Omnivores Dilemma by Michael Pollan: Socio-Economic Influences of Vegetarian and Non-Vegetarian Diets
Michael Pollan, in his book The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, discussed the social, economic, and geographic/environmental factors that influenced humanity's diets, of which eating both plants and animals -- an omnivorous diet -- is the predominant diet in most of today's societies. However, in the midst of this omnivorous diet is an emerging group of vegetarian or only plant-eating humans, which creates a new dynamic, between omnivores and vegetarian eaters. The position paper that will be developed based on Pollan's book will provide an in-depth exploration of the socio-economic factors influencing vegetarian and non-vegetarian diets.

The in-depth exploration and analysis of socio-economic factors influencing vegetarian and non-vegetarian diets will be conducted through case study analysis. To emphasize on the economic aspect of the analysis, the case studies would look into vegetarianism and non-vegetarianism across the socio-economic…...

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References

Guillemette, A. (2009). "Food Expenditures: The Effect of a Vegetarian Diet and Organic Foods." Dissertation. University of Guelph, Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics.

Leahy, E., S. Lyons, and R. Tol. (2010). "Determinants of Vegetarianism and Partial Vegetarianism in the United Kingdom." Economic and Social Research Institute Working Paper No. 360.

Pollan, M. (2006). The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. NY: Penguin.

Torche, F. (2007). "Social Status and Public Cultural Consumption: Chile in Comparative Perspective." Ford Foundation Working Paper, Center for the Study of Wealth and Inequality, Columbia University.

Omnivore's Dilemma
In recent years social historians have began to delve into more and more minute topics about the way humans interact within their social and natural world, and most especially how certain everyday objects and actions have had a grand affect upon the way society and culture changes. In The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan uses the tools of both history and anthropology to uncover that it is that concerns humans on a daily basis -- eating -- and why that seemingly innocent choice has ramifications far beyond any single meal. What then, is the omnivore's dilemma? Briefly, humans, being omnivorous, can eat a number of things -- meat, grain, vegetables, many plants and animals, and numerous things nature has to offer. Deciding what to eat becomes a challenge in that cuisine is a part of physical culture, geographic area, societal pressures, and individual availability -- yet inevitably causes continual anxiety…...

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References

Levine, Ketzel. Interview with Michael Pollan on A Plant's Eye View of the World.

Morning Edition, National Public Radio, 6/4/2001. Retrieved from:

 http://www.npr.org /programs/talkingplants/radio/010604.pollan.html

Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore's Dilemma. New York: Penguin Books, 2007.

Omnivore's Dilemma: Part I: Industrial/Corn
"the Omnivore's Dilemma" - review

Michael Pollan's book "The Omnivore's Dilemma" is not necessarily meant to put across breakthrough information or to trigger intense feelings in individuals reading it. Instead, it is actually intended to provide important information so as for readers to be able to gain a more complex understanding regarding what foods would be healthy for them to eat and how they can develop the ability to differentiate between a series of foods on their own in an attempt to find the best solutions possible. In addition to this, Pollan explains why particular institutions that are involved in food production take on certain attitudes with regard to their product and their customers. In Part I, of Chapters 1,2, and 3 of The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan shows how corn is made, and the sources behind its production, with monetary gains being the driving force behind…...

Omnivore's Dilemma
In Michael Pollan's book he touches on many issues relative to what humans eat, and in the process he spends time covering the poor eating habits of Americans and the likely reasons for the obesity crisis in the United States (think carbohydrates). His narrative includes animal flesh that is produced on so-called "factory farms" -- including pig meat he proudly kills himself -- and in doing so he raises moral and psychological issues in a very well-presented book. His moral perspective comes through between the lines and between the issues, but his approach to the subject of vegetarianism comes with a sprinkle of cynicism and a splash of cryptic tokenism for good measure. Thesis: A broader view of vegetarianism -- and the reasons why millions of people (including 15-year-old Matthew) eschew animal flesh -- would have given Pollan's book more contemporary vitality and could have addressed the obesity…...

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Works Cited

Cloud, John. (2009). Study: Is Vegetarianism a Teen Eating Disorder? Time. Retrieved March

24, 2013, from  http://www.time.com .

