Book Review of the Omnivore's Dilemma - Essay Example

The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals - Book Report Introduction There are myriad discrepancies and confusions in the minds of thepeople regarding the diet and food supplements. Scientific medical descriptions of the food value and diet supplements are also quite confusing. Therefore an enlightening document on food values and proper diet supplement is very essential. At the same time, the representation or the captivation of the thoughts into a very straightforward and lucid language is demanding as well.

The book, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals” by Michael Pollan is a very enlightening and notifying document published in 2006. The book raises myriad inquisitions which evolve from the genius mind of Pollan regarding the nature of diet for the Omnivores and satisfy thereby those inquisitions in a very simple and straightforward way. The Review Omnivores are the consumers of the divergent varieties of food. They are the most unselective species when it comes down to diet.

Conscious humans, being omnivores, generally face dilemma regarding their choice of food. Pollan tried his best to quench this confusion in human mind through his detailed research regarding the food chain and nature of consumption prevailing in humans. Pollan throws light widely on the nature and types of industrial foods, organic foods and the food that humans look for themselves. The detailed research work captivated within the pages of the enlightening document by Pollan, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals” throws light on the sources of the meals in omnivores to the transition of those sources into a final complete meal for humans.

Moreover, amid the process of evolving the procedure of the transition of various scattered food materials into complete meals, Pollan was successful in developing and identifying a healthy account of American way of eating. The book, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma : A Natural History of the Four Meals” is divided into three parts bearing the title, ‘Industrial Corn’, ‘Pastoral Grass’, and ‘Personal The Forest’ respectively. There are twenty chapters in the book and the first three chapters fall under the section bearing the title, ‘Industrial Corn’.

The name of the segment hints at the consumption, sources and usage of the industrial foods in the diet habitat of the omnivores. The first three chapters of the book bears the title, ‘The Plant: Corn’s Conquest’, ‘The Farm’ and ‘The Elevator’ respectively. The first chapter of the book, ‘The Plant: Corn’s Conquest’ throws light on the prevalence of corn in the meals of omnivores and the reasons behind it. The first chapter generally meets the expectation of the readers regarding their inquisition pertaining to the term, ‘industrial food chain’.

Pollan explains the huge bridge between the American supermarkets from where most of the Americans grab their daily food articles with the natural storehouse of food. And by the end of the chapter 1, Pollan is successfully able to establish the essentiality of the investigation for the sources of the foods consumed every day. In chapter 2, Pollan takes the help of the case of an American farmer named George Naylor and tries to explain the adverse effects that the overproduction of corn are bringing under the huge compulsion of the corporate food production houses.

Third chapter is named ‘The Elevator’ and within it, Pollan explains the difference between a bushel of corn produced by a farmer and corn when consumed as a fungible commodity. Third chapter is actually the culmination of the conclusion of the inquisition traced from the first chapter of the book. Conclusion The first three chapters of the book can be considered as the beginning of a great trajectory which the book sets its readers on and gives a very pertinent indication of the detailed explanation of the sources of food materials consumed by omnivores in their daily meals along with their detailed effect on the nutrition supply and food values.

In one line, the book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals” is a complete document guiding the omnivores what should they eat and why should those items constitute their meals. The first three chapters of the book set the right tone for the culmination of the future research material captivated in the book. Bibliography Pollan, Michael The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals Penguin Books, 2006.