Book Review: The Omnivore’s Dilemma
I just finished Michael Pollan’s fine book on what he calls “the natural history of four meals.” It is immensely interesting reading. It traces four meals from field (or cafo) to plate. The meals are radically different: one industrial meal (McDonald’s fast food eaten in a car), one “organic” meal from Whole Foods, one meal from a brilliant local farmer in Virginia, and one meal consisting of what the author hunted or foraged for himself. The book is a mix of Upton Sinclair and Wendell Berry. If you have not read it, you should.
It’s condemnation of the industrial food chain is devastating. This critique was most telling for me not in the filth and horror of the industrial foods, but in the governmental complicity and hubris that has denuded American agriculture—and maybe just America in general—of local knowledge. It uses subsidy to get cheap food to the table. The cost, however, of these meals are manifold. They make farmers (Jefferson’s backbone of American democracy) into debt-ridden, government subsidized, dependent, agri-businessmen. These farmers have thrown off the virtues that made them Jefferson’s hope and a model of American life—virtues like fierce independence, thrift, diligence, and humility. One has to wonder if American democracy can survive this transformation. If we do, however, it is an open question whether we can survive the food that this sort of farming produces. Pollan asks hard questions about whether industrial agriculture is bringing harm to our bodies and to our environment—harm that might make cheap food way too expensive over the long run.
His critique of organic farming is even more devastating—and more enjoyable for me having always wondered if hippies have sold out and really become “the man”. Hint, hint…they did.
His struggles (he works on the farm and forages and hunts to help produce the last two meals) are telling. He spends time a Polyface Farms near Charlottesville, Virginia. Joel Salatin could be called the obvious hero of this book. His commitment to sustainable farming that produces excellent food (when I say excellent in relation to food I am generally referring to taste—health should be considered too, but I usually mean taste). The Polyface story is inspiring. Finally, his stories of shooting wild pigs and foraging for sacred mushrooms are just all around enjoyable. I will go mushroom hunting in the spring because of this book.
One other interesting note, Pollan is not a religious fellow. He talks often about evolution. Listen, however, to the verbs that he connects to the word. I lost count of the times that he said:
“Evolution strategized…” or
“Evolution overcame…” or
“Evolution determined…” etc., etc., etc.,
I can assure you that evolution did none of these things. Confronted with the wonder of the natural world and our relationship to it Pollan substitutes the word “evolution” for the word “God.” Interestingly, however, he is left at the end of the book searching for a way back to the divine. I felt his groping for God palpably at some points during the book.
Finally, one sees in Pollan hope for a more sane and tastier future. The surface hero in this story is Joel Salatin, but he is chosen for this role because both he and Pollan are be moved by a barely visible hand. Wendell Berry is moving both of them. The sources are of course myriad in addition to Berry—Wes Jackson, Sir Albert Howard, etc.,. The most winsome advocate in the modern world is Berry whose invisible hand guides Pollan. Berry (and Salatin) as believers can speak of wonder without failing to bless God for it. Here’s to hoping that people will drink deeply from this well and begin to rebuild an American agriculture which might be the key first step to rebuilding an American culture.
