HW 7 - Reading Response Monday

Book: The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

Introduction

     Precis
       In the advent of agriculture, our efforts to become more efficient have complicated the process of choosing foods to eat and in turn, have made us extremely cautious of foods that could potentially kill us.  As a species capable of eating almost anything, even ourselves, the abundance of food has developed our reliance on certain aspects, all pertaining to the ways we evaluate what foods to eat: ethics, health, rituals etc.  To achieve full-consciousness of the foods we eat, we must be aware of the three principal food chains that sustain us and engage us with the natural world.
     Gems
       I found some profound lines of writing: "Many of these species have evolved expressly to gratify our desires, in the intricate dance of domestication that has allowed us and them to prosper together as we could never have prospered apart" (Pollan 10).  Through this line of writing, the author resonated with me through beautifying his writing using metaphors like "the intricate dance" while describing agriculture.
     Thoughts
       Hesitant at first, I read the first chapter and wondered about the difficulty I go through every day when choosing what to eat.  Agriculture really has developed our perspective of foods as poison and medicine.  The idea of tracing our foodways then, to gain a better understanding of how our foodways became, sounds practical but, questionable because accurately tracing back to our old foodways is difficult.

Chapter One (The Plant: Corn's Conquest)

      Precis
       Though there may be aisles and aisles of foods to choose from in your local supermarket, these foods cannot be categorized as a variety because most of what we eat is ultimately corn in different arrangements.  This manifestation of corn plays a big role in our food culture because corn has provided us with an almost undying food that flourishes and thrives with its ability to adapt and grow rapidly in changing climates.  Without corn, many of america's great victories and hardships would have never been conquered.  The virtues and versatility of corn did not go unnoticed and so, we had indulged in its benefits and have somehow been domesticated by corn itself, participating in its success.
     Gems
        Insightful lines: "There is every reason to believe that corn has succeeded in domesticating us...it makes just as much sense to regard agriculture as a brilliant evolutionary strategy on the part of plants and animals involved to get us to advance their interests.  By evolving certain traits we happen to regard as desirable, these species got themselves noticed by the one mammal in a position not only to spread their genes around the world, but to remake vast swaths of that world in the image of the plants' preferred habitat"(Pollan 24).
     Thoughts
       I had always thought that science and agriculture had allowed us to conquer plants to modify them in any way, or rather, any capable way possible and agriculture had.  The idea of plants domesticating us had never registered considerable in my mind but, now that I think more about it, this idea is potentially plausible and not terribly crazy.  Our reliance on corn scared me more than it shocked me.  Now as a conscious member of "the corn people," I wonder, where we would we be without corn?

     

Chapter Two (The Farm)

     Precis

       Having to farm food for a large number of people, farmers carry a big responsibility on their shoulders.  While corn and soy beans are high in demand, farmers struggle to keep their farms because of the growing number of advance modern factories that harvest specialized foods.  As time went on, policies and laws began taking place stating an alloted number of vegetables that could be grown as well as the number of animals that could be raised.  However, the hybrid corn allowed farmers to plant more resulting in a bigger surplus.

     Gems

       "A mere 2 percent of the state's land remains what it used be...every square foot of the rest having been completely remade by man.  The only thing missing from the man-made landscape is...man" (Pollan 38.) 

     Thoughts

       I'd be lying if I said I really understood the importance of farming.  Had I not lived in the city for most of my life, maybe I would have said differently.  I am not fond of either farms or big factories but, I do fear as more factories develop, the more foods I will not be able to identify.  In the near future, will food just be packaged in plastic bags with obscure labels I don't understand? How many hybrid foods will develop 10 years from now?  Are we in danger of a food revolution?  Are government food restrictions legitimate?

Chapter Three (The Elevator)

     Precis

       The surfeit of corn in the Iowa Farmers Cooperative is overflowing while the government's aim is only to keep production high and drive prices of corn down to its fullest extent.  Farmers are struggling and losing their farm land because their profit is less than the cost of production, however, corn will live on because of its massive abundance and on-going production.  Quantity has ruled over quality and so, the surplus of cheap corn, in large heaps around the world, must be consumed, processed, and farmed again and again because corn is our sustenance and is essentially one of the many things that keep farmers employed.

     Gems

       "In America before the 1850s a farmer owned his sacks of corn up to the moment when a buyer took delivery, and so bore the risk for anything that went wrong between farm and table or trough.  For better or worse that burlap sack linked a corn buyer anywhere in America with a particular farmer cultivating a particular patch of earth" (Pollan 59).

     Thoughts

       The entirety of abundance scares me.  The more and more corn that will be farmed and processed need to be utilized in a sort of way and I wonder, how many ways can we actually utilize corn and is there a limit to our consumption of corn?  I'd like to say I disagree and heed the government's decisions and choices but, if I did, where would I be without the food and produce I buy from my local grocery store?  How far can our main source of the nutrients of corn go?  Am I really processed corn, walking?

Chapter Four (The Feedlot)

     Precis

       As Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations begins taking its toll on farmers, more factory farms have utilized the surplus of corn through cattle feed.  Although cows possess the rumen, which help them make grass into high-quality protein, they are taken away from their once grass filled prairie to teeming feedlots, confined in pens and taught to eat foreign foods.  Scientists never registered the idea that corn-fed cattle was unassailable, therefore, scientists had disturbingly introduced mad cow disease to their own species. 

     Gems

       "Hell, if you gave them lots of grass and space, I wouldn't have a job" (Pollan 79).

     Thoughts

       If the cons of feedlots are apparent, why does the industry try so hard to disguise them?  In having such a huge reliance on corn, we sacrifice many things that are necessary for progress and efficiency but, along with progress, comes several problems.  I'm sure over the years, researchers will resolve small sanitation problems but, by then there will be more problems than there are resolutions.  We are stuck in a limbo, where all we can do is produce more corn while also attempting to be rid of it.  There is a line the industrial food industry has passed, which is not considering sanitation as a major issue.

Chapter Five (The Processing Plant)

     Precis

       A fifth of the corn river at Iowa Farmers Cooperative's elevator makes its way to wet mill plants to become numerous products that we feed off of.  The wet milling process allows us to retrieve various vitamins, nutritional supplements, oil, and rich carbohydrates from corn.  Though Cargill and ADM rejected our request to observe the wet mill process, Larry Johnson from The Center for Crops utilization Research told us the process is the industrial version of digestion where all the rules of regular digestion pertain except the additional bath of sulphur dioxide.  In the advent of wet mills in 1840s, came Corn Syrup, the cheapest domestic substitute for sugar.  As more processed foods began to arise in the market, food security changed and the work that goes into making the goods became highly secretive.

     Gems

       "The problem is, a value-added product made from a cheap commodity can itself become a commodity, so cheap and abundant are the raw materials" (Pollan 96).

       "When fake sugars and fake fast are joined by fake starches, the food industry will at long last have overcome the dilemma of the fixed stomach: whole meals you can eat as often or as much of as you like, since this food will leave no trace.  Meet the ultimate-- the utterly elastic!-- industrial eater" (Pollan 99).

     Thoughts

       Our dependence on corn makes me question: If not corn then what?  What happens when our supply of corn completely wipes out?  What will we depend on then?  Although, I highly doubt our supply will wipe out due to the overflowing river of corn, even with our constant consuming of it.  In the future, will everything just be processed fake foods?  Will I be able to distinguish processed foods from all natural foods in the next 20 years?  What am I really consuming? Is it really as healthy as it is advertised to be?