Free Post # 10: The Omnivore's Dilemma

I recently Read an interesting book by Michael Pollan called "The Omnivore's Dilemma". This book takes you through four different types of food systems, and gives you the inside scoop to how your food is made, and what is does to the environment. The four types are industrial, organic, local sustainable and the do it yourself meal.

The first food system is the one most of us eat, the industrial meal. This consists of processed food we get at a fast for restaurant to the meat we buy in the grocery store. I learned that most of what we eat is corn! Not sweet corn that is grown to be eaten, but # 2 field corn as they call it. It is in High fructose Corn syrup and many of the other ingredients no one can pronounce. The farms our where meat is grown on feed their livestock this corn as well. It is what their diets are based on at the feedlot where they are crammed so tightly together. They are not given a grass fed diet that their system was made for, instead we make them eat corn, why? Because it is cheap and big agribusiness's have a patens on GMO to sell to farmers to grow the corn. But thats a whole different debate. Our crops are also sprayed with so many pesticides, and intern cause damage to our soil, then run off into our oceans. Many animals get sick and diseased in the feedlots but no one seems to give that much thought to that when buying your cheap dinner at the store.

The next food system is organic, or as it should be called Industrial organic. Just because something says Organic on it does NOT mean it was grown 100% without pesticides, or on a free range grass fed farm. Although organic food is better for you, I don't think it is the best we can do. The USDA does allow for some amounts of certain pesticides to be used on our crops. That goes for our livestock as well. That chicken you buy that says free range, does not mean it got a nice green pasture to live on. In some places all it means it that it lived in a caged up area, with a little door at the end of the tunnel to go out into a small area if it so chooses, but none of them do, why is that? This is because for they first weeks of life the door is shut, so when it is opened they are so used to living inside they just stay there! These practices are better for the environment, but still harmful in the sense of runoff and pesticides used.

The third is the local sustainable. This is the best for the environment. This talks about buying local food from farmers markets, or family farms that sell their food. This is a great step, and you actually know where your food is coming from, you know its fresh and in season. To me that sounds perfect, the animals are given land to roam, and are moved around so they do not damage the soil that  grows your crops. There is not a lot of emissions or fossil fuels used to ship the food to other destinations as well.

The final food system discussed is the do it yourself meal. In this section  Pollan stresses making your own food, from gardening, to hunting and gathering. Now this is no longer a very realistic goal for us in todays society, but it is a nice idea. The main thing I took away from this is wanting to at least start my own garden, that way I know where some of my food comes from, and that it is healthy for me to eat. It is also the most simple and helpful step I can take to help the environment.

This book was very heavy on agriculture, but I actually enjoyed it a lot. I got to know a little insight into what goes into my food, and how I can vote with my dollars to buy better food for myself and the environment.

Sources:
Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.