You Are What You Eat

A happy sunny farm versus a dark and bloody slaughter room. This is where most naive young children think where their meat comes from versus the reality. The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan is a book with a purpose to educate people about their food system so they can make informed choices. The three writing techniques Michael Pollan uses to persuade his readers are ethos, pathos and logos. He uses the method ethos by making his readers think he is a reliable and credible source. He uses pathos by evoking an emotional response from the readers. Michael Pollan uses logos to appeal to logic and reason. The persuasive techniques ethos, pathos and logos used by Michael Pollan helped him to convince his readers to feel plus think a certain

When Michael Pollan's book The Omnivore's Dilemma was published, many readers began questioning him for advice on what they should eat in order to stay healthy. In his more recent book, In Defense of Food, he responds with three rules, "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants"(Pollan 1). This seven word response seems too simple for a relatively complicated question, but as he further elaborates these rules into specific guidelines, this summary turns out to be surprisingly complete. Using inductive and deductive reasoning, he debunks the ideas behind nutritionism and food science, and proves that the western diet is the cause for food related diseases. Inductive reasoning is when a

The answers Pollan offers to the seemingly straightforward question posed by this book have profound political, economic, psychological, and even moral implications for all of us. Beautifully written and thrillingly argued, The Omnivore’s Dilemma promises to change the

In addition to his solutions, Pollan’s modern narrative sheds light on the façade of our food industries; asking us to rethink what we know. Despite the mention of certain inhumane acts in All Animals are Equal, Pollan takes us one step further to uncover the reason for which we continue to purchase our corrupt food. We all know animal abuse exists, but the average consumer like myself is more worried about the best price and the fastest way to get a burger rather than how fairly the animals are treated in the process. Whether it be the confined living space of chickens or the mental and physical torture of pigs, we continue to blind ourselves from reality. Is it purely out of selfishness? Or are we too ignorant to come to terms with our wrong doings? Like Pollan explains, it takes seeing the abuse before the shame of our disrespect can be felt (pg.6). After seeing Pollan’s truth, I might now think twice before eating out and the choice to support organic produce can make a dramatic difference for those farmers who promote the ethical lifestyle.

Our nation’s industrial farming has become more than just feeding people; it has become a way for the food industry to make more money as human population continues to grow. Jonathan Safran Foer in his book Eating Animals, illustrates the effects factory farming has had on animals meant for human consumption. Furthermore, Foer asks many questions to the reader on what will it take for us to change our ways before we say enough is enough. The questions individuals need to be asking themselves are: how do we deal with the problem of factory farming, and what can people do to help solve these issues? Eric Schlosser in Fast Food Nation, also illustrates the animal abuse that goes unseen within the food industry as well as Bernard Rollin and Robert Desch in their article “Farm Factories”, both demonstrate what is wrong today with factory farming. Foer gives such examples of employees who work in slaughterhouses giving accounts of what goes on in the kill floors, and stories of employees who have witnessed thousands and thousands of cows going through the slaughter process alive (Animals 231). Namit Arora in the article “On Eating Animals”, as well as Michael Pollan in his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, both address some of the issues that animals face once they hit the kill floor. The food industry has transformed not only how people eat, but also the negative effects our climate endures as a result of factory farming as illustrated by Anna Lappe in “The Climate Crisis at the End

As humanity becomes more civilized, many of us perceive that eating livestock is morally incorrect, but aren’t we are designed to be an omnivore? Our teeth and digestive system serve the purpose of breaking down animal and plant foods and to bring these important nutrients to every part of the body. Despite the fact that, in 2011, U.S. meat and poultry production reached more than 92.3 billion pounds, the ethic of killing and eating animals as well as the concern of the environmental burden caused by the production of meats is debatable. However, animal based diet is necessary for the human body to function properly and we can choose the meat produced from environmentally sustainable farms to avoid the moral ambiguity.

The Omnivore’s Dilemma, written by Michael Pollan, gives light to the question, “What should we have for dinner?” that he thinks Americans today cannot answer simply due to the fact that there are too many food options. This book serves as an eye-opener to challenge readers to be more aware and accountable of what is consumed daily. In order to understand fully where our food comes from, we must follow it back to the very beginning. Pollan goes on to discuss three different modern food chains in which we get our food: the industrial, the organic, and the hunter-gatherer. By tracing our food back to the beginning, we can understand that most of the nutritional and health problems America is going through today can be found on the farms that make our food and the government that can decide what happens. America deals with many food related illness such as, heart disease, obesity, and type II diabetes. Majority of a human and animals diet consists of being corn-fed leading to a high cause of obesity in the United States these are just some of the many diseases that come with over processed foods and diets we are unaware of. In this study, we will highlight the environmental and health issues and impacts related with modern agriculture and how these systems can be made more sustainable.

