Omnivore's Dilemma

The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan. Penguin Press. 2006

Other than the strong smell and the brown sea of cattle, I had never given much thought to the giant feedlots on I-5 north of Los Angeles, but yesterday I was reading Pollan's book as we drove by, and you begin thinking about the consequences of this kind of food production.

He looks at food production in America, from industrial farms and complex enterprises to small family farms where the owners have gone 'beyond organic' and explains how farm policy linked with energy policy and practices has shaped agriculture and consequently our diet and our health. It is the story of corn on which much of this is based but also the grasses that once provided a more diverse environment and diet for the animals we eat. He pulls together a mass of research about agriculture, from Plato to Wes Jackson to academics who analyze the food chemistry of organic and conventionally grown fruits and vegetables. Only recently have they been able to quantify some of the health benefits in organic crops, though advocates have never needed scientific studies to hold on to their beliefs about organic foods.

Pollan covers the development of big organic operations which had to move from the small farmer's market and co-op distribution to one that resembles the agribusiness model many organic farmers first tried to escape when they went back to the land. There's a particularly good chapter on the marketing prose used by Whole Foods, the face of big organic that most consumers --or at least the affluent ones--will see. This reminds me of the technique used by wine merchants since the 70's of posting little cards, or shelf-talkers, that provide a verbose description of how luscious and unique the bottle of wine really is.

He spends a lot of time in the field: picking out a calf to follow to market, working with hay and learning about management-intensive grazing on the farm of Joel Salatin, a self professed Christian libertarian environmentalist in Swoope, Virginia. For an author who writes about food and dines at Alice Waters' joint when he's home in Berkeley, he struggles with the rigors of farm life and no caffeine or alcohol. He does point out the anti-urban bias of some localist zealots like Salatin.

Probably the most valuable aspect of his reporting is your growing awareness of how complex these different food systems are, and he reminds us how creative accounting leads us to ignore the costs of fossil fuel, obesity, and environmental impact when we bite into a $1 dollar whopper junior or the air freighted organic asparagus from Argentina.  Americans spend about 1/10 of their income on food, down from 1/5 in the 50's and much less than any other industrial country in the world. Salatin discusses the accusation that organic and locally produced food is elitist because only the affluent can afford it.  Pollan observes the customers who come as far as 150 miles to buy the chickens which were just slaughtered by the crew and Pollan. Many are not elite but chose to pay more for the quality of the food and the way the animals were raised (and slaughterd).  Some seem willing to pay a premium because it reminds them of what they ate in childhood. Salatin speaks of cheap food as 'irresponsibly priced food,' but the author knows that is still the determining factor for most consumers.

I used to make wine commercially many years ago, and I planted a small vineyard which is now owned by my former partner. The economics of grape growing and wine making in the U.S. pushes the price of most premium wines much higher than I would want to pay, but economics require a small winery making a few thousand cases a year to get $15 a bottle or there won't be any profit. One of the reasons I still make wine is to have a good supply of good wine at less than $5 a bottle. And there are many small winery operators who made their profits in other sectors (finance, law, high tech) and are now sinking it into a winery.

Pollan hooks up with a  Sicilian who lives near him in the San Francisco Bay Area, and Angelo's year is marked by the natural food gathering and hunting activities in each season: olive curing, winemaking, boar hunting, and mushroom gathering. Pollan had never fired a gun nor hunted, and he relies on Ortega y Gasset's writings to supplement Angelo's  guidance. After he finally nails a boar on private land in Sonoma County, he is immensely proud, but then frets and moans about these very feelings as he looks at the picture his hunting partner took after the kill.

His description of the mushroom gatherers is one of the best and most complex. In some ways they are a community, but they seem more secretive than fishermen when it comes to revealing good places to find mushrooms. Part of it is timing, and for some, a commercial edge because of the high price of some mushrooms. Few will share good spots with others, especially a food journalist. With all the food that he has foraged, he prepares a very special meal and invites those who helped him hunt and gather. He concludes with the statement, "...what we are eating is never anything more or less than the body of the world."  He feels we should be more connected to that by knowing the origins of our food, even if we don't killl the pig, crush the grapes, or pluck the dead chicken. He certainly understands the force of industry and the adjustments and compromises farmers, ranchers, and cooks must make when taking part. For foodies with money and time they can patronize restaurants like the French Laundry or Chez Panisse that buy the 'best' ingredients and establish their own connections with local growers, but for most Americans price will determine the bulk of their purchases and eating habits in the kitchen, on the road, or at a sit-down restaurant.

What he does not address is the challenges other developing countries have as they try to feed themselves.  That's a whole other book. The geopolitics of U.S. food aid has been addressed by Michael Maran in The Road To Hell and part of those policies link to the discussion of USDA farm subsidies.  Corn exports to Mexico have increased 18 fold since NAFTA took effect, and this has affected millions of rural Mexicans, some of whom have headed north once they are displaced from the failing farms.

Comments

[thebizofknowledge]

I stumbled upon this site as I was in the process of doing some online research. I must say that I thought I knew much, but there is always more ways to look at the problem.

[Organic Development Internet Marketing]

Big topic, interesting post, very well handled! James @ Organic Development.