrayed as the only viable means to feed ourselves? Who's in control? Is organic any better? "Dilemma" is engaging and readable, the type of book you'll find yourself mentioning and recommending to friends, even if you're among the majority of Americans (like me) who puts more thought into the gas we put into our cars than the food we put into our mouths. There are indictments here of the industrial food system, the politics, special interests, and marketers that brought the system to its dominate role, and the price-obsessed consumer who buys into the system asking no questions. There's also a clear explanation that gives many of us our first awareness of how petroleum-dependent our food system is. We are, in a real sense, eating petroleum when we eat many food products because synthetic fertilizers and pesticides are manufactured from oil and gas. The book also gives insights into the environmental costs today's over-fertilized, monospeciatic, concentrated feed-lot systems have on the land, water, and air. It's not a pretty picture. And the questions Pollan raises about animal ethics are important, leading the reader to ask himself whether choices I make in the grocery are consistent with my views on how animals should be treated. For example, the usual supermarket egg is produced by a chicken that "lives" its entire productive life in a horrendous cramped cage. Just so we can buy eggs for 79 cents/dozen. This book was a pleasure to read. Even if it turns out that all the numbers he cites arn't exactly accurate, or that there are other views to counter the points he makes (and there are), there's a lot here to get one thinking, and maybe change the way we make our food choices. The only flaws I would mention are that it could've benefited from better editing to tighten it up, especially the foraging section. One chapter includes at least twenty quotes from a philosopher of hunting. Enough! And there is a place or two that the same points are repeated. All in all an important book.