Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals - Essay Example

Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals Omnivore's Dilemma is a non-fictional book written by Michael Pollan, and it focuses on the wide variety of food choices we the humans have, and how that variety and the ‘production process’ of those food choices leads to dilemma in their minds. Sizable sections of the world population are omnivores (herbivores or vegetarianism constitute only minority section) and show interest in different foods without fixing on few choices, so the humans have wide range of foods to consume at their disposal. “Homo sapiens, encumbered by a big brain and such inventions as agriculture and industry, faces a bewildering array of choices, from scrambled eggs to Chicken McNuggets, from a bowl of fresh strawberries to the petrochemically complex yellow log of sweet” (Kamp 2006). Because of these extensive choices, dilemmas are arising in the human’s minds regarding how food items are produced, whether naturally or artificially, whether unethical practices are followed, in total dilemma of what food to eat. “When you can eat just about anything nature has to offer, deciding what you should eat will inevitably stir anxiety” (Pollan 3). So, the main intent of the author, Michael Pollan is to provide the readers with an overview of the production process of various food choices, so the readers can select the apt foods, they want to consume. To learn for himself, and also to inform the readers about the production processes and thereby about food choices, Pollan follows the food chains of the three major food categories, which provide us the food– industrial food, organic food, and foraging food. That is, he examines the food chains of these three food categories from the initial till it reaches the humans stage (factory production and supermarkets in the case of Industrial food, agricultural farms, small scale producers and vendors in the case of organic food and finally hunting expedition in case of foraging). “To this end, he embarks on four separate eating adventures, each of which starts at the very beginning — in the soil from which the raw materials of his dinners will emerge — and ends with a cooked, finished meal.” (Kamp 2006). The other main intent of Pollan is bring into focus how corn plant has came to dominate majority of the food choices in the American diet, and so allocates sizable portion of the book (close to 7 chapters) discussing about it. Although, corn is a benign plant, which is grown in large numbers throughout America and consumed directly in minimal quantities, it is actively used in the production of various food items, food additives, preservatives, etc. That is, after corn is produced, it is milled or refined or recompounded, and then it could “become any number of things, from ethanol for the gas tank to dozens of edible, if not nutritious, products, like the thickener in a milkshake, the hydrogenated oil in margarine, the modified cornstarch,…the ubiquitous sweetener known as high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS).” (Kamp 2006). With such extensive ‘applications’, Corn plant production is crucial to the survival and functioning of the various food industries. Because of which, the industrial food industry is implementing various dubious and unethical production practices to produce corn in a large scale manner. With heightened production, the corn has become cheap and plentiful, with Pollan even stating that it has become a “remarkably inexpensive industrial raw material.” (Kamp 2006). As a result, Pollan argues, food is much cheaper and more plentiful than it used to be, but unfortunately the health of the humans and that of the environment has deteriorated. Pollan also had the intent to bring out the negatives of the organic food industry as well. Although, the organic industry mainly produces environment friendly and healthy foods for the people to consume, the production process in that industry also has started bordering on commercialization. That is, producers are adopting many of the methods of the industrial food industry, although organic movement mainly had anti-industrial roots. In the final section, Pollan by attempting to prepare food only by using the items he got by hunting, and growing by himself, wants to show to the readers the advantage of natural food. The main intent of the author in this section, is to make aware the readers that the food they should eat should more of a product from nature, than from the industry. Michael Pollan wrote this book targeting all the people in America, although his main focus was on the people who had some oscillation in their mind on what to consume as part of their daily diet. The target audience for this book could also be the general readers, who wanted to know the processes that go into producing the foods they consume daily. At the same time, people from social science and economic background can also grasp vital and extensive information from the book; accordingly Pollan has incorporated key data and apt analysis. In addition, as the book spells out the processes for preparing various foods, Pollan, a food intellectual himself, also wanted to target fellow gourmets. To exhibit his intent of helping the people to make apt food choices and to target his audience, Pollan uses few key rhetorical devices like irony and persuasion. The device of irony device is visible mainly in the final section, when he discusses about the process of hunting animals and eating its meat. Pollan states how eating animals from nature is like eating natural foods and how our body also evolved accordingly. “Our omnivorousness has done much to shape our nature, both body (we possess the omnicompetent teeth and jaws of the omnivore, equally well suited to tearing meat and grinding seeds) and soul.” (Pollan 6). However, he also points out how hunting animals and eating it brings in “moral and psychological implications” (Pollan 9). In addition, although, eating animals are said to be natural, tracking them using artificial GPS and hunting them using high-powered rifle brings in ironical elements. Pollan persuasively points out how eating natural and healthy foods means not only means buying organic foods from retail stores, but also one should check whether the producers of organic food are following organic method, and are avoiding industrial methods. However, he did not use this rhetorical device effectively, as he did not “take a firm stand on figures like the "Big Organic" pioneer Gene Kahn,” who have incorporated industrial methods in his production process. (Kamp 2006). Thus, it is clear that although, Pollan had used rhetorical devices, he does not seem to have used it aptly. Works Cited Kamp, David. “Deconstructing Dinner.” The New York Times, 23 April 2006. Web. 1 Nov 2011. Pollan, Michael. Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2007. Read More