A bit hard to get through in sections, but overall an important read for anyone that eats food. Pollan traces the complete journey food had to take before reading his plate, from the fast food meal consumed while driving down the highway to the simple fare he procured old-school by hunting and gathering. ( )

Overall, this book is quite informative and at times engaging to read--however, the middle section on corn ran extremely long, and I found myself less than enthusiastic by the time I reached the "scavenging" section on mushrooms, as interesting as it ended up being. In the end I felt like I'd spent way more time slogging through this than it warranted, though I did come away with some new insights. ( )

Another great book on food, food production and eating in modern America. Pollan writes engagingly, and the book definitely provides some food for thought - without being a lecture. ( )

A fascinating expose of the various ways we manage to feed all the billions of people who exist in the world today. Pollan is on board with the typical "It's an outrage!" style of writing; there's plenty of that in here - but that's not at all what the book is about. The first section, on corn, does a really nice job of explaining how much of the economy is based around corn, and also a good job of explaining why things are that way, and what we might have to give up in our lifestyles if we wanted things to be different.

The other sections are much the same, one on meat farming and one on gathering wild food. Pollan is indeed given to the occasional interlude that seems to be be pretty far away from the focus of the book, but these interludes tend to enhance rather than detract; think of them as the occasional bay leaf in your chili.

All in all, it seems to be a sober discussion of the pros and cons of our system of manufacturing food. While Pollan does have an agenda, his treatment is careful, detailed, and balanced. A refreshing change from the frothing-at-the-mouth hyperbole we find in some similar books. ( )

Everything you need to know about the food you eat and more. ( )

This book is gripping and shocking, and yet helped me form my unease about our food culture into a coherent set of principles and thoughts. ( )

In the first part of the, Pollan discusses how when we shop at our local grocery store, pretty much everything we buy is made up of corn. The second part of the book goes into organic farming. He chronicles his time spent on a very sustainable farm where the farmer refers to himself as a grass farmer, as well as his interview with an executive of the popular organic brand Cascadian Farm, and describes just how different these organic companies are. Finally, Pollan ventures into the world of foraging, where he himself gathers just about everything he makes for a meal, from the mushrooms to the hunted pig. The meal he made actually sounds quite extravagant!

This was a very interesting read, and kept me engaged throughout. It will make the reader really think and consider how he or she obtains food. I feel like Pollan wrote this book in a style like a personal diary, and therefore I can make a closer connection to the arguments that he makes. ( )

A wonderful book about food – industrial food (subsidised American corn), organic food and hunted and gathered food. Told almost in the form of a journal, and with a slightly self-deprecating air, the result is a good read, full of interesting information. His grasp of economics is less impressive than his grasp of food, but this a small quibble. Read December 2008 ( )

If you've read Barbara Kingsolver's book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, this will have a very similar feel and, to some extent, content. I preferred this one, however.

What Michael Pollan does is trace the production of three types of meals, one of them with two subtypes. The first is what you might obtain from your local supermarket—you may be surprised to learn that, no matter what you think you're eating, you're really consuming corn. The second is organic food, from nominally organic from a chain store to the food coming off a sustainable, organic, local-food farm. The last is a meal where he attempts to gather and hunt each ingredient himself.

I really enjoyed reading this. It had just the right pace and right level of detail to accomplish its purpose. It, by turns, horrified me about industrial food production, educated me about the various food cycles (natural and otherwise), amused me in a "laugh or you'll cry" manner with details of government policy, and encouraged me with stories of people who are trying to fix things. It also gave a rather thoughtful perspective on Animal Rights and the ethics of eating meat.

As it predicted, it now takes a deliberate act of "not thinking" to eat certain foods. It also makes me wish I lived in the Blue Ridge Mountains to be near Polyface Farm...where organic really is organic, not just a relatively meaningless marketing term defined into emptiness by the USDA.

This is another one of those books that you can make a case for being worth reading regardless of your particular stance on some of the issues, simply because it encourages you to think. ( )

Considering the massive industrial machine that brings food to our tables from all over the planet, there is something very unsettling about how much less we know or care about what we eat than in any other time in history. Until I read this book, that reservation was something I could express in only the vaguest, most uncertain terms. Pollan attempts to restore some of that wisdom and care in his readers.The book begins with an overview of the industrial food chain that is the source of the average American meal. Pollan leads the reader through his hands-on investigations into industrial food, and the links in the chain combine into a shocking, at times revolting, indictment of the industry and our way of life on which it depends. The unsustainability and immorality of the industrial food system leads Pollan to explore the alternatives, which occupy the majority of his book. He turns to the organic food "movement" first, to find that it has mutated from its original roots into an analogous, unsustainable industrial niche market. He also manages to find a thriving locally supported and truly self sustaining farm, where he suggests lies a true alternative. In the final part, Pollan grapples with more fundamental ethical questions like his own justification for eating meat (about which he and philosopher Peter Singer correspond) and what it means to be personally responsible for a meal. To answer the latter question, he must hunt, gather, and/or grow every part of it, so he proceeds to do all three. As a journalist maintaining a degree of distance, Pollan may not feel comfortable with heavy-handed exhortations, but as my indignation increased throughout the book, I read between the lines, "Something has to change." I sincerely hope that others feel the same. ( )

