The Omnivores Dilemma - Review

The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan, is a book about food. The author strives to answer the age old question: what's for dinner? His journey explores the vast world of farming from the mechanized corn fields of the Midwest to  hand groomed poultry in the Northeast. It is a revealing tale of progress and compromise.

The book is the record of one man's evolving relationship with food. We see the changes that take place while visiting a McDonald's drive through, large industrial farm, organic-industrial farms, and "beyond organic" establishment. Pollan strives to reveal the true cost behind our food in an eccentric quest to serve the perfect meal. The book is not preachy and comes to some reasonable conclusions amidst some unreasonable methods.

I would not recommend reading this book. It was interesting at first but outstayed its welcome on my reading list. The ideas presented by Pollan run out of steam far before he is done with them. While his presentation is full of color and character it is not enough to sustain the length at which he chooses to tell his story. The book, however, is extremely well reviewed and you might get more out of it than me; check it out for yourself.