The Omnivore’s Dilemma book cover

The Omnivore's Dilemma

by Michael Pollan

About the Author

Michael Pollan is the author of five books: Second Nature, A Place of My Own, The Botany of Desire, and the national bestsellers, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and In Defense of Food. A longtime contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine, Pollan is also the Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley. His writing on food and agriculture has won numerous awards, including the Reuters/World Conservation Union Global Award in Environmental Journalism, the James Beard Award, and the Genesis Award from the American Humane Association.

Why I Like this Book

  • It is an eye-opening quick exploration of industrial farming
  • The truth about corn, its ubiquity in almost everything is shocking “corn makes up more than one fourth of the 45,000 items in a supermarket”. I never was a fan of processed foods but had I been, this section alone would have made me quit. And this knowledge about corn, motivated me to read food labels of anything I buy.
  • It completely changed the way I think about beef. If you are currently a carnivore, you may not be after reading this book and learning where the beef comes from. I stopped eating beef for a good long while after reading this book. Gradually it’s come back into my diet, but only if I know it is grass-fed and as an occasional treat rather than a regular item on my dinner plate.
  • This book made me an advocate and regular shopper at the local Farmer’s Market and a member of http://www.slowfood.com
  • It’s a helpful overview on organic farming, providing real insight into industrial “organic” farms compared to smaller operations
  • It is a book that really made me think about the moral and ecological consequences of our food

Book Description

Today, buffeted by one food fad after another, America is suffering from what can only be described as a national eating disorder. Will it be fast food tonight, or something organic? Or perhaps something we grew ourselves? The question of what to have for dinner has confronted us since man discovered fire. But as Michael Pollan explains in this revolutionary book, how we answer it now, as the dawn of the twenty-first century, may determine our survival as a species. Packed with profound surprises, The Omnivore’s Dilemma is changing the way Americans thing about the politics, perils, and pleasures of eating.