Finally, I received the notification from my library I could listen to “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” today after being on hold for about a month! Apparently, the audio book is much more popular than the physical book.
Time to time I’ll connect you with good books I come across and recommend to followers to read for reasons I’ll include in posts.
This book is very informational for anyone unfamiliar with knowing where their food comes from. The author Michael Pollan is featured in many nutrition and sustainable farming documentaries including “Cooked” on Netflix. I’ve been familiar with Pollan’s work for quite a few years and for the life of me I’m not sure why I haven’t actually read any of his books!
Upon listening in the first 15 minutes I love what’s been uncovered to the reader... He discusses how one potato farm uses such dangerous pesticides the workers aren’t allowed to work in the fields because it’s so toxic. And then he describes the view of a feed lot full of cattle standing on a field full of manure releasing such a terrible smell along a highway drive.
Is this really where our food comes from? Toxic pesticides sprayed on crops and overpopulated animal feed lots? Unfortunately, a large portion of food consumed in the US comes from farms like these.
Why do I love that this is uncovered? Because most Americans are unaware of how the beef, chicken, produce, etc gets from the farm to our plate. We have become so removed from how food gets to our grocery stores, harvesting chickens on a homestead sounds terrifying to some!
I could go on and on about ethical farming practices, this book explains a lot about different farms, government subsidies and how our food production has evolved to what it is today.
I could give you a summary of the book, but I’m going to butcher it (pun intended?) so if any of this sounds interesting to you I’d recommend getting your hands on the book or audio book and getting started!
Stay tuned for more posts on farming, pesticides and nourishing foods!
More similar to this topic:
Book: Defending Beef, Nicolette Hahn Niman
Book: Righteous Porkchop, Nicolette Hahn Niman
Documentary: King Corn
Documentary: Food, Inc