The Omnivore's Dilemma (edit title)

Shelfari edited the description of The Omnivore's Dilemma 4 weeks ago.

• The bestselling author of The Botany of Desire explores the ecology of eating to unveil why we consume what we consume in the twenty-first century "What should we have for dinner?" To one degree or another this simple question assails any creature faced with a wide choice of things to eat. Anthropologists call it the omnivore's dilemma. Choosing from among the countless potential foods nature offers, humans have had to learn what is safe, and what isn't-which mushrooms should be avoided, for example, and which berries we can enjoy. Today, as America confronts what can only be described as a national eating disorder, the omnivore's dilemma has returned with an atavistic vengeance. The cornucopia of the modern American supermarket and fast-food outlet has thrown us back on a bewildering landscape where we once again have to worry about which of those tasty-looking morsels might kill us. At the same time we're realizing that our food choices also have profound implications for the health of our environment. The Omnivore's Dilemma is bestselling author Michael Pollan's brilliant and eye-opening exploration of these little-known but vitally important dimensions of eating in America. Pollan has divided The Omnivore's Dilemma into three parts, one for each of the food chains that sustain us: industrialized food, alternative or "organic" food, and food people obtain by dint of their own hunting, gathering, or gardening. Pollan follows each food chain literally from the ground up to the table, emphasizing our dynamic coevolutionary relationship with the species we depend on. He concludes each section by sitting down to a meal--at McDonald's, at home with his family sharing a dinner from Whole Foods, and in a revolutionary "beyond organic" farm in Virginia. For each meal he traces the provenance of everything consumed, revealing the hidden components we unwittingly ingest and explaining how our taste for particular foods reflects our environmental and biological inheritance. We are indeed what we eat-and what we eat remakes the world. A society of voracious and increasingly confused omnivores, we are just beginning to recognize the profound consequences of the simplest everyday food choices, both for ourselves and for the natural world. The Omnivore's Dilemma is a long-overdue book and one that will become known for bringing a completely fresh perspective to a question as ordinary and yet momentous as What shall we have for dinner?

Timothy Gray approved Ulrich’s request to change the contributors of The Omnivore's Dilemma Saturday, November 14 2009.

• Edited a contributor: Michael Pollan: (Primary NoneAuthor)

Ulrich edited the contributors of The Omnivore's Dilemma Saturday, November 14 2009.

• Edited a contributor: Michael Pollan: (Primary NoneAuthor)

Timothy Gray approved Amanda’s request to change the contributors of The Omnivore's Dilemma Tuesday, October 6 2009.

• Removed a contributor: Michael Pollan: (Primary None)
• Removed a contributor: Michael Pollan: (Primary Author)

Amanda edited the table of contents of The Omnivore's Dilemma Monday, October 5 2009.

• Introduction: Our National Eating Disorder
  I Industrial Corn
  Chapter 1 - The Plant: Corn's Conquest
  Chapter 2 - The Farm
  Chapter 3 - The Elevator
  Chapter 4 - The Feedlot: Making Meat
  Chapter 5 - The Processing Plant: Making Complex Foods
  Chapter 6 - The Consumer: A Republic of Fat
  Chapter 7 - The Meal: Fast Food
  II Pastoral Grass
  Chapter 8 - All Flesh is Grass
  Chapter 9 - Big Organic
  Chapter 10 - Grass: Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Pasture
  Chapter 11 - The Animals: Practicing Complexity
  Chapter 12 - Slaughter: In a Glass Abattoir
  Chapter 13 - The Market: "Greetings from the Non-Barcode People"
  Chapter 14 - The Meal: Grass-Fed
  III Personal The Forest
  Chapter 15 - The Forager
  Chapter 16 - The Omnivore's DilemnaDilemma
  Chapter 17 - The Ethics of Eating Animals
  Chapter 18 - Hunting: The Meat
  Chapter 19 - Gathering: The Fungi
  Chapter 20 - The Perfect Meal

  Acknowledgments
  Sources
  Index

Amanda edited the errata of The Omnivore's Dilemma Monday, October 5 2009.

