Blog entry #5

In chapter 16 of the omnivore’s dilemma, the origin of disgust was briefly summarized. Pollan said that it all began with food. I find it intriguing that this emotion can so easily be pinned back to our basic instinct to eat while it is associated with so many feelings now.
There is an example of one of Americas biggest problems with eating on page 300.The French paradox is considered strange because the food in question is said to be unhealthy, yet they have less health problems related to food than us. It may seem obvious but apparently it isn’t to today’s culture that quantity is just as important as quality. The text describes how the French do eat such foods but they do it on a strict set of rules. This is very unlike the American diet where we eat what we want when we want it. So obviously, (or so I would think) you can eat a product with half the carbs as another but if you have 3 helpings while someone only has one of the unhealthy product, then who is really eating healthier?

Blog entry #4

This week’s reading I found to be somewhat interesting on how the different life forms work together on this “beyond organic” farm. At first I laughed at the thought of letting hundreds of chickens run around through the pastures as a natural pesticide but this seems like a very efficient way of dealing with such a delicate problem.
A quote from Pollan, “I couldn’t recall the last time id even attempted to do anything consequential before breakfast, or before caffeine at the very least” demonstrated the ideology of the average American now. How Americans need to get some sort of intake of caffeine to function.
The term “grass farming” stood out to me. Instead of designating Joel’s farming style to the final product, he refers to himself through the way he farms. The grass gives variety to the farm and the care of it is the heart of the whole operation. Without the grass, there would be NO farm to have. So with all of this in mind, a grass farm seems like a very appropriate name to use for one’s farm. After all, there are few more terms more organic than “grass.”

Blog entry #3

Throughout chapter 12 and 13 (and the rest of his book) Pollan brings up good points about how people do not regularly view their food. Along with these good points he seems to continuously bring up the same complaints with Wal-mart or McDonalds over and over and over again….. I suppose this is an effective way to force us not to miss his point but this is becoming a pet peeve of mine while reading this book. With that out of my system, chapter 12 goes on to talk about the slaughtering of chickens and of how “ignorance is bliss.” It seems likely that if everyone were to actually watch a slaughter house in action, at least some people would completely change the way they look at meat. Since this would be an economic disaster for the food industry, they try to avoid these sights from the faint of heart. One part of this chapter that slightly worried me was about the workers reactions to slaughtering like this routinely. Pollan said that jobs in slaughterhouses were dehumanizing and it was “not uncommon for full-time slaughterhouse workers to become sadistic.” This effect on one’s nature seems quite disturbing when it is pointed out like this.

Blog Entry #2

I had heard the term “organic” before, but I never fully understood what it meant. Like most people I just assumed it was a self-explanatory word. A term that means normal animals grow in normal conditions on normal farms. It appears though, that what I thought is just what the industries would like everyone to think. But is this really that bad? It feels like we are being tricked in a way into believing they are better than other farms but I really don’t mind this betrayal. To my knowledge, eating their food hasn’t harmed me or presented any risky effects from eating it. I do not feel that this debate extends to the consumer as much as it is a fight between competing farmers.
On a similar note though, the treatment of animals on these farms is labeled as better and more humane than big industry farms. But the author explains the kind of loop hole these industrial farmers are getting away with. For example, the term “access to pastures” was used as a requirement for being organic animals. At first this sounded fair, but the author explains that “access” could just mean that the animals can graze for a set period in their lives then be confined for the rest of it.