The Omnivores Dilemma: a Natural History of Four Meals Free

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To browse Academia. Skip to main content. Log In Sign Up. Download Free PDF. New York: The. New York: The Penguin Press, But perhaps no one deserves more credit for making food, especially meat-eating, a mainstream political issue than journalist Michael Pollan, author of several best-selling books on the topic as well as many in- depth articles in The New York Times Magazine. With his characteristic depth and knack for embracing complexity, he follows four different nonhuman animals from their plant-based sources in either industrial corn, organic grains, pastoral grass, or forest vegetation to their eventual place on his plate via a factory farm cowindustrial organic farm chickeneco-friendly family farm chickenand a hunting excursion pigeven killing the animals himself in the last two instances. I start off being excited at his harsh critique of the meat industry and his seeming promotion of ethical vegetarianism as he ardently stands up for nonhumans, but I end up disappointed by his eventual convoluted justification for eating certain animals. The truth is that because he does not want to be a vegetarian, he never fully embraces that diet; hence his goal in this book is to find a way that he can feel good, or at least better, about eating animals. His agenda is one with which most decent Americans could presumably identify — animal welfare. He simply wants to eat meat with a clean conscience. This does not help the cause of animal rights, as LaVeck and Francione have argued that when animal advocates promote animal welfare as the goal, it reinforces a hegemonic discursive environment where an animal rights discussion, such as seriously considering veganism, becomes unreasonable and ridiculous. It seems reductionist to characterize animal rights merely as excessive sentimentalism, when there are morally rational arguments made on its behalf which Pollan citeswhere philosophers such as Singer and Regan align it with an anti-discrimination position such as feminism and civil rights, causes which one would likely not reduce to mere sentimentalism. Pollan thinks that you cannot take true pleasure in eating until you not only visually acknowledge your meat production but participate in a more humane and sustainable form of obtaining it. In the end he thinks that the main right Americans should have is to see what is going on and make up our own minds about its ethicality in hopes that we will begin to value food according to social responsibility standards, not just price. But advocates of animal rights will be left wishing his conclusion was not just the right for human consumers to look, and hopefully to make more informed choices, but the rights of other animals not to be used as mere food objects in the first place. The utilitarian focus on suffering sets up Pollan and the reader for the inevitable conclusion that it is ethical to eat nonhuman animals presumably even if one does not need to as long as their suffering is mitigated and they are given a happy life either via a pastoral farm or freedom in the wild. Additionally, Pollan argues the need to have animals on the farm for natural soil fertilization, which is a legitimate ecological issue, but does not offer other solutions of compost or human animal manure. Pollan is sincerely concerned about animal welfare and embraces the utilitarian position that it is better to lead a happy life for a short time than never to have existed, so he criticizes the animal rights position as leading to farmed animal extinction. Philosophers often have a field day with issues such as these, which might lead to a conclusion that all animal species, human included, have a moral obligation to breed, so long as some happiness will result. Animal rights arguments do not oppose procreation, but they ask for nonhumans to be able to live freely and mate and breed on their own terms, not to have their lives managed via humans, no matter The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals benevolent. Pollan characterizes nonhuman domestication as prey to be natural evolution, symbiosis, rather than conceiving of it as an inversion of The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals where humans start to unnaturally control other species. For different reasons, Derrida also critiqued a similar humanist paradox of animal rights, noting that it used humanist notions of rights to argue for a post-humanist position of nonhuman rights. For those who want to explore animal welfare and ecological issues related to their food choices, this book is highly useful, but it does not serve as a reference for a fair perspective in support of veganism and animal rights. It addresses these moral issues in an accessible and fascinating, yet factual, scientific, and highly contextualized narrative that is especially good at connecting production and consumption The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals for showing us the true cost of our food choices — the toll that the standard American diet of the last half century is taking on other animals, public health, taxpayers, and the environment. References Cox, J. Environmental communication and the public sphere. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, Davis, Stephen L. Derrida, Jacques. For what tomorrow: A dialogue cultural memory in the present J. Fort, trans. Francione, Gary L. Philadelphia: Temple UP, Freeman, Carie Packwood. Struggling for ideological integrity in the social movement framing process: How U. Doctoral dissertation, University of Oregon, Hall, Lee. Capers in the churchyard: Animal rights activism in the age of terror. Jensen, Derrick. A language older than words. Kingsolver, Barbara. Animal, vegetable, miracle: A year of food life. New The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals Harper Collins, Mason, Jim. An unnatural order: Why we are destroying the animals and each The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York: Continuum, Matheny, Gaverick. McKibben, Bill. Deep economy: Economics as if the world mattered. Oxford: One World Publications. Regan, Tom, The case for animal rights. Willott Eds. New York: Oxford UP, Schlosser, Eric. Fast food nation: The dark side of the all-American meal. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Scully, Matthew. Dominion: The power of man, the suffering of animals, and the call The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals mercy. New York: St. Singer, Peter. Animal liberation 2nd ed. London: Random House, The ethics of what we eat: Why our food choices matter. Emmaus, PA: Rodale, Related Papers. Appetizing Anthropocentrism. By Carrie Packwood Freeman. Veganism Contra Speciesism: Beyond Debate. By Karen Morgan. By Karyn Pilgrim. By Mark Causey and Mark Causey. Download pdf. Remember me on this computer. Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link. Need an account? Click here to sign up. The Omnivore’s Dilemma « Michael Pollan

