Do you ever wonder how our food starts as sunlight and ends up on our plates? Michael Pollan takes the reader on a journey to show just that. The path energy travels from the sun to our plates may be more complex than you think for it is not a straight line, but a bird’s nest. Human intervention creates a disorder within nature entangling the problem even more. In The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Michael Pollan uses a variety of sentence structures ranging from fast and aggressive calling out the system with a tone that shows his emotions towards the situation, to a slower more conversational approach that shows he really is just trying to help us. He uses engaging language that constantly makes the reader ask themselves questions driving them to find …show more content…
He takes the reader through the process of turning sunlight into food. He starts at a farm in Iowa that grows predominantly corn. This corn is sent to labs to be made into “edible foodlike substances” (Michael Pollan, 2008) and then to food companies to be made into products we buy in the store. He then writes about how farmers have grown a mountain of golden kernels that we now have to use up. There is a lot of it so it is cheap and that means cheap feed for the animals it is! Pollan shows all the side effects of this human intervention vs. nature and how unsustainable the current system really is.
In the beginning, Pollan uses a style of writing that makes the reader feel uncomfortable and leaves them with questions that they want to know so they keep reading to find them. Pollan (2006) states the following:
The Industrial eater is, in fact, one who does not know that eating is an agricultural act, who no longer knows or imagines the connections between eating and the land, and who is therefore necessarily passive and uncritical– in short, a victim. When food, in the mind of eaters, is no longer associated with farming and with the land, then the eaters are suffering a kind of cultural amnesia that is misleading and dangerous. (p.
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He shows this in the following.
The corn is not yet knee-high, but it’s growing fast now, putting on six inches a day in this hot weather. The stalks are already sturdy, though, and the leaves broad and green, forming a dense canopy that shades the ground beneath. The air inside the cornfield is still and humid, and the only sounds are the rustling of the leaves and the occasional chirp of a grasshopper. It’s a peaceful place, but also a little eerie, as if the corn were a vast army of clones, standing at attention waiting for orders. (p. 25)
This whole quote is a metaphor comparing corn to soldiers. The soldiers are the foundation of the military as corn is to the food industry. The soldiers have a variety of jobs to do in the military and Pollan hints at corn having many different jobs as they are “standing at attention waiting for orders.” This idea flows into the coming chapters begging the question, what are all the jobs corn has in the food industry? Also, he describes the cornfield as a calm place on the surface, but below it is eerie. On the surface, it may not seem like there are too many problems with our current system, but dive deeper into it and there are problems
Pollan, however, believes that animal welfare should be espoused by allowing animals to live free-range and follow their natural instincts. Pollan and Hurst are also concerned with protecting the environment, but disagree on what the best avenue of protection is. Pollan believes that the environment would be better protected if animals were put back on farms and raised organically (370). Hurst believes that industrial farming practitioners are sufficient in their efforts to protect the environment because they are conscious of the effects industrial farming has on the environment, and they take steps to reduce the harm it could have on the environment, such as monitoring nitrogen levels. The authors, despite their differing views on the best way to accomplish their beliefs, successfully convey their
Thread 1: In The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Pollan describes what the omnivore’s dilemma actually is. He begins his book as a naturalist in a supermarket trying to decide “what to eat?”. This question is harder to answer without asking where the food originates. Knowing where food comes from is very difficult, unless it is locally grown or clearly states it on the package. Processed food is more complicated to understand where it comes from.
The first section of the book which was an eye opener for people is investigating the industrial cause of making everything out of "Corn"! When you walk in to the grocery store, when you walk through the aisle, everything whether you know it or not is corn. In the second part of the book Michael Pollan takes us to the small family farm called Polly face. No fertilizers and artificial pesticides used, everything in that farm works through the relationships that nature has designed. Pollan calls the Polly face farm "the farm of many faces" (p127).
In the article, “Deconstructing Dinner,” David Kamp discusses in detail Michael Pollan’s novel, The Omnivore’s Dilemma. In his discussion, Kamp breaks down the most notable aspects of Pollan’s novel, making sure that Pollan’s view that the American diet has led to dysfunctional eaters is clear. Kamp notes that throughout the novel, Pollan places an emphasis on the development of the final product, rather than the final product itself. I plan on utilizing this writing piece in backing up my claim that the American agricultural industry is changing from past traditional means.