This book is very interesting and a little depressing. I finished it over a week ago and I'm still trying to process all the information and decide how to change some of my eating habits.I'd strongly recommend it to anyone who's interested in eating healthful food or enviromentalism. Really though, I think everyone should read it just to be exposed to a set of different ideas about something that affects our lives daily. ( )

Enjoyed all the real facts and reading about Pollan's experiences. Didn't like him talking about evolution like a matter of fact. Evolution is a theory, let's not try to ease it in along with the truth of wellness. ( )

Michael Pollan. The Omnivore's Dilemma.

(This review was previously published on my food blog: http://fiddle-heads.blogspot.com)

By now, this book is already three or four years old, and many readers of this blog have probably read it and formed opinions of it. If you haven't, I urge you to read this book. It's about industrial agriculture, organic and sustainable farming, as well as about hunting and foraging. It made me rethink my lifestyle and gave me sound background and reasoning for the choices I now make.

So, this isn't going to be your garden variety review. Instead of assessing the book's strengths and providing an overview (as I've said, I think most people already have a sense of the book's contents), I'd like to share my experiences with this book as a teacher of composition and literature.

I first read The Omnivore's Dilemma while I was teaching a writing course, ENG102, Writing II: "Into the Woods." The school had initiated a connected-learning project to help students improve their reading, writing and critical thinking skills by restructuring ENG102 to be interdisciplinary and topic-based. My topics have consistently revolved around nature and environmental concerns. I've enjoyed the opportunity to teach a topic that I care about, and I think the students have been enriched as well. Overall, I think the connected-learning approach works well in its aim to get students to a higher level of critical thinking and writing than with traditional introduction to literature curricula.

Last semester, I assigned this book and it was by far the overall favorite among the students. At first, I was a little daunted by the length, the complexity and the "radical" nature of the book. I mean, here was a book telling students that most of their favorite, processed foods were full of things that would likely make them fat, enrich large corporations and impoverish small family farms. Here was a book that blew the lid on that beloved staple of child/teen life -- the chicken nugget. Here was a book that was going to make them afraid to go into the dining hall.

But, if I may make a pun, they ate it up. They were disgusted to think about the thirty-three ingredients in the McNugget. They felt indignant about the adulteration of homey and wholesome corn in the manufacture of all kinds of food additives. And I think they were most perplexed as to why agriculture could be allowed to become wasteful (when it had once been an efficient way to reuse waste and resources) and even toxic (I'm thinking here about the "manure lagoons" that are the result of CAFOs).

I think it was helpful that I "served" this book with some accompaniments: a viewing of SuperSize Me and an assignment and discussion about the internet game/edumercial, McVideoGame. In addition, all the research and presentation topics were about food and agriculture issues, which I chose purposefully to coincide with the book, allowing students to even use it as a resource.

The combination of book, film, game, and projects allowed students to see connections, which is, I think, the mark of a well-informed adult citizen. However, I was dismayed that some students thought I was preaching a leftist viewpoint, an anti-meat philosophy. I guess that's always the danger when you present something that is controversial and complex. The book is NOT anti-meat (they need to see Peter Singer's Animal Liberation for that), but it seems that many folks reduce the book down this way. Perhaps it's easier to understand if one reduces it to a simpler message, especially if they're eighteen, but the book's power, I feel, is really in its call to embrace real, natural food prepared in harmony with the laws of nature. One student asked me why we didn't read something that was "pro-meat." What do you mean, kid? The Atkins' Diet? That fad that was discredited about thirty years ago that was resurrected to once again confuse people about their diets? This is one of the problems of our culture and our youth -- a lack of discernment and judgement about information. Just because someone wrote a book about it doesn't make it accurate. Even Pollan's book can be critiqued. Even this blog can be critiqued.

I think what I admired most about this book was it's attention to the likely counterargument. I always tell my students that if you want to be most persuasive, predict the opposition's every move and refute each one. I feel that Pollan does this consistently throughout the book, which is why it comes across so vehement and probably why it has been so influential. Of course, this can also confuse students who might not have enough sophistication to discern what is Pollan's own view and what is just a view he is describing/analyzing, but, hopefully, they got something out of it. I hope they will return to the book in their minds and think more critically about it with each rumination.

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About a month ago, Pollan spoke at the West Roxbury branch of the BPL, and Seth and I went. So many folks showed up that they had to move the event next door to a school. I really enjoyed it, bought the new book, In Defense of Food, and got my two books signed. I like how this experience both expands and shrinks my world. On the one hand, it's great to see so many people all fired up about food consciousness, and on the other, I think it's crazy that I got to meet my new favorite food author for free, at a pokey, little library that is literally walking distance from my house.

