The Omnivore's Dilemma: Understanding Where Our Food Comes From

Every time we go shopping in a supermarket do we actually know what we're buying? If we actually bothered to read all of the labels in our food what would we find? That was the question the Michael Pollan answered in The Omnivore's Dilemma. In this book the author, Michael, tracked, from start to finish, an industrial, industrial organic, local sustainable, and a hunter gatherer meal. One question that was brought up was… Even though we buy organic foods is it really all that better that non-organic? Well it turns out that industrial organic, the stuff in supermarkets, is just as harmful to the environment and "free range organic" chickens aren't so free range. This answer surprised me because I had always though organic was much better for us. What surprised me the most was hearing that most industrial organic “free range” chickens are kept inside with almost no room to move around. Although the can go outside, a luxury considering the treatment of industrial chickens, they aren’t allowed the choice of going outside until they are five weeks old and too scared of going outside by then. But luckily for humans industrial organic is not the only option. We can choose local sustainable farmers who view farming as a way to keep the Earth clean, don’t rely on chemicals and allow their animals to live their lives as they are supposed to in the wild. By choosing local sustainable we are supporting local food which equals less fossil fuels/travel time, less excessive plastic or packing of food, small businesses, a better quality of food, and a healthier treatment of animals. The complete opposite of this would be industrial meals like fast food and tv dinners. Industrial meals are harmful to the environment and the hormones that they pump into meat in order to produce more meat faster can have serious consequences. Unlike the local sustainable farmers, industrial foods tend to come out of factories and the conditions that animals live in are horrifying and disgusting. If you have ever wondered why some foods are much cheaper the others the answer lies with the industrial food chain. By forcing animals to eat cheap pasteurized corn and farming all year long huge companies can afford to sell food at a much lower price than a local farmer. The last type of meal is the hunter gatherer meal. Although this meal is completely unrealistic for the average family it gives us a view of how much our food system has changed. At first people had to work to get their food but now you can just go to any market and buy about anything. Before supermarkets and delis most people knew what was going into their food and most of the time were the ones producing it. This type of meal really reminds us how hard it really is to cultivate food and that it doesn’t just appear on shelves.

Local Farmers Market: http://www.grownyc.org/greenmarket