Omnivores Dilemma Part I Industrial Corn

Omnivore's Dilemma: Part I: Industrial/Corn

"the Omnivore's Dilemma" - review

Michael Pollan's book "The Omnivore's Dilemma" is not necessarily meant to put across breakthrough information or to trigger intense feelings in individuals reading it. Instead, it is actually intended to provide important information so as for readers to be able to gain a more complex understanding regarding what foods would be healthy for them to eat and how they can develop the ability to differentiate between a series of foods on their own in an attempt to find the best solutions possible. In addition to this, Pollan explains why particular institutions that are involved in food production take on certain attitudes with regard to their product and their customers. In Part I, of Chapters 1,2, and 3 of The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan shows how corn is made, and the sources behind its production, with monetary gains being the driving force behind every decision.

It appears that much of Pollan's book is not necessarily dedicated at providing people with information about what they should eat. Instead, it is directed at trying to have people realize that the modern society is especially dependent on product like corn and oil and that it would be difficult and almost impossible for it to work as it presently does without these products. Furthermore, Pollan emphasizes that corn is directly connected to oil, as a typical steer apparently "will have consumed in his lifetime the equivalent of thirty-five gallons of oil -- nearly a barrel" (Pollan). This provides readers with the fact that it is important for them to avoid particular products in spite of the fact that they are generally promoted as being healthy.

Pollan wants people to understand that the food industry is concentrated on increasing profits for particular corporations while providing the general public with a series of products that are apparently healthy. The writer proceeds with emphasizing how companies use words like 'organic' with the purpose of gathering as many supporters as they possibly can. "It seems that even organic food has succumbed to the economic logic of processing" (Pollan). However, from his perspective, it would seem that these strategies indirectly affect the social order. People are presently confused with regard to what foods they need to chose in favor of others, taking into account that nutritionists often devise conflicting accounts regarding what foods are the best.

Some of the food industry's greatest players want to keep corn cheap and as a result have devised a series of strategies meant to produce it in large quantities. Pollan explains that influential bodies from around the world use corn for several reasons and this reflects negatively on society without people actually being able to realize the situation they are in. "The dream of liberating food from nature, which began as a dream of the eaters (to make it less perishable), is now primarily a dream of the feeders -- of the corporations that sell us our food" (Pollan).

Corn can be turned into fuel, it can be feed to cows (in spite of the fact that they are not biologically design to digest it), and it can be used in numerous food products with the purpose of improving some particular aspects. "This one plant supplied settlers with a ready-to-eat vegetable and a storable grain, a source of fiber and animal feed, a heating fuel and an intoxicant" (Pollan). "The Omnivore's Dillema" practically provides readers with the reality concerning how corn is and will most likely continue to be one of the most important plants.