Is eating meat a detrimental threat to the environment? This debate over meat’s involvement in the global warming crisis was what inspired Nicolette Hahn Niman to write, “The Carnivore’s Dilemma.” Niman hoped writing, “The Carnivore’s Dilemma,” would cause her audience to understand that eating meat, raised on traditional farms, was a superior alternative to vegetarianism. Niman supported her claim by explaining how industrialized farms and vegetarians produce more of the three greenhouse gases that caused global warming, than that produced by traditional farms. Niman’s article fell short of being effective due to flaws in her supporting evidence and conclusion.
Using the images of sparrows playing merrily in the skies over the battlefield one is led to believe that the characters are all in a position of safety. [31] The reality of the situation, however, is that in wartime a soldier is never truly safe. When the ration carrier brings forth the tea, brown stands up from his safe position in the trench in order to fetch the spoon for sugar and a sniper snaps the crew back into the realism of war. [32 to 33] even the way of the narrator describes Brown’s body following the shot is an illusion that war is somehow clean.
With all of these soul-shattering, life-changing conditions, it is less of a war and more of a test of strength for the soldiers, here at Valley Forge. Some men were going home and not returning. Other men just completely deserted. Even George Washington’s position was uncertain, the members of congress didn’t trust him. Life at Valley Forge was obviously horrible, and the ugly truth is that it wouldn’t get much better.
With the help of appealing strategies and literary devices, guidance is provided to us which gives a clearer comprehension of the book itself. Especially the logos strategy gives the readers a sign that Pollan tries the best to get involved with the dilemma for understanding it better than just the obvious. Setting his unique tone throughout the book, Pollan provides his critical attitudes towards the phenomenon that the industrial farms are taking advantage of the ignorance of people’s knowledge of what they are eating, making large profits regardless the health and safety of people. The purpose of informing people what they are eating and what goes behind the food is reached with his investigation and observation expressed throughout the book, bringing the awareness of knowing the truth to the
Pollan’s powerful essay ends with a paragraph that reads almost as a plea to farmers to consider changing their habits and reducing their dependence on these types of fertilizers which are so
Michael Pollan’s alternative to Factory farming has given a huge insight into a better ethics on food. In “The Animals: Practicing Complexity” Michael Pollan writes about a polyface farm and how it works. The goal of a polyface farm is to emotionally, economically, and environmentally enhance agriculture. Everything on a polyface farm has the potential to be helpful to something else on the farm. Pollan states “The chicken feed not only feeds the broilers but, transformed into chicken crap, feeds the grass that feeds the cows that, as I was about to see, feeds the pigs and the laying hens” (Pollan 345).
In the book, The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, Pollan claims we should be more knowledgeable about what we consume as omnivores. As omnivores we have a variety of food, we can choose from, however, we don’t regularly make the best decisions for ourselves. Pollan argues this by showing us where our food really comes from and how we can find many unwanted extras. Pollan shows us that we’ve evolved as humans from how we used to eat to how we eat now. Pollan argues this by introducing us to all the food chains we value today, some much more than others.
On a differing take on the solution, “Escape from the Western Diet” by Michael Pollan provides the complete change of our diet and way of life based around cooking and eating meals. however creates a more powerful and logical argument against the “Western Diet” in his article, He uses a combination of his credibility from his publications on health and foods, evidence against the practices of the medical community, along with his solution to the issue of obesity to create an article that draws in audience’s emotions and rationale. Pollan’s strongest points in his article was the use of credibility and his ability to bring logic and reason to most of his points against medical society and the publics solution to obesity. Pollan comes in with a stronger
Ambar Delacruz Essay 1: The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma addresses a variety of concerns about food production and consumption. One might ask what exactly is the omnivore’s dilemma? And the basic answer to this question is “what should we eat for dinner”?
Soldiers were not viewed as brave men risking their lives, and the war was seen as an unnecessary event. This type of mentality is seen in the novel with the perceptions of the soldiers. The narrator expresses the view of the time period when he states, “They were soldiers’ coats. Billy was the only one who had a coat from a dead civilian” (82). The meaning behind this is very crucial because it establishes a definite division between soldiers and civilians.
The metaphor, “The fox bumps and drags/ through the tall, thick grass” (“What Plant is Not Faded?” 516) helps to better the understanding of the theme. The comparison of the soldiers to a fox is dehumanization. When the author says “bumps and drags”, he/she means that the soldiers are like tired and slowed down foxes. The soldiers were physically and mentally drained. The men being compared to something nonhuman, allows the reader to use their imagination to comprehend what the soldiers had to endure.