“The Omnivores Dilemma” a book written by Michael Pollan, where he asks a very straightforward question of what we should have for dinner. In the first chapter, titled “The Plant”, tells a story from the perspective of Pollan himself as an everyday shopper in a modern day American supermarket. Pollan brings up the fact that from a naturalist’s perspective our grocery stores are absolutely astonishing, because where else are you going to find an array of different cultured foods in just one store. He then goes on to pose a question: Do you really even know where the food you eat comes from? Pollan decided to do some digging of his own, seeing if any completely opposite foods had anything in common. To his surprise, a lot of these diverse foods did have something in common when it came to ingredient and it was corn. From finding out that information he goes on to compare Americans consumption of corn, to Mexicans consumption of corn. Pollan’s findings show that Americans do in fact consume more corn than our neighbors to the south, Mexico. This first chapter really made me think about how much, we Americans, consume corn (or some derivative of corn) and if there is a healthier option to choose from. So my question that I must ask is: why is corn a more efficient and beneficial option than any other plant, and is there a plant that would be a better option?

In my first year of college I have been introduced to copious amounts of new information and topics that had never crossed my mind. Becoming familiar with new ideas, food production and it’s impacts of the environment both locally and globally became of interest to me. I have been a vegetarian for about four years and as I have attended college I have learned more about the state of the issue with food production and sustainability. When presented with the list of books for our independent project Omnivore 's Dilemma immediately jumped at me. When Pollan stated in the introduction, “Farming and food industry produces even more greenhouse gases than all forms of transportation put together; the way you eat affects the world more than anything else you do,” I was hooked.

What am I exactly eating? Where does our food come from? Why should I care? “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” may forever change the way you think about food. I enjoyed Mr. Pollan’s book, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” and learned a great deal of information. Pollan’s book is a plea for us to stop and think for a moment about our whole process of eating. Pollan sets out to corn fields and natural farms, goes hunting and foraging, all in the name of coming to terms with where food really comes from in modern America and what the ramifications are for the eaters, the eaten, the economy and the environment. The results are far more than I expected them to be.

The first introduction in the film is multiple images of farms, and agriculture of all kinds. Then the author quickly states that farms do not look like they use to. The message, and start of this film is to inform the viewer about the changes in agriculture, and present ideas about where our food actually comes from. The purpose of the film is to introduce to consumers the risk of eating foods that are owned by large corporations. This film addresses issues with large corporations owning all food sources, treatment of animals, and food-borne illnesses.

Michael Pollan, in his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, advocates for organic, locally grown foods. He contends that processed foods, unlike organic foods, are

The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan is a comprehensive look into the present day food culture of the United States. Throughout the book the author tries to find out the true composition of the diet that is consumed by Americans on a daily basis. There is an excessive dependence by the American population on the government to know which food is good for them. This paper will critically analyze the book as well as the stance that the author has taken. Since there is a deluge of information about diets and health available today, the relevance of this well researched book in the present day world cannot be emphasized enough. Its relevance is not limited to the United States alone but to the entire human society which is moving towards homogenous food habits.

Brought up in the southern of China, I often heard about that people from there “eat anything with four limbs except tables, anything that flies except aero planes, and anything that swims except ships”. Nevertheless, I eat more fruit, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains but less meat to make careful choices for environmental protection. Similarly, Kathy Freston argues that animal agriculture is one of the top contributors to global warming. In her Huffington Post selection “Vegetarian Is the New Prius,” Freston lists how many emissions of greenhouse gases people make when they eat meat and illustrates the consumption of tree in animal agriculture. She effectively convinces her audiences that the livestock results in the most serious environmental problems and encourages people to lead a greener diet to protect our environment. However, ardent craving, poor health, and perpetual hassle and cost prevent all Americans from being vegetarian.

After the visit to "Wayne Bradley's" farm, Peter Singer and Jim Mason share some very important information on the experience with farming. Singer and Mason together examine negative impacts that individual Americans food choices have upon farmers, they believe should be the basis of dietary basics. The negative effects of much agriculture on animals, human health, and our environment as they have little faith that the American government will actually take the initiative to force the food industry to change without a lot of pressure, with this being said consumers, such as Mr. Bradley, force for reformed market behavior through demand for the food product, animals. Singer and Mason spend considerable time at Mr. Bradley farm to expose the