The Omnivore's Dilemma By Michael Pollan

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.

Michael Pollan is a food researcher that is on a mission to become more knowledgeable about the food we eat. He is searching the four food chains. The food chains are local sustainable, industrial organic, industrial and Hunter-gatherer. Also because it’s organic and humanely slaughtered and it taste like chicken.

In the article ¨The Omnivore 's Delusion: Against the Agri-Intellectuals,¨ by Blake Hurst, he rebukes agri-intellectuals, which is a person who criticizes industrial farming without having personal experience in the agriculture field, by illustrating the logic and rationale to industrial farming methods. One of the most significant ideas Hurst argues against is the misunderstanding of modern day farming. ¨On the other were the kind of wooden pens that our critics would have us use, where the sow could turn around, lie down.. killing several piglets¨(Hurst 6). Industrial farmers use creates that prevent the mother pig from standing after her piglets are born. Although, critics might see this is cruel, it is actually keep mother from laying

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.

Organic Food Organically grown food tastes better, it’s safer, and it’s healthier for you. The major benefit of organic farming is the reduction of pollution. People who eat organic food eat it, not only, because they enjoy it but also because of the benefits it has. In the book, Young Readers Edition: The Omnivore's Dilemma: The Secrets behind What You Eat, Pollan explains that Industrial Organic is food grown on large industrial size farms with all natural pesticides and no chemicals. It is sold in large supermarket chains, and one of the most common is Whole Foods.

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.”

In “The Pleasures of Eating,” Wendell Berry addresses the disconnection between food and its consumers, and argues how food industries distance consumers from knowing where and how their food is produced, which is making the consumers ignorant. Throughout the essay, Berry wants people to have a better understanding of their food, and how it has been affected by the food culture. Consumers would buy food without any question and believe that they are not participants of agriculture, which is making the ignorant of where their food came from. Food Industrialists have been a cause of creating this disconnection by persuading consumers to buy food that have been already prepared, which leads these consumers to become less aware of how eating affects

In the first place, one way to solve the omnivore’s dilemma by checking the nutrition facts on what we buy. In the book Food Rules by Michael Pollan, it mentions a way to help make better eating choices. One way is to look at what is in the food we eat. “Not because high-fructose corn syrup is any worse for you than sugar, but because it is, like many of the other unfamiliar ingredients in packaged foods, a reliable marker for a food product that has been highly processed.” This means that people are just looking at those words they do not understand, not knowing what the words mean.

Organic Food In the society where people are getting more concerned about one 's health organic food has become a widely spread and followed by many people tendency. Organic food is believed to have better impact on person 's well-being and not to cause harm to people and the surrounding world due to its ecological nature. The debate that has been recently developed around this topic cannot be solved easily since both supporters and their counterparts provide reasonable arguments supporting their positions. However, to get into the problem and find the answer to a question that concerns many people it is necessary to identify organic food at first.

“ For instance, organic fruits, vegetables and other crops must not have been treated with synthetic fertilizers, certain pesticides or sewage sludge,” (Cernansky) Organic foods are grown with pesticides that must follow certain necessities and that have safer amounts of chemicals used. Along with the idea of fewer and safer chemicals used in the pesticides, there has been evidence provided that suggests organic foods have higher levels of antioxidants. “Organic crops contain, on average, 17 percent more antioxidants than crops grown conventionally, they found. Antioxidants are compounds in many fruits and vegetables.

Eating organically grown food is more nutritious and is better in the long run. This is why nutrition is becoming so big in America; many are starting to realize how bad pesticides are not only for us, but for the environment as well, resulting in a change of eating

Marion Nestle, a professor of New York University, recommended buying organic food if people can afford them. However, Joy Bauer, a nutritionist, mentioned that some fruits and vegetables contain pesticides higher than other food. He suggested that some foods must buy organic instead of conventional foods such as apples, cherries, grapes, strawberries, celery, potatoes, and spinach etc (Joy Bauer, 2006). Even through some researches and studies show that organic foods are not likely to result in health benefits, organic business still grows rapidly and will be more and more prosperous in the future. We are not completely certain that organic foods are not beneficial to human health since they do delivery some benefit to consumers such as fewer pesticides, in some ways, higher level of nutrients, and may taste better.

I acknowledge that the foods we consume contain pesticides. As a Certified Nurse Assistant working in Home Health care environment, the diversity of my clients is enormous. However, when shopping for my clients, most of them usually caution me against buying foods that are not organically grown. I first heard about organically grown foods in December 2013 form one of my clients, Frank Lawry. He informed me that there is a very high likelihood that organically grown foods have fewer pesticides than foods grown using conventional farming systems.

“Growing foods organically also can help the environment, new data show” ( Cernansky ). A new study shows that farms who do not grow organic food could contain four times the pesticides than farms who do grow organic food. “His group’s study also found that conventionally grown farm crops are four times more likely than organic crops to contain pesticide residues” ( Cernansky ). The thought of this to many people gives them the excuse to pick organic food rather than conventionally grown food. Many organic foods and conventionally grown foods do not play a major difference.