The book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan is a book that breaks down where different foods really come from, what they are made of, and the people who spend their lives producing these products. I found myself putting this assignment off all week since it did not sound like a book that would interest me. The assignment was to review one of the three sections of the book and I chose part one: Industrial/Corn, where it is explained that corn is the main crop grown in America.Despite this, the book goes on to explain that farmers are in serious trouble.
I anticipated a long, boring reading session where I would struggle to find the words to review this section because I was falling asleep through most of it. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the section was very informative and grabs the reader’s attention with interesting facts and shocking revelations that we do not normally think about when we go to the grocery store. Chapter one is titled The Plant: Corn’s Conquest.It begins with an introduction that leads us to the place we all visit frequently, the supermarket. The author points out just how much corn is used in the various products to be found there and how vital it is to the food chain Pollan explains, “There are some forty-five thousand items in the average American supermarket and more than a quarter of them now contain corn. ” The chapter goes on to explain how efficient of a plant corn is, how it came to our land, and how it grows and adapts.
Chapter one is very educational but can be a bit tedious at times with all the facts. If the reader manages to make it to chapter two though, it gets better. Chapter two discusses where all corn is born and comes from, the farm. Mr. Pollan introduces us to George Naylor, a corn farmer who carries on his family’s tradition of growing corn on their farm in Iowa. The author shares his conversation with George as he tells the story of how the Naylor farm came to existence, the amount of people he is capable of feeding, and why farmers are facing a critical dilemma.
Pollan even gets some hands-on experience, planting the corn with George, furthering his understanding of corn as a plant and preparing him for what lies ahead in the next chapter. Have you ever wondered what happens to all those millions of bushels of corn once they reach the elevator? Growing up in the Midwest I have often seen huge piles of corn and soybeans just sitting on the ground outside of an elevator, which the author sees first hand in chapter three.Pollan expresses his amazement as he sees “the golden kernels everywhere, ground into the mud by tires and boots, floating in the puddles of rainwater, pancaked on the steel rails. ” Despite my Midwest upbringing it was shocking for me to learn that about three of every five kernels of corn end up back at the farm.
This chapter also shows this scenario from a naturalist’s point of view, pointing out advantages such as using the leftover corn for a renewable energy source like ethanol, as well as disadvantages like the contribution to both hunger and obesity.The elevator closes with involving the reader in questions regarding the corn’s future and fate. Despite my reservations I found the first part of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” to be very informative and grabbed my attention a lot better than I anticipated. Everyone should take a moment to check out this book so they can better understand the origins of our food and the people who make their livelihood producing it. If we truly want to give ourselves and our loved ones the best then we need to understand exactly what we are giving them.
