1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
“Green acres is the place to be, after all. A pasture seems very sexy all of a sudden. Magnificent and meticulously researched, including tons of "field research," this groundbreaking work takes you from field to feedlot to drive-thru to hunting ground, showing you where food comes from and outlining the pros and cons of various ways of putting food on the table. Reading it, I became nostalgic for the raw milk and farm eggs of my youth.
Pollan explains what ought to be very dull concepts (Why do we have e. coli outbreaks? Why does every boxed food in the U. S. contain high-fructose corn syrup?) but writes so accessibly that he keeps the reader continually intrigued.
Pollan also shows how "Organic" has been coopted by the giant food conglomerates and watered down by federal laws until Certified Organic groceries are virtually indistinguishable from other groceries (except for the price tag) and just as inconscionably dependent on artificial additives and fossil-fuel transport.
Pollan's great achievement in The Omnivore's Dilemma is that the book is purely about the relative merits of far-flung industrial techno-food and whole local food vis-a-vis health, culture, and the environment, rather than about what political side anybody happens to be on. If a liberal journalist from the city and a homeschooling Christian libertarian down on the farm can come to a perfect meeting of the minds on community-based food economies, then the world suddenly looks like a more hopeful, and palatable, place.”