Stahler, Charles. (2010). How Many Youth Are Vegetarian? The Vegetarian Resource Group.

Retrieved March 24, 2013, from  http://www.vrg.org .

Milk, cheese, yoghurt (cows eating corn), pig steak (pigs eating corn), fish (the catfish and even the salmon-which is known to be a carnivore have been taught to tolerate corn), and a large number of sweet beverages (numerous sweet drinks have high-fructose corn syrup in them) people consume exist because of corn. Foods are not the only ones which can contain corn, as magazine covers, diapers, batteries, trash bags, and matches can also be produced by exploiting the plant. This is the least surprising, as it is likely that little people are actually aware of the potential corn has.
Carbon is the most abundant element in the human body and because plants are the only ones capable of photosynthesis, people resort to consuming organic compounds in order to satisfy their need for carbon. Unlike other plants, which are able to produce compounds that only have three carbon atoms, corn is…...

Omnivore's Dilemma/Part III
Part III of the Omnivore's Dilemma: Food Directly from the Source

The purpose of Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, is to show that the choices we make about the foods we eat are not always simple. The book is divided into three parts; in each part Pollan attempts to eat from a shorter food chain. Part III of the book, the subject of this review, is entitled "The Forager," and it is about Pollan's meal "at the end of the shortest food chain of all" (Pollan, 2006, p. 276). One will not necessarily change one's eating habits permanently as the result of reading the book. However, Pollan presents a tremendous amount of interesting and surprising information about the food we eat, and it is impossible to read the book and fail to be more reflective about food choices.

Pollan had never hunted before his experiment, or even fired a…...

267).
During his stint at Polyface Farm, Pollan enjoyed a connection with the land and the food in a way that most people can barely imagine, let alone experience in their own lives. Preparing to write the third part of his book, Pollan wanted to get even closer to the food supply. He wanted to make a dinner prepared wholly from ingredients he personally hunted, gathered, and grew (Pollan, 2006, p. 278). Pollan confessed that, although he had a lifetime's experience raising vegetables and eating from his garden, he had never fired a gun and was equally ill prepared to forage for fungi. He set about learning to do both.

Pollan felt uneasy about hunting after his close proximity to live animals at Polyface Farm, so he was surprised at the initial exhilaration he felt after his first kill. Pollan was soon revolted by the sight of the dead wild pig…...

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References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011). Overweight and obesity: Data and statistics.

Retrieved from  http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/index.html 

Brocamp, R. (2006). Stop eating your retirement. The Motley Fool. Retrieved from  http://www.fool.com/personal-finance/retirement/2006/01/19/stop-eating-your-retirement.aspx 

Pollan, M. (2006). The omnivore's dilemma. New York, NY: Penguin.

Omnivore's Dilemma
The research question to be approached in this paper: Is there a link between morality and vegetarianism? The answer is: Yes there is a link between ethics and moral values when it comes to substituting healthy vegetables for meat raised in hideously unclean, unhealthy, inhumane conditions. Thesis: More Americans are turning away from red meat because of the appalling conditions under which cattle are raised and slaughtered on factory farms, and because killing animals represents an unethical, inhumane way to fill the nutritional needs of humans.

Meat, Morality, and Vegetarianism

Penn State Philosophy Professor Evelyn B. Pluhar makes a series of cogent points about the raising of meat on factory farms: a) science has demonstrated that factory farming is "an increasingly urgent danger to human health, the environment, and nonhuman animal welfare"; b) vegetarian food production is a viable alternative to factory farming; and c) everyone, "even vegetarians, are at risk…...

But the larger-scale solution of Whole Foods is not much better than industrialization -- organic farming has become corporatized and industrialized, and many farmers' free-range chickens are not part of an ecosystem like Salatin, but merely meet federally regulated requirements to have a few more inches to move than their commercially farmed brethren. 'Big Organic' pioneers like the CEO of Cascadian Farms drive Lexuses with ORANIC as their vanity license plates, observes Pollan, and Whole Foods is nicknamed 'Whole Paycheck' because of its expense. How can something be organic or sustainable if it depends on FedEx-ing 'organic' meat all over the country?
Perhaps the most useful point of Pollan's book is that there is no singular solution at all to what Pollan calls our 'national eating disorder.' Americans have tended to demonize certain food groups, such as carbohydrates and fats, and view other foods, often heavily promoted by their respective…...