What should we have for dinner? The question has confronted us since man discovered fire, but according to Michael Pollan, the bestselling author of The Botany of Desirehow we answer it today, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, may well determine our very survival as a species. Should we eat a fast-food hamburger? Something organic? Or perhaps something we hunt, gather, The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals grow ourselves? To find out, Pollan follows each of the food chains that sustain us—industrial food, organic or alternative food, and food we forage ourselves—from the source to a final meal, and in the process develops a definitive account of the American way of eating. His absorbing narrative takes us from Iowa cornfields to food-science laboratories, from feedlots and fast-food restaurants to organic farms and hunting grounds, always emphasizing our dynamic coevolutionary relationship with the handful of plant and animal species we depend on. Each time Pollan sits down to a meal, he deploys his unique blend of personal and investigative journalism to trace the origins of everything consumed, revealing what we unwittingly ingest and explaining how our taste for particular foods and flavors reflects our evolutionary inheritance. The surprising answers Pollan offers to the simple question posed by this book have profound political, economic, psychological, and even moral implications for all of us. For anyone who reads it, dinner will never again look, or The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, quite the same. Reviews Audiobook. Newsletter Signup. Michael Pollan. Be careful of your dinner! Books similar to The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. What should we have for dinner? For omnivore's like ourselves, this simple question has always posed a dilemma: When you can eat just about anything nature or the supermarket has to offer, deciding what you should eat will inevitably stir anxiety, especially when some of the foods on offer might shorten your life. Today, buffeted by one food fad after another, America is What should we have for dinner? Today, buffeted by one food fad after another, America is suffering from what can only be described as a national eating disorder. The omnivore's dilemma has returned with a vengeance, as the cornucopia of the modern American supermarket and fast-food outlet confronts us with a bewildering and treacherous food landscape. What's at stake in our eating choices is not only our own and our children's health, but the health of the environment that sustains life on earth. The Omnivore's Dilemma is a groundbreaking book in which one of America's most fascinating, original, and elegant writers turns his own omnivorous mind to the seemingly straightforward question of what we should have for dinner. The question has confronted us since man discovered fire, but, according to Michael Pollan, the bestselling author of The Botany of Desire, how we answer it today, ath the dawn of the twenty-first century, may well determine our very survival as a species. Should we eat a fast-food hamburger? To find out, Pollan follows each of the food chains that sustain The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals food, organic or alternative food, and food we forage ourselves--from the source to a final meal, and in the process develops a definitive account of the American way of eating. His absorbing narrative takes us from Iowa cornfields to food laboratories, The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals feedlots and fast-food restaurants to organic farms and hunting grounds, always emphasizing our dynamic coevolutionary relationship with the handful of plant and animal species we depend on. Each time Pollan The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals down to a meal, he deploys his unique blend of personal and investigative journalism to trace the origins of everything consumed, revealing what we unwittingly ingest and explaining how our taste for particular foods and flavors reflects our evolutionary inheritance. The surprising answers Pollan offers to the simple question posed by this book have profound political, economic, psychological, and even mortal implications for all of us. Ultimately, this is a book as much about visionary solutions as it is about problems, and Pollan contends that, when it comes to food, doing the right thing often turns out to be the tastiest thing an eater can do. Beautifully written and thrillingly argued, The Omnivore's Dilemma promises to change the way we think about the politics and pleasure of eating. For anyone who reads it, dinner will never again look, or taste, quite the same. Get A Copy. More Details Original Title. Other Editions Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The Omnivore's Dilemmaplease sign up. Is this a book my 11 year old needs to be reading?? Despite this combination of temperament and nonfiction horror stories, I had nightmares only about the SyFy original movies I watched with my father and various stressful social situations. I think most kids can handle this. If you worry what your kid is reading, read it too, and talk about it with them. My dad liked science and history so I bounced a lot of what I read off of him. Don't make it a problem until it becomes a problem. If they read this and spout food facts for a few months, or even become a vegetarian - as one person here worried - fine and dandy. If they read this and start breaking down in tears whenever they see farm animals, then address it and monitor reading more closely. Is this a good Book Club choice? Sarah-beth It is good in that it promoted a lot of discussion. However the first part is pretty hard to get through and around half of the people in our book clu …more It is good in that it promoted a lot of discussion. However the first part is pretty hard to get through and around half of the people in our book club didn't finish it. See all 3 The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals about The Omnivore's Dilemma…. