Comments on: Book Review: The Omnivore’s Dilemma

By: Erich Vieth

Erich Vieth — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 06:06:08 +0000

From everything I’ve read, I would have to agree with your assessment that we are in for a radical restructuring of the food system. The main change will have to do with the skyrocketing price of energy (don’t let the recent dip in the price of oil fool you). Our current system invites our consumption of foods that are grown far from our kitchens. In fact, consider this information from Sustainable Table:

“Food miles” refer to the distance a food item travels from the farm to your home. The food miles for items you buy in the grocery store tend to be 27 times higher than the food miles for goods bought from local sources.

In the U.S., the average grocery store’s produce travels nearly 1,500 miles between the farm where it was grown and your refrigerator.ii About 40% of our fruit is produced overseas and, even though broccoli is likely grown within 20 miles of the average American’s house, the broccoli we buy at the supermarket travels an average 1,800 miles to get there. Notably, 9% of our red meat comes from foreign countries, including locations as far away as Australia and New Zealand.

I am also concerned about the widespread use of corn fructose, which is poisoning both people and animals.

It sounds like Pollan’s book is the right book with the right tone at the right time. We aren’t going to like having to make changes to our lifestyle that will require more thought and more money, but it doesn’t appear that there will be any alternative.

BTW, a friend of mine who resides in Pittsburgh grows most of his vegetables that he and his wife use for much of the year in two 10 x 10′ raised gardens on an unused part of his driveway apron. It’s great tasting and fresh, as well as guaranteed organic and cheap. Further, he indicates that growing this food is not really much work.

By: Greta Christina

Greta Christina — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 20:03:52 +0000

Good review. And yes, this is a fascinating, life- changing book. If you like it, you might also like his latest, “In Defense of Food,” in which he provides some guidelines for how, given the modern food production described in “Omnivore’s Dilemma,” we might eat. (You might also enjoy “The Botany of Desire,” his earlier book on the complicated, interwoven connections between people and cultivated plants.)

Can you tell that I’m a Pollan fan?

By: TJ

TJ — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 17:00:13 +0000

Sounds like an interesting book. Pollan’s other books that I’ve read have all been quite good. He has a great style and is a good storyteller.

One thing that always comes to mind when I hear people talk about organic food being superior to mass-produced, genetically engineered monoculture is that it doesn’t scale. Salatin’s comment about NYC is particularly harsh if you consider that the most likely scenario in which we move to “slow-food” no longer have big cities likely involves mass starvation.

We need to find some balance, using modern techniques of fertilization and, yes, genetic engineering, while maybe backing away from the monoculture, which leaves our food supply vulnerable (or in need of mass quantities and pesticides and antibiotics.