Book Review: The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, 2006 (Vancouver Food Network)

It is hard to think of any author who has done more in the past few years to promote serious thought about agriculture in the general public than author Michael Pollan, and his 2006 book The Omnivore's Dilemma is probably his most influential work, leading to discussions in newspapers, classrooms and book clubs across the entire country. Available at the public library and in paperback, Dilemma provides a clear and engaging overview of our modern, industrial food system, and alternatives.

The Omnivore's Dilemma begins with a simple question: what shall we have for dinner? In a world where technology grants us godlike powers, what should we eat? Subtitled "a natural history of four meals," Pollan explores the origins of four different meals to explore different food chains, all of which exist side-by-side in today's marketplace: industrial, "big organic," pastoral and personal.

The Agribusiness of Industrial Food

The industrial food chain culminates at a fast-food McDonald's, and on the way illustrates how a surplus of material for explosives after WWII eventually led to the massive introduction of petrochemical fertilizers and industrialization to American farms, culminating in the abandonment of New Deal policies under Earl Butz in the 1970's. This system inexorably shuts down small farms in favor of industrial giants such as ADM or Cargill, who control commodity soybeans and global corn in a system whose food scientists use chemistry to convert these two ingredients into everything from beef to the high-fructose corn syrup in soda pop.

The Whole Foods Greenwash of "Big Organic"

"Big organic" is the phrase Pollan uses to designate the mainstreaming of once-fringe foods by large corporations such as WalMart. As federal regulations are re-written to obfuscate the difference between industrial and sustainable agriculture, such stores play on consumer perceptions to extract higher prices from consumers. Pollan deftly notes the rise of "supermarket pastoral," packaging and signs which aim to create an illusion of wholesome simplicity around foods which are essentially produced in factory conditions, albeit with a slightly different mix of chemical inputs. This meal is embodied in an organic TV dinner from a Whole Foods Market and such oddities as organic Chilean asparagus in winter.

Human-Scale, Polycrop Agriculture and the Family Farm

"Pastoral" is the phrase Pollan uses to describe the sort of sustainable and diverse farm city folks like to fantasize about. Designed to function on little more than its natural location and sunlight, these farms mix species such as chickens and cows, promoting soil health and fertility through such ancient techniques as compost and crop rotation, with minimal mechanical inputs. The characteristic meal for the pastoral food chain is pretty much the standard Sunday dinner fare one would imagine Dorothy's family eating at home before or after The Wizard of Oz: chicken with a variety of garden vegetables and perhaps a small amount of hormone-free butter. The sort of meal one would expect to see in a Norman Rockwell painting, this was common fare among those who could afford it before World War I.

Hunting and Gathering toward More Local, Sustainable Options

Pollan's fourth meal is the sort that anthropologists would associate with hunter-gatherer societies: wild-harvested mussels, gathered mushrooms and such. A very wholesome thing but very laborious, and probably not practical even a hundred years ago. Pollan's genius is that he uses this meal and the three others to talk about food systems in a way that makes them real, interviewing people involved in each as he takes the reader on field trips to places as diverse as a feed lot and the bottom side of a boulder in the ocean near San Francisco. By showing the origins of everyday foods and the modern food industry, Pollan provides a lot of food for thought without being preachy. Available at the local library and a terrific holiday gift, Pollan serves up a feast that all omnivores, those of food and ideas, can enjoy and find nourishment in.

For Further Information

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan, Penguin Press, 2006. Available through the Fort Vancouver Regional Library in normal, audio and large-print editions. The standard edition's library call number is 394.12 POLLAN.

The first chapter of this book is available at the author's web site and the links below are to sites which discuss The Omnivore's Dilemma

Vancouver Food Network

Stronger food systems for southwest Washington.