The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
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Manufacturer: Penguin
Written By: Michael Pollan
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 394.12
EAN: 9780143038580
Feature: ISBN13: 9780143038580
ISBN: 0143038583
Label: Penguin
Manufacturer: Penguin
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 464
Publication Date: 2007-08-28
Publisher: Penguin
Studio: Penguin
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Features
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ISBN13: 9780143038580
Condition: NEW
Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Editorial Reviews for The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
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A national bestseller that has changed the way readers view the ecology of eating, this revolutionary book by award winner Michael Pollan asks the seemingly simple question: What should we have for dinner? Tracing from source to table each of the food chains that sustain us— whether industrial or organic, alternative or processed—he develops a portrait of the American way of eating. The result is a sweeping, surprising exploration of the hungers that have shaped our evolution, and of the profound implications our food choices have for the health of our species and the future of our planet.
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Consumer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Excellent survey of the American food industry
Comment: Michael Pollan entertains while he informs, surprises, and disillusions most hopes you might have had about the American food industry. This book is a must read if you are at all interested in what you eat, and how its production is affecting nature. Pollan follows the life of both a cow and a chicken through their confined lives in high producing typical american farms- which proves to be more revolting and dangerous that one might have thought. He also explains why all those products at the grocery store have some tangent of corn in it: "high fructose corn syrup" etc. He also documents some small organic farmers and the processes they use to create sustainable farming. How the food industry reflects the general American mentality should become increasingly obvious, as you become more aware of what you eat and where it comes from.
This book is an excellent way to make a visit to the grocery store a little less abstract.
Customer Rating:
Summary: A provocative and thoughtful examination of food in America
Comment: Michael Pollan mesmerizes with his exciting examination of the possible sources of our food in America. I love food and for me this book constituted a celebration of it's complexity and possibility. Although Pollan is obviously biased he takes a calculated look at the propositions of both sides, even though through the novel we follow him to his inevitable arrival at his own perceptions. I highly recommend this book to all readers, especially those who are politically conscious or who just get inordinately excited about food the way I do.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Great read about agriculture buisness
Comment: A great book that reads well and talks about how agriculture buisness ultimately affects our health. Recommended.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Anyone who eats food should read this!
Comment: In The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan explores the current landscape of procuring food in America by actively tracing four meals, through intermediary energy forms, to the ultimate source of their energy, the sun. He explicates all processes and their consequences with regards to creating meals from McDonald's, Whole Foods (big industrial organic), a self-sustained farm, and one that he obtained every component of himself (hunting and gathering).
His active investigative journalism as well as his open mind and willingness to learn leads him to experience firsthand the food creation process by participating in all methods of creating food (that is, those that he is allowed to participate in) and to read everything on the subject from the biology of corn reproduction to the philosophy of eating animals, allowing him to understand food as well as possible. His travels lead him to farms across the country, where he watches the farm processes and participates in them (including driving a tractor as well as killing and eviscerating chickens), CAFO's, and to learn how to hunt wild pig and develop a sixth sense for seeing and gathering mushrooms. He engages in deep discussions with experts in all aspects of food to understand their perspective and shed a different light on food as we see it - that is, food without the hidden negative consequences. This active participation and discussion straight from the source as well as thorough research leads him to draw well-reasoned conclusions from his experiences. He demystifies the supermarket and articulates the hidden consequences of our food choices.
Pollan conveys his findings and opinions fluidly and his experiences candidly. He imparts the reader with a greater wisdom and confidence in making food choices (although it is disenchanting that the system in place does not necessarily even allow you to make the choices you want to...), but he is not preachy. I found Pollan's writing to be clear, interesting, and sincere. I highly recommend this book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An insightful, gripping, utterly readable story of all that's wrong with our food system
Comment: I worried when I got this book that it would be a typical, New York Times, liberal manifesto. To a degree, it is that. But it goes beyond that. Pollan takes a hard look at our food supply, how we grow it, how we get it to the consumer. It's utterly persuasive. One can't read this book and finish anything but deeply troubled.
It's good to know there are others out there who don't object so much to killing animals for food (I don't) but who are rightfully sickened by how they are raised and treated before slaughter. This book really spoke to me, not because I'm a closet vegan looking to condemn meat eaters everywhere (I'm not). Indeed, that hardly seems Pollan's goal. Rather, he points out that one can eat animals but raise them responsibly, kill animals but treat them with dignity.
Ultimately, his point is that the $1 cheeseburger at McDonalds is not really $1. The hidden costs affect the taxpayer much more than the ridiculous prices would otherwise suggest.
I'm no hippie, left-wing New Yorker looking to tear up corporate America. I love corporate America. But as a taxpayer, I finished this book truly angry at how our government subsidizes obesity, encourages cancer, and ignores cruelty. As a human being, I finished this book deeply troubled at how millions of animals live their entire lives in abject misery for months so that I can get a Big Mac cheap.
As far as I'm concerned, this book should be mandatory reading - I can only hope it heralds an awakening.
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More Information on The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
The Omnivore's Dilemma - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals is a nonfiction book by Michael Pollan published in 2006, in which Pollan turns his own omnivorous mind to the seemingly ...
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... fresh perspective to a question as ordinary and yet momentous as What shall we have for dinner? A few facts and figures from The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
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Get this at a library near you! Author: [Michael Pollan] -- What should we have for dinner? When you can eat just about anything nature (or the supermarket) has to offer, deciding ...