"The omnivore's dilemma: a natural history of four meals", Michael Pollan (2006)

Résumé du document

Michael Pollan's “The omnivore's dilemma” has been very much covered by the media and announced as “one of the ten best books of the year by both the New York Times and the Washington Post” in 2006. Throughout his book, Pollan clearly shows us that what we eat is mostly processed, industrialized food which, traced backwards, originates in corn, which relation with fossil fuel is very intricate.

Also, he shows us that the exponential rise of organic food industry is not that much of a good news, because the chicken or the cow that is said to be very well treated is in fact over-exploited and has a very short lifespan. Finally, the author gets into preparing his own meal and, after much labor and time spending – and not much taste, he realizes that it is practically impossible to live the life of a hunter-gatherer nowadays.

In this paper I will try to show that this book is not really complete in its attempt to find a healthy way of eating that suits average people.

Extraits

[...] Meat is not good for health, but we have inherited it, therefore we legitimately keep on eating it.4 By expressing this idea of unconditional love for meat, Michael Pollan does not encourage open mindedness and flexibility of thought and imagination, which could lead to great discoveries such as the ones of superfoods. David Wolfe is a leader in the field of raw vegan nutrition. He is author of the best-selling books, Eating for Beauty (4th Edition), The Sunfood Diet Success System (8th Edition), Naked Chocolate (2nd Edition), David Wolfe on Raw Foods, Superfoods, and Superherbs (www.21daystohealth.com), Amazing Grace (3rd Edition), Superfoods: The Food and Medicine of the Future (North Atlantic Books/distributed by Random House, 2009), and The LongevityNOW Program (www.longevitynowprogram.com)5. [...]

[...] I do understand that getting to the point of cooking a completely natural and hand-made meal was a necessary step for the author and the reader in order to embrace the complexity of what we eat today, but I do not believe that it actually influences the reader in the best of ways. After reading Omnivore's dilemma”, do I want to do the same experience? Well, yes, why not, just for the sake of it. But not merely because it will bring me any sort of ethical added value. Will I behave better, a couple of weeks after having eaten a meal I had hunted and gathered? [...]

[...] omnivore's dilemma: a natural history of four meals”, Michael Pollan (2006) Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma” has been very much covered by the media and announced as of the ten best books of the year by both the New York Times and the Washington Post”1 in 2006. Throughout his book, Pollan clearly shows us that what we eat is mostly processed, industrialized food which, traced backwards, originates in corn, which relation with fossil fuel is very intricate. Also, he shows us that the exponential rise of organic food industry is not that much of good news, because the chicken or the cow that is said to be very well treated is in fact over-exploited and has a very short lifespan. [...]

[...] In fact, I would rather think of what category of food should I have for diner, in the sense of what is better for my health? First, it is true that eating something natural is certainly going to be healthier than eating some industrialized food out of a can; and even in the natural food, there must be differences, things to eat, others to avoid. Second, and more importantly, I would wonder how would my dinner meal impact my environment? Here, I am talking mostly about the natural environment, but also the society that surrounds me, and finally, my own mind. [...]

[...] In that second part, I also show some disagreement with the author in some of his statements and assumptions. Unfortunately, life has been exponentially speeding up, and most of us enter in a sort of routine that somehow reduces our responsibility towards what we are eating. Therefore we find ourselves eating a fast-food sandwich, or a frozen Tajine we put 10 minutes in the microwave, just because it is quicker than leaving the workplace, go to the kitchen, and cook, after having spent many hours at the marché. [...]