The Omnivore's Dilemma

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals is a nonfiction book written by American author Michael Pollan published in 2006. As omnivores, humans have a variety of food choices. In the book, Pollan investigates the environmental and animal welfare effects of various food choices. He suggests that, prior to modern food preservation and transportation technologies, the dilemmas caused by these options were resolved primarily by cultural influences.

Technology has made previously seasonal or regional foods available year-round and in all regions. Culture, which once moderated the relationship between food and society, has now created confusion. To teach more about those choices, Pollan describes various food chains that end in human food: industrial food, organic food, and food we forage ourselves, from the source to a final meal, and in the process writes a critique of the American method of eating.

Contents

Michael Pollan informs us about how corn, the U.S.'s main food source, is "taking over the world" due to its pervasiveness in many of the foods we eat, including beverages made with cornstarch and meat and dairy products from animals fed with corn. Pollan hopes that his book will change the diets in the U.S. of both humans and animals. In the first section, he monitors the development of a calf from a pasture in South Dakota, through its stay on a Kansas feedlot, to its end.