In Omnivores Dilemma by Michael Pollan, looks at human’s question that often lacks an answer; what will I eat? With the variety of food choices and the unselective habit of humans, they end in dilemma looking for what to eat. Pollen gives details of how this dilemma never existed before modernization in the food industry since culture influenced the choice of food. The author expands on the issue of food and more about what we eat in the contemporary world and how it shapes us. The author in this article expounds on how eating is more than just putting food in the mouth, that it extends to the ecological, political and agricultural activities.
In his book, Pollan talks about how corn is the root of all food problems since it is every household’s meal. The author narrates on how organic food is no longer in its original quality with the diminishing of its standards and on how locally purchased foods provides the consumer with quality products, readily available. The author majors on how industrialization changes the food we eat, how we eat and the choices we make when it comes to food. This paper seeks to expound on how the food sector shifts from natural foods to processed one and how what we eat shapes us into who we are.
Pollan takes the reader through the food process from the point of it being just a mere seed up to it being put on the table for eating. In tracing the series of the food chain, he begins with food origin, which is the starting point of every food, be it a plant or an animal. The author states that nature is the origin of every meal; nature allows the growth of plants or animals consumed as food; the plants that grow come from nature and surrounding. However, Pollan states that if the environment is affected, then the destruction follows the path to the source of food. He says that human intervention is the root cause of loss of nature. He also touches on the food processing aspect of food production detailing that today, modernization in the farming process goes against the dictates and needs of nature in the food production process (Pollan, 85).
Another element that Michael Pollan looks at is the processing of food. He touches on the additives and preservatives added to food, which in essence lack a nutritional value to the body and end up introducing eating disorders to the body and cannot be stored by people in their homes. Industrialization brings about the production of highly processed foods unfit for human consumption. The reason behind processed food is pressure from the need to cater to the growing population and high economic standards triggering food industries into altering the conditions of natural foods so that they may last longer. However, he adds, that processing food leads to the production of fast and complex foods readily available all over the place.
Pollan uses various labeling terms used in the food industries such as cage-free, green, sustainable and organic. A label is an informative tag attached to a product’s packaging. These labels have various meanings assigned to them. They provide details on the quality, quantity, price, and features of a product. Other labels provide information on the grade level of the item. For instance, cage-free is a labeling term used on eggs and chicken. The word means that the laying of eggs did not happen in a caged housing but rather a large open structure. The same case applies to chicken used for meat, to mean that the taming of such animals happens in a free housing structure.
Other products have a label of ‘green’ to suggest that the product has high nutritional value providing health benefits to the user. Sustainable is another term used in labeling foods and food products. The word means that the product poses no threat to a sustainable environment (Hawkes, 43). It suggests that the usage of such a product contributes to a better and sustainable environment. Another term used for labeling is organic. The word means that the food chain that the product goes through avoids the use of artificial additives or synthetic elements be it in the planting, production or processing. The organic label is used in products such as meat, eggs, dairy products, and even poultry. However, with the trend in the food industries and rise in counterfeit products, such labels no longer match the quality and grade of products packed.
There is a common term that, ‘we are what we eat.’ What we eat determines the growth process of our bodies. The nutritional values of any food directly interact with our body organs and affect the structure and composition of that body. According to Pollan, some of us choose lack knowledge on the kind of foods we eat. With industrialization, we no longer have the luxury of enjoying fresh locally made foods directly from the far. Additionally, the type of food we may think is fresh from the farm, undergoes some alterations to keep it clean for some time on the shelves. Government policies, high demand for food, perishability of farm produce drives food producers into introducing artificial elements into the food products.
With the variety and diversity of foods available, it is easier for one to have an intake of the wrong and unhealthy foods hence ruining the body’s healthy growth and even introducing lifestyle diseases. If one depends on processed food, the body becomes used to such products. Despite them being of low nutritional value, it becomes hard for the system to adjust to fresh farm produce. By lacking a constant food culture, leaves humanity vulnerable to manipulation and exploitation by stakeholders in the food industry (Singer et al. 2007). However, those who solely depend on foods they either personally grow or can see them being plucked from the garden, they have the assurance of eating healthy foods. When one chooses to eat food from the farm, which is locally produced, then they have a chance of gaining a healthy body and powerfully built. Therefore, the eating process is a direct engagement with nature. Every human has to ensure that what we eat, maintains the existence of nature, lest soon we lack food products from the farms.
Works Cited
Hawkes, Corinna. "Government and voluntary policies on nutrition labeling: a global overview." Innovations in food labeling. 2010. 37-58.
Singer, Peter, and Jim Mason. The ethics of what we eat: Why our food choices matter. Rodale Books, 2007.
Pollan, Michael. The omnivore's dilemma: A natural history of four meals. Penguin, 2006.
