The Omnivore's Dilemma Book Report

Thread 1: In The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Pollan describes what the omnivore’s dilemma actually is. He begins his book as a naturalist in a supermarket trying to decide “what to eat?”. This question is harder to answer without asking where the food originates. Knowing where food comes from is very difficult, unless it is locally grown or clearly states it on the package. Processed food is more complicated to understand where it comes from.

Is eating meat a detrimental threat to the environment? This debate over meat’s involvement in the global warming crisis was what inspired Nicolette Hahn Niman to write, “The Carnivore’s Dilemma.” Niman hoped writing, “The Carnivore’s Dilemma,” would cause her audience to understand that eating meat, raised on traditional farms, was a superior alternative to vegetarianism. Niman supported her claim by explaining how industrialized farms and vegetarians produce more of the three greenhouse gases that caused global warming, than that produced by traditional farms. Niman’s article fell short of being effective due to flaws in her supporting evidence and conclusion.

Eating Towards Global Warming Global warming has been a topic of debate for many years now. A more recent argument is that food production is a key contributing factor to the global warming epidemic. In the article “A Carnivore’s Dilemma”, Nicolette Niman provides an insight to the logistics being said in these statements.

Eating only food from local farms and businesses sounds great. Right? But have you ever stopped to think the negatives to this plan. If we only eat and buy things from around our area we are extremely limited on to what you can buy. Christophe Pelletier warns readers in his essay the “Locavore’s Dilemma” that only buying these things from the local area will prove to be detrimental to society.

I just want Chocolates Imagine going to your local grocery store and the only food available was food produced from your local area. For example, the fresh fruits and vegetables from around the world like bananas, coconuts, and peppers were not an option at your grocery store. That would suck right? This kind of Dilemma is possible.

Relevance between Food and Humans with Rhetorical Analysis In the modern industrial society, being aware of what the food we eat come from is an essential step of preventing the “national eating disorder”. In Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, he identifies the humans as omnivores who eat almost everything, which has been developed into a dominant part of mainstream unhealthiness, gradually causing the severe eating disorder consequences among people. Pollan offers his opinion that throughout the process of the natural history of foods, deciding “what should we have for dinner” can stir the anxiety for people based on considering foods’ quality, taste, price, nutrition, and so on.

By comparing what is, to what could be possible if a food policy were to be established. In doing so, he is using a scare tactic for readers to visualize the reality that is impacting Americans today. Pollan emphasizes the need to prevent deaths caused by unhealthy eating as a priority. Pollan's goal is aimed at "a food system in which healthful choices are accessible to all and in which it becomes possible to nourish ourselves without exploiting other people or nature. " Pollan has earned respect by readers due to his concern for the greater good of Americans.

In Blake Hurst’s “The Omnivore’s Delusion: Against the Agri-Intellectuals,” he opposes the accusations made by tofu-eating, recycled-toilet-paper-using, self-starving Michael Pollan and his followers. Throughout “The Omnivore’s Delusion…,” Hurst mentions how methods of farming have evolved to match demands of produce. The author states that “Only ‘Industrial farming’ can possibly meet the demands of an increasing population and increased demand for food as a result of growing incomes” (Hurst 4). This quote essentially means that “Industrial Farming” is the most efficient way to farm for today’s population level. A second point that is made by Hurst is that changes made by today’s farming are necessary.

David Zinczenko expresses his concern that in a grocery store, every item of food is labeled with the proper nutritional facts to show the consumer its health benefits or disadvantages. However, at fast food restaurants, David mentions, these nutritional facts are either not shown or are highly inaccurate. These could be extremely beneficial to the general public, but they’re not helpful if they’re not discernable. To prevent this, one would think that the easy fix is to choose more sustainable foods such as fruits and vegetables from local farmers markets. However, Radley and David both agree that unfortunately, fast food chain restaurants are much more convenient than a farmers market.

In “How Junk Food Can End Obesity,” by David H. Freedman, he claims that processed foods can help fix the obesity crisis in a more realistic manner, rather than whole-some foods. The popular opinion emphasizes whole-some foods because they aren’t informed about the similitude between processed and unprocessed foods. The essence of the essay is that people believe processed foods are bad and unhealthy for us, therefore whole-some foods are highly recommended for the health of an individual. Freedman mentions many prominent authors who wrote books on food processing, but the most influential voice in the food culture Freedman makes a point of is, American journalist, Michael Pollan. The media and Michael Pollan indicate that everything should be replaced with real, fresh, and unprocessed foods, instead of engineering in as much sugar, salt, and fat as possible into industrialized foods.

In the book, The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, Pollan claims we should be more knowledgeable about what we consume as omnivores. As omnivores we have a variety of food, we can choose from, however, we don’t regularly make the best decisions for ourselves. Pollan argues this by showing us where our food really comes from and how we can find many unwanted extras. Pollan shows us that we’ve evolved as humans from how we used to eat to how we eat now. Pollan argues this by introducing us to all the food chains we value today, some much more than others.

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The Omnivor’s Dilemma by Micheal Pollan talks about four different food chains such as industrial, hunter-gathering, local sustainable, and the industrial organic food chain which covers the secrets of the United States food system and what our food actually contains in the book. But have you ever wondered what food chain was the best for America? The industrial organic food chain is the best to feed the US because it’s better for our bodies and the environment. The first reason why the industrial organic food chain is better out of all the other three food chains is from this quote which argues: “It meant being free from the control of corporations.”

Ambar Delacruz Essay 1: The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma addresses a variety of concerns about food production and consumption. One might ask what exactly is the omnivore’s dilemma? And the basic answer to this question is “what should we eat for dinner”?

“The way human beings consume food has changed more in the last fifty years, than in the previous 10,000,” Michael Pollan, the director of Food Inc. states in the opening line. However, the constructed marketing schemes used to sell this food still paint a picture of agricultural, farming America. (2009) But the reality couldn’t be any more different. In supermarkets, seasonal foods are now year round, boneless meat is an option.