Pollan paints a gripping picture of the many different social, political, agricultural, and historical elements that play a role in the omnivore's dilemma--that is, the age old question of what to eat for dinner. The focus of this book is the modern American civilization food culture and how it is detached from the source of food through processed and packaged goods. It's purpose is to disillusion the modern omnivore by showing him or her that the food we buy and eat is the product of an illogical, unreasonable, greedy, and powerful industrial complex that encompasses even Whole Foods and most organic/free-range/drug-free/all-natural foods. With no purity or transparency in our convoluted food business complex, the conscious omnivore does have a dilemma indeed.
Thus, the Omnivore's Dilemma in the 21st Century is one based on ignorance. Society is easily swayed by this and that new food trend--fads that have had a wide range of detrimental effects not only to our health, but to our concept of what is good and bad to eat. Ironically enough, when you get to the root of America's food source, you find Zea mays, Corn, and all of the problems it brings, literally, to the table. No doubt, corn is relatively easy and cheap to grow, and we use it for every element of food--as a grain to feed us, to feed the livestock we eat, to make plastic from, to sweeten just about everything. There are a plethora of uses for it, but these easy calories and uses lead to a monoculture of corn, corn, corn. They lead to dietary consequences like Diabetes, obesity, heart disease. They lead to a ridiculous dependence on a single plant. As Pollan says in the book:
"Of all the species that have figured out how to thrive in a world dominated by Homo sapiens, surely no other has succeeded more spectacularly--has colonized more acres and bodies--than Zea mays, the grass that domesticated its domesticator."
And that is the crux of our dilemma. What do we eat for dinner? And the answer, in the Western world at least, is easily "corn." It might not compose all of our diet, but you'd be hard set to find a meal without some corn derivative in it.
Thus, the Omnivore's Dilemma in the 21st Century is one based on ignorance. Society is easily swayed by this and that new food trend--fads that have had a wide range of detrimental effects not only to our health, but to our concept of what is good and bad to eat. Ironically enough, when you get to the root of America's food source, you find Zea mays, Corn, and all of the problems it brings, literally, to the table. No doubt, corn is relatively easy and cheap to grow, and we use it for every element of food--as a grain to feed us, to feed the livestock we eat, to make plastic from, to sweeten just about everything. There are a plethora of uses for it, but these easy calories and uses lead to a monoculture of corn, corn, corn. They lead to dietary consequences like Diabetes, obesity, heart disease. They lead to a ridiculous dependence on a single plant. As Pollan says in the book:
"Of all the species that have figured out how to thrive in a world dominated by Homo sapiens, surely no other has succeeded more spectacularly--has colonized more acres and bodies--than Zea mays, the grass that domesticated its domesticator."
And that is the crux of our dilemma. What do we eat for dinner? And the answer, in the Western world at least, is easily "corn." It might not compose all of our diet, but you'd be hard set to find a meal without some corn derivative in it.
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