The book The Omnivore’s Dilemma starts out by asking the question “What should we have for dinner?´. It then goes into a review of how this has become an increasingly complex decision no longer simplified by the predominant combination of individual tastes and local, seasonal availability. Reliance upon nutritionists, investigative journalists and expert help has supplanted our native wisdom much as factory farming and industrial food production supplanted smaller local agricultural enterprises. In the Introduction of his book, Michael Pollan looks at how other nations base their dietary decisions on the quaint and unscientific concepts of pleasure and tradition as opposed to the American concepts of scientific studies and dietary regimes. Contrary to what might be easy to assume, the more casual approach to dining as being part of a social and cultural experience that includes many foods that science has proven unhealthy these other nations actually experience less dietary related health problems than Americans do. . One of the well researched, fact based, scientific, agricultural and dietary theories of today is that a vegan diet, and to a lesser extent a vegetarian diet is healthier than an omnivorous diet. I do not agree with this viewpoint and concur with Pollan on this point.
Primitive humans were opportunistic omnivores, taking advantage of foods available as part of the ecological food web available in the local food web. Like other omnivores, people face the decision of what to eat several times a day. One of the problems facing us is the broad selection of foods available today. Pollan feels that the food industry finds it more profitable to increase our confusion and insecurity in our dietary decisions rather than assuage them. In particular Pollan cites the example that there are situations where the choices are so diverse it is not just a matter of what type of fruit, there are also the decisions as to organic versus conventionally grown, and local, American and imported fruit. A broader based concern is also the worldwide needs of an ever-increasing global population, there are a variety of theories that suggested that a more effective use of cropland would be effectively place the world on a vegan diet. Pollan does not agree with this and I concur. I also agree with him that allocating some farmland to livestock production actually increases the lands productivity.
In response to these concerns, he decided to approach modern American farming and dietary practices as a naturalist would looking at it in terms of anthropology and ecology in addition to his personal experience.. Over the course of millennia, humankind developed a balance of livestock and crops suitable for family farms, plantations and ranches. The focus of the agricultural establishments depended on the local cultural, environment and climate, but remained surprisingly similar in many parts of the world. The 20th century saw a transition to the specialized monoculture industrial agricultural techniques that now account for the majority of caloric intake for most Americans today.
In Chapter 11 Michael Pollan takes a close look at how various combinations of livestock and crops result in greater general productivity, lesser reliance on medications, and food products than those obtained from mono-cultural agricultural situations. He does this during a visit to Polyface Farm where he works with them and records how they process their agricultural products and use a layering system of rotation to gain the maximum benefit from their farm. These farming techniques clearly show the beneficial effects of the concurrent and sequential benefits that are shared by the plants and the animals. creating a viable, sustainable use of farmlands..
References
Pollan, M. (2006). The Oninivore's Dilemma. New York: The Penguin Press.
