The Omnivore's Dilemma

The Omnivore's Dilemma

Nothing like a freshly steamed ear of summer corn, right? And there’s nothing wrong with it, really. The problem is, America can’t eat just one. Call it cob abuse, and New Visions Award-winner Michael Pollan (Botany of Desire) is just the writer to take a look at what we eat—in particular, an astonishing array of corn-based products—and show us how our food choices also have profound implications for the health of our environment. Corn pone “What should we have for dinner?,” asks the author. To answer that, Pollan thinks as a naturalist might, considering ecology and anthropology along with personal experience. Defining each of three food chains that sustain us—industrialized food; alternative or “organic” food; and food people obtain by dint of their own hunting, gathering, or gardening—Pollan then follows each, literally from the ground up to the table. For each concluding meal he traces the provenance of everything consumed, revealing the hidden components we unwittingly ingest and explaining how our taste for particular foods reflects our environmental and biological inheritance. Written by the bestselling author with a clearheaded sensibility that speaks to the concerned consumer in all of us, The Omnivore’s Dilemma is a brilliant and eye-opening exploration of little-known but vitally important dimensions of eating in America.

Softcover: 320 pages

Publisher: Penguin Putnam ( April 25, 2006 )

Item #: 17-7477

ISBN: 9780739474563

Product Dimensions: 6.125 x 9.25 x 8.125 inches

Product Weight: 21.0 ounces