I am the drop and the ocean . . . . ( )

Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma will change your life. Truly. You'll never look at food the same way again.

The subhead, "A Natural History of Four Meals," neatly encapsulates the book. Pollan traces our food back to its source--fast food, grocery-store fare, and hunted/foraged edibles.

The first section is appropriately titled, "Industrial: Corn," and its arguably the most dramatic section. Pollan enumerates all of the corn or corn-based ingredients in the average fast-food meal, from the corn-fed beef to the high fructose corn syrup and corn oil. He journeys from farm to feedlot, and it's astounding every step of the way.

Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm is the star of the second section, "Pastoral: Grass." While Pollan spends time on grocery stores, big organic, and a host of other issues, his trip to Polyface is what sold me on local, sustainable food as a business model.

The final section, "Personal: Forest," sends Pollan to forage mushrooms in the forest and hunt boar. While this was clearly and persuasively Pollan's favourite and most savoured meal, it was the least interesting for me to read. To be fair, I detest mushrooms and I'm a vegetarian, so that may have colored my perceptions.

It's not always an easy book to read and it is long, but it should definitely be required reading for anyone interested in eating well. I'm forever recommending this book to anyone who'll listen and, had I the funds, would happily hand it out to everyone I know. ( )

It's an enlightening look at the food industry. If you've read Fast Food Nation, none of this will surprise you, but you'll notice that this book isn't nearly as easily read as Fast Food Nation... the author chose to make it read like fiction by putting a "story" into it (i.e. following his food through the chain rather than simply telling us about the food chain).

The problem with books like this is that the people who need to read them are the ones making the millions in profits and simply aren't interested in changing their cash flow into anything less lucrative, regardless of the cost to the environment, the world and the future. In this sense, the book leaves you feeling depressed: the stuff we need to know and do to prevent catastrophe is available, but nobody cares enough to bother. ( )

An interesting look at how Americans eat and what we can do to change that. Pollan divides the book into 4 parts or 'meals' and discusses industrial farming, industrial organic farming, local organic farming and foraging as he sees just how all of these meals are prepared. He also discusses the philosophy and ethics of hunting and eating meat, which is somewhat long-winded but very interesting. This book will make you think twice about what you eat and how you eat it. ( )

Everyone should at least read the first third of this book, "Corn", a look at industrialized food products. Shocking, sickening. A look at the organic food industry actually made me feel more supportive of companies like EarthBound Farms. Enjoy your steak tonight? Not so much. ( )

I am very interested in the source or our food. This book really down tot he nitty gritty of exactly what goes into making what we eat. Very interesting and I am glad that he has undertaken this project. ( )

Michael Pollan delves into the scary world of industrial agriculture in The Omnivore's Dilemma. He shows the reader exactly how much corn we're actually eating, and how we've become "corn people". He exposes the potential problems with "organic" food that I never would have contemplated. The middle section of this book, where the author spends a week on a farm is just wonderful. Don't read this book if you don't want to think about where your food comes from. It might frighten you if you find out. ( )

Good but not as good as his previous book. ( )

Pollan provides insight into many aspects of the food we eat, but the most alarming aspect of the book is the brief history and insider's look at the "industrial agriculture complex" and how it has changed the way we eat over the past thirty years. Why the approach to subsidies abruptly changed during the Nixon administration and why it lead to the domination of corn.Why we pay less. Why we're fatter.

There's also insight into the organic movement...the good and the bad. One of the most intriguing section of the book is a week the author spent on a farm that grass feeds its animals. The owner of the farm is an enigmatic mix of right wing, left wing and libertarian views that blows the doors off of our political stereotypes.

The last section of the book, in which the author becomes too much of the story, dragged on for a bit, but overall it's a must read for anyone who eats. ( )

Don't read if you believe in the adage that "ignorance is bliss". Pollan should win a Nobel for revealing the world that our food comes from and for revealing the world we CREATE by allowing systems of minimum standardization to produce what passes our lips every day. ( )

A thought-provoking, slightly frightening look at how our food is produced, and the reasons behind those production methods. I definitely learned a few things. ( )

I truly believe everyone should be made to read this book. Educational and scary and eloquent all rolled into one. You will never look at eating the same way again. I hope our new president has read it. ( )

Pollan writes very engaging nonficition (if you like John McPhee's stuff you'll probably enjoy this as well). Some slight cross-over with Fast Food Nation. Pollan tries to follow a fast food meal from field to mouth, details a fascinating farm and farmer in the Shenandoah Valley who is practicing an intensive, rotational, closed cycle farming method, and finally tries to hunt/gather/prepare a complete meal for his friends. Fascinating profile of how much feed corn we grow in this country, and how the food industry is trying to push more and more of it into the food system, much of it in the form of high fructose corn syrup. Much food for thought (pun fully intended). ( )