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Feb 03, Anita rated it it The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals amazing Recommends it for: people who care about their health, animals, farmers, the environment, and humanity. Michael Pollan is a journalist, and an omnivore, curious about where the food he puts in his mouth comes from. In the book he follows four meals from the very beginning of the food chain to his plate. What he finds is that the food we put in our mouths turns out to be a big decision- The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals moral, political, and environmental one. Part one of this book is shocking. I knew corn was the main crop grown in America and that farmers growing it are in big troub Michael Pollan is a journalist, and an omnivore, curious about where the food he puts in his mouth comes from. I knew corn was the main crop grown in America and that farmers growing it are in big trouble, requiring government subsidies just to stay afloat, but Michael Pollan unravels how it got to that point. After leaving the farm, most of the corn finds its way to the Confined Animal Feeding Operation CAFO where it is fed to cows, The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, chicken, turkey, and now even fish. This is problematic due to the fact that cows aren't built to eat corn. They eat grass. This unnatural diet leads to various health problems for the cow that must be countered with a cocktail of antibiotics and hormones, creating more health problems for us. He follows the corn from the field to the supermarket, where it now infiltrates virtually every processed food on the shelf. I had no idea that corn is broken down and recombined into hundreds of different forms, most notably oils, high fructose corn syrup, and xantham gum never knew what the hell that was. Just take a look at the food label of any processed food and your probably eating some scientific form of that kernel of corn. He followed the corn The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals the way to his meal at McDonald's. Between Pollan, his wife, and his son they packed in 4, calories for lunch. And we thought we were eating such a varied diet. As Pollan points out, we are simply industrialized eaters surviving on corn. Everyone thinks they're making a wonderful decision to eat organic and in one sense they are, saving the soil from all of the synthetic fertilizers and pesticides although some crazy stuff is still allowed under US organic laws. There are the obvious health benefits of not ingesting those things. The dark side is that the bag of Earthbound Farms baby lettuce mix you just bought traveled 3, miles in refrigerated trucks using untold amounts of energy. Organic started out as a local movement, but as demands increased, it was forced to industrialize. Supermarkets don't want to deal with several smaller local organic farmers. They want one large buyer to stock all their produce needs. Big Organic is now a million dollar business. The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals Rosie, the organic free range chicken: The lesson taken away from Rosie is beware of food labels that state things like "free range" or "cage-free. Michael Pollan tracked down Rosie and it turns out that she isn't out wandering in a field of grass. She's in a long indoor structure confined with twenty thousand birds for the first five weeks of her life. When they open the doors at either end after the first five weeks, the birds habits have been set in place, they feel no need to take a chance out in the unknown which turns out to be a small fenced in patch of grass that could never support all of the birds inside. As Pollan puts it "free range turns out to be not so much a lifestyle for these chickens as a two-week vacation option. It is the true definition of symbiosis, where each species depends on the others and all depend on the grass. Salatin manages all of this using rotational grazing techniques. The cows come through first, then the chickens. The animals are moved on a daily basis to prevent overgrazing and to allow the proper spreading of the animals' droppings which in turn nourish the soil and grasses. He slaughters the chickens on site, in the open air where any of his costumers can watch and see where their food really comes from. Compare this to the CAFOs where the killing stations are off limits to all observers. What's going on behind those walls? Polyface cows and pigs have to be sent off-site due to USDA regulations. People drive from all over to buy his "clean food" and restaurants in Charlottesville proudly read "Polyface Farm chickens" on their menus. They give a variety of reasons when asked why they come all the way to buy Salatin's food: "I just don't trust the meat in the supermarket anymore. The difference is night and day- the color, the richness, the fat content. The consumers can look the farmer in the eyes and see that the food is produced "with care and without chemicals. Part 3- The Forest His final meal is from ingredients derived from Pollan's owe efforts through hunting and gathering. He realizes this is an unrealistic option in terms of our daily eating, but he wants to undergo this experiment to bring him closer to the food he eats. After hunting wild boar, gathering mushrooms from the forest, collecting cherries from a tree in the neighborhood, he discovers what is for him, "the perfect meal.