2.12.13

A response to the third section of Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilema:



I found this last section of the book to be the most compelling. It's what I have been waiting for. The application of the omnivore's dilemma into Michael Pollan's life. I am always fascinated to hear about peoples' journeys with diet choices they aren't familiar with. I feel like there is a lot of self re-evaluating and cultural re-evaluating that takes place.

I was most drawn into the chapter about hunting. The way he ends up describing it even turns myself on to the idea. His writing romanticizes the process and turns it into an almost sexy experience. He catches himself doing this and even laughs at himself for doing so with out any irony, but I definitely understood what he meant by "hunter porn". The experience forces you to engage all five of your senses and reduces you down to your primitive roots as well as connects you with the energy of your surroundings and the earth you're kneeling on. Of course, as nice as it would be to be able to go out and hunt for dinner each week, if we all indulged, there wouldn't be any game left to hunt.

Now don't get me wrong, I am, as Pollan put it, one of those "animal people" but I think that hunting with the intention of fully utilizing the animal is a beautiful thing. We are after all predators and a part of a food chain....Maybe, instead of feed lot animals being put on a conveyor belt for slaughter, we should put them in a pasture where the public can come and "hunt" their dinner, take it home or ...to a cleaning station..and proceed to take it home and eat it.   .....is that sick and twisted? Somehow I'm cringing while writing this. I suppose it would be difficult manning an animal 3 times the size of you trying to haul it home in your suburban... but the idea is similar to that of a stocked lake. Fish are dumped into the lake for fishermen to catch. They dock their boats, take them to a cleaning station and return home with tonight's dinner.

I digress. Pollan's mushroom gathering seemed like more work than it was worth. The constant looking at the ground and "screen saver" image burnt into your mind while you try to sleep just seems nauseating. I am sure the redemption must feel great but I would far rather pay someone to do it for me.

The most meaningful quote in this book is at the very end of the book. Naturally, it sums up his thesis, but its simplicity was key. It reads, " ...we eat by the grace of nature, not industry, and what we're eating is never anything more or less than the body of the world." ( 411).

His final chapter goes through the cooking of his completely scavenged meal. It brings to light the essence of living. While it is not practical to live or eat the way this dish came to be, I think it would be a beneficial thing for everyone to do at some point in their life to help them connect with the earth and ground them as a human being. He indicates that his guests spoke to each other about food, yes, but not about restaurants. They spoke of animals and species and gardening. I found this interesting. By scouring forest floors for mushrooms, hunting for dinner and capturing yeast in the wild, these people- obviously- are so much more grateful for the food that they eat and appreciate it.  Eating is fundamentally so much more than sticking your hand into a bag of Cheetos for an afternoon snack.