Please ignore this post. I'm determined to figure out how to make the links work!
Voting closes Wednesday at 5pm.
Nominations are:
The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America by Bill Bryson
Best American Short Stories 2007
Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Domique Bauby
Monday, October 15, 2007
Sunday, October 14, 2007
The Omnivore's Dilemma
My six year old and I love to read together each night. We put on our jammies and cuddle up in the big bed with our favourite Roald Dahl books. We giggled together through Matilda's adventures and shuddered every time one of the bad kids met a nasty end in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. This weekend, I picked up a copy of The Witches. It seemed like a good idea until he really thought about it. "Witches, that could be really scarey. Mom, how does it end? Are the kids alright?"Many of us seemed to have the same response to The Omnivore's Dilemma. How does it end? Is my food alright?
The Omnivore's Dilemma is this: confronted with so many possibilites, what should we eat? Is nutritious or poisonous? Michael Pollan takes it a step further. Not only does he ask if our dinner is good for us, but is it good for the environment? Are the chemicals used in growing, processing, packaging, and transporting it poisoning us and the farmer? Are there really any small farmers left and can they make a living?
Pollan doesn't tell you that you can't eat meat, or that you have to grow all your food in your backyard. Through the course of the book, he presents 4 meals: MacDonalds, Whole Foods organic, sustainably grown, and one he foraged himself. He attempts to trace each element in the meal from its planting or birth, through to its appearance on his table. The route each takes is sometimes disturbing or surpisingly different from the way it is presented at the point of purchase....like those "free range hens" that have never been out of the barn.
I'll tell you how the books ends. The food is alright. Pollan never tells the reader what to eat and what not. Yes, you can still eat meat if you wish. However,he suggests you think about the food you are eating, really think about the food you are eating. Was it grown in a manner that I am comfortable with? Was my meat treated humanely? Was the grower paid fairly? What did my meal do to the enviroment. Pollan examines these issues in a detailed and thougtful manner, never preaching. The book is well written, although sometimes digressing, and often amusing.
Check out this debate between the author and the CEO of Whole Foods:
http://sic.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail3234.html
The Omnivore's Dilemma is this: confronted with so many possibilites, what should we eat? Is nutritious or poisonous? Michael Pollan takes it a step further. Not only does he ask if our dinner is good for us, but is it good for the environment? Are the chemicals used in growing, processing, packaging, and transporting it poisoning us and the farmer? Are there really any small farmers left and can they make a living?
Pollan doesn't tell you that you can't eat meat, or that you have to grow all your food in your backyard. Through the course of the book, he presents 4 meals: MacDonalds, Whole Foods organic, sustainably grown, and one he foraged himself. He attempts to trace each element in the meal from its planting or birth, through to its appearance on his table. The route each takes is sometimes disturbing or surpisingly different from the way it is presented at the point of purchase....like those "free range hens" that have never been out of the barn.
I'll tell you how the books ends. The food is alright. Pollan never tells the reader what to eat and what not. Yes, you can still eat meat if you wish. However,he suggests you think about the food you are eating, really think about the food you are eating. Was it grown in a manner that I am comfortable with? Was my meat treated humanely? Was the grower paid fairly? What did my meal do to the enviroment. Pollan examines these issues in a detailed and thougtful manner, never preaching. The book is well written, although sometimes digressing, and often amusing.
Check out this debate between the author and the CEO of Whole Foods:
http://sic.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail3234.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)