• "Forego" for "forgo" (page 311: "...we could choose to forego meat for moral reasons...").

  "Forbear" for "forebear" (page 339: "...their domestic forbears...").

  "Prosciutto" spelled with transposed vowels ("proscuitto") in at least two references (page 345 and page 353).

  Blanche""Blanche" (a woman's name) for "blanch" (a cooking technique) and "kneed" (assaulted with a knee, past tense) for "knead" (manipulate bread dough, present tense), both on page 402.

Amanda edited the errata of The Omnivore's Dilemma Monday, October 5 2009.

• "Forego" for "forgo" (page 311: "...we could choose to forego meat for moral reasons...").

  "Forbear" for "forebear" (page 339: "...their domestic forbears...").

  "Prosciutto" spelled with transposed vowels ("proscuitto") in at least two references (page 345 and page 353).

  Blanche" (a woman's name) for "blanch" (a cooking technique) and "kneed" (assaulted with a knee, past tense) for "knead" (manipulate bread dough, present tense), both on page 402.

Amanda edited the table of contents of The Omnivore's Dilemma Monday, October 5 2009.

• Introduction: Our National Eating Disorder
  I Industrial Corn
  Chapter 1 - The Plant: Corn's Conquest
  Chapter 2 - The Farm
  Chapter 3 - The Elevator
  Chapter 4 - The Feedlot: Making Meat
  Chapter 5 - The Processing Plant: Making Complex Foods
  Chapter 6 - The Consumer: A Republic of Fat
  Chapter 7 - The Meal: Fast Food
  II Pastoral Grass
  Chapter 8 - All Flesh is Grass
  Chapter 9 - Big Organic
  Chapter 10 - Grass: Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Pasture
  Chapter 11 - The Animals: Practicing Complexity
  Chapter 12 - Slaughter: In a Glass Abattoir
  Chapter 13 - The Market: "Greetings from the Non-Barcode People"
  Chapter 14 - The Meal: Grass-Fed
  III Personal The Forest
  Chapter 15 - The Forager
  Chapter 16 - The Omnivore's DilmenaDilemna
  Chapter 17 - The Ethics of Eating Animals
  Chapter 18 - Hunting: The Meat
  Chapter 19 - Gathering: The Fungi
  Chapter 20 - The Perfect Meal

  Acknowledgments
  Sources
  Index

Amanda edited the table of contents of The Omnivore's Dilemma Monday, October 5 2009.

• Introduction: Our National Eating Disorder
  I Industrial Corn
  Chapter 1 - The Plant: Corn's Conquest
  Chapter 2 - The Farm
  Chapter 3 - The Elevator
  Chapter 4 - The Feedlot: Making Meat
  Chapter 5 - The Processing Plant: Making Complex Foods
  Chapter 6 - The Consumer: A Republic of Fat
  Chapter 7 - The Meal: Fast Food
  II Pastoral Grass
  Chapter 8 - All Flesh is Grass
  Chapter 9 - Big Organic
  Chapter 10 - Grass: Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Pasture
  Chapter 11 - The Animals: Practicing Complexity
  Chapter 12 - Slaughter: In a Glass Abattoir
  Chapter 13 - The Market: "Greetings from the Non-Barcode People"
  Chapter 14 - The Meal: Grass-Fed
  III Personal The Forest
  Chapter 15 - The Forager
  Chapter 16 - The Omnivore's Dilmena
  Chapter 17 - The Ethics of Eating Animals

Amanda edited the table of contents of The Omnivore's Dilemma Monday, October 5 2009.

• Introduction: Our National Eating Disorder
  I Industrial Corn
  Chapter 1 - The Plant: Corn's Conquest
  Chapter 2 - The Farm
  Chapter 3 - The Elevator
  Chapter 4 - The Feedlot: Making Meat
  Chapter 5 - The Processing Plant: Making Complex Foods
  Chapter 6 - The Consumer: A Republic of Fat
  Chapter 7 - The Meal: Fast Food