Hw # 7

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

Chapter 1: We are what we eat and that is processed corn,lots of it. Everything we consume traces back to corn which is our most important crop. It plays a major role in our food chain and daily diets. Corn has done extremely well in this industrial age of consumer capitalism.

Gems: "Several human societies have seen fit to worship corn, but perhaps it should be the other way around: For corn, we humans are the contingent beings." (pg 27)

"Corn is the protocapitalist plant." (pg 26)

"We North Americans look like corn chips with legs."

Thoughts: When we eat we never really stop to think about how our food is made or what it's made of or where it comes from as long as it tastes good and we enjoy it, but to come to read and find that almost everything we eat comes from corn was rather surprising.It's funny how we depend on this plant species(Zea mays/corn)so much. We live for corn by growing, producing and consuming it. It's such a huge staple in our diets.I wonder what else our food is made up of?

Chapter 2 : Growing corn in no easy job. It's important to go straight to the source of the corn-the farmers and their farms. Corn is a business, a money making and a money losing business.

Gems: " The demand for food isn't elastic; people don't eat more just because food is cheap."

"Agriculture’s always going to be organized by the government; the question is, for whose benefit? It's certainly not for the farmer.

"The free market has never worked in agriculture and it never will."

Thoughts: I found it interesting that the author is going straight to the sources of our food to find out where it comes from? Farmers supply all the corn we consume but are they making money or losing money over corn? since they grow so much of it but it's sold cheap. It's all about the supply and demand of the crop. It’s all about who benefits from the business and who doesn’t which in this case would be the farmers. Agriculture is not on their side.

Chapter 3: Corn is a commodity that no one cares where it comes from (what farm or farmer)as long as it gets to the consumers. Corn is part of a system that is designed to keep having it produced and then selling it cheap,with the farmers not reaping the benefits as much.

Gems: " Ecology teaches that whenever an excess organic matter arises anywhere in nature, creatures large and small inevitably step forward to consume it, sometimes creating whole new food chains in the process." (62)

Thoughts: I found it interesting how the author is making the distinction between "corn-the-food" and corn-the-commodity" and really breaking it down in the chapters. So much corn is being produced and sold (cheap) and everyone is consuming it from humans to livestock. Corn has one destination and that is to end up on our plates.

Chapter 4: The government and the CAFO -Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation have taken animals like cattle off of the farms and placed them in feedlots. Forcing them to consume corn. While creating more problems and using these animals for their own benefit.

Gems: "Today the most serious environmental harm associated with the cattle industry takes place on the feedlot." (pg 70)

" What gets a steer from 80 to 1,100 pounds in fourteen months is tremendous quantities of corn, protein and fat supplements, and arsenal of new drugs." (pg 71)

Thoughts: I think it's unfair how these animals are taken off the farms where they can roam round and eat grass, only to be placed in feedlots and forced to change their diets. All in the name of making a profit. The feedlots don't sound like a good idea. The cattle are being mistreated.

Chapter 5: Corn has finally reached the stage where it is sent to what is know as "wet mills" where leftover corn is broken down in many different molecules,sugars,vitamins and starches to be processed for consumption.Leading corn to become the most important crop and us to become the ultimate industrial eaters.

Gems:"And so it goes, the rushing stream of ever cheaper agricultural commodities driving food companies to figure out new and ever more elaborate ways to add value and so induce us to buy more." (pg 96)

"Nature has cursed the companies working the middle of the food chain with a recipe for falling rates of profits." (pg 94)

"Exactly what corn is doing in such foods has less to with nutrition or taste than with economics." (pg 93)

Thoughts: I think it's surprising how we have become so dependent on corn considering we eat the most of it (processed foods). Everything is made with processed corn now. It would be interesting to find out what foods aren't made with corn? that is if there are any.

Chapter 6: Corn is being overly produced, therefore making the price of corn drop. Which is being turned into cheap consumer products of calories. Which is being consumed on a daily basis leading us to develop health problems such as obesity and diabetes.

Gems:"The united nation's reported that in 2000 the number of people suffering from over nutrition-a billion-had officially surpassed the number suffering from malnutrition-800-million."(102)

"When food is abundant and cheap, people will eat more of it and get fat."

Thoughts: Not everyone can afford healthier food choices. It cost more to eat healthy while processed foods are cheap.We consume a lot of corn (in our foods) because it's cheap. All this corn is causing health problems for many.

Chapter 7: Not many people know how their food is made or where it comes from. It's like a secret, that most of our meals are made with ingredients derived from corn. It's a major source of all the calories we eat ,thanks to fast food and super size options.

Gems:" processing cheap corn into 45 different McDonald's items is an impressive accomplishment.It presents a solution to the agricultural contradictions of capitalism, the challenge of increasing industry food profits faster than America can increase it's population." (pg117)

"the nugget is the reason chicken has supplanted beef as the most popular meat in America." (114)

Thoughts: Fast food is a cheap option and almost everything on the menu is made with corn. It's a meal that is convenient and it tastes good which makes you want to eat more. It's no surprise it's a huge hit with consumers.

Chapter 8: Grass is important to farmers because it feeds their farm animals. Farmers have a special relationship with their grass. They nurture and care for their grass because it turns into thousands of pounds of meat. Farmers choose to operate their farms differently by going down the more natural route.

Gems:"I kept hearing about this organic farmer in Virginia who had no use for the federal government's new organic standards. I also kept hearing about the exceptional food he was producing." (PG 131)

Thoughts: Organic farms produce natural and more healthier foods than other farms. How "organic" is their food? What are the differences between organic farms and industrial farms?

Chapter 9:Organic food markets are more behind the story of their foods and appeal to their consumers by labeling their products with how their food is made like "naturally grown" and "humanely raised".Is what is printed on the label really true?
Is organic foods that much different than non -certified organic products in terms of how they are grown and produced? The organic food movement is still a

Gems:"We have to go back to nature and to copy the methods to be seen in the forest and prairie." (149)

"The notion of imitating whole natural systems stands in stark opposition to reductionist science, which works by breaking down such systems down into their component parts in order to understand how they work and then manipulating them-one variable at a time."

Thoughts: 1.Are organic farms really "better" than industrial farms?
2.If "organic" is better why isn't everyone eating organic foods?

Chapter 10: Grass and sunlight produces many of the products/foods that grass farms grow on their farms. Grass is dependent on to flourish the farms and in return the products provide us with food energy.

Gems: "All agriculture is at its heart a business of capturing free solar energy in a food product that can then be turned into high-value energy".

" Very much on his own in a very particular place, the grass farmer must continually juggle the various elements of his farm in space as well as time,relying on his powers of observation and organization to arrange the appointed daily meeting of animal and grass in such a way as to ensure maximum benefit for both."

Thoughts: Why don't farmers feed their animals with more grass instead of corn?
It seems grass is better than corn but corn is cheaper.