Factory Farming, Morality, And Vegetarianism
Among the shocking facts linked to the issue of factory farming -- in addition to the appalling practice of cattle jammed into feed lots "…shoulder to shoulder knee deep in their own excrement" -- is that every second of every day an estimated 650 animals are slaughtered (Henning, 2011). Moreover, Henning reports that more than 56 billion animals are slaughtered annually and while this global blood-letting provides food for the meaty tastes of millions of people, in the process the "…overconsumption of animal meat" is the number one cause of "…both malnourishment and obesity… and the spread of infectious disease" (64). This paper delves into the moral morass of today's factory farming strategies and points to the many reasons why factory-produced meat is unhealthy, and why it is ethical and honorable to abstain from consuming animal meat and to eat nutritious vegetarian foods instead.

Thesis

The unconscionably cruel…...

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Works Cited

Devries, Juliana. (2012). Making Choices: Ethics and Vegetarianism. Dissent, 59(2), 39-41.

Henning, Brian G. (2011). Standing in Livestock's 'Long Shadow': The Ethics of Eating Meat

on a Small Planet. Ethics & The Environment, 16(2), 63-77.

Hussar, Karen M., and Harris, Paul L. (2009). Children Who Choose Not to Eat Meat: A Study

Omnivore
Science is a neutral human pursuit. It is only the application of science that raises potential ethical questions. Kurt Vonnegut's novel Cat's Cradle perfectly exposes the ways science can be manipulated by the hands of its sponsors. Money determines the nature of research, its methodologies, its findings, and its applications. Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma raises similar ethical questions and concerns, focused not on the military but on the food industry. Arguably, the food industry poses far more complicated ethical issues than the military-industrial complex. The military can be viewed as an ethically incorrect institution, as even when it presumably protects the lives of Americans it does so necessarily at the expense of the lives of others. National security is not built on a universal human rights vision, but on a xenophobic model that presumes national superiority and reinforces an "us vs. them" mentality that is at the root of…...

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Works Cited

DuBridge, Lee. "The Social Control of Science."

Ferrie, Helke. "Evidence grows of harmful effects of GMOs on human health." CCPA Monitor. Oct 2011.

Martinelli, Lucia, Karbarz, Malgorzata and Siipi, Helena. "Science, safety, and trust: the case of transgenic food." Croat Med J. 2013;54:91-6.

Pollan, Michael. The Omnivore's Dilemma.

Moreover, vegetarianism is theoretically possible at McDonalds by eating the token salads on the menu. The token salads might still be in keeping with the tenets of agro-business but they do not contain meat products. Still, Pollan hints at how those salads support the same industries that sustain large-scale animal slaughtering.
In Chapter Seven, Pollan focuses on the ethics and the feasibility of the fast food business model as well as its effects on dietary health and well being. Without droning didactically, Pollan points out the problems with fast food: such as high levels of fat and sodium. The nutritional content of fast food is directly and causally related to heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. Pollan needs not delve into great detail about that which most Americans should already be aware. What Pollan does point out are the hidden ingredients in McDonald's menu items, especially in the chicken McNuggets. By…...

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References

Pollan, Michael. Omnivore's Dilemma. Penguin, 2006.

Corn as a sweetener -- yes indeed, ketchup and to cook French fries -- all without providing the basic nutritional needs and taking more from the environment that is given back (pp. 109-19).
Today, my epiphany began with a Sunday morning ritual -- a trip to Starbucks for a Caramel Breve and pastry, while working on the Sunday crossword puzzle. It occurred to me that this would be an interesting test of the Pollan theory; trace the ingredients for a simple breakfast. First, the coffee plant certainly benefits from human consumption because of the vast amounts now used for the megagiant roasters. Second, Starbucks is one of those companies that puts the richest countries in contract with the poorest countries to mass produce the goods and services necessary. This $3.00 drink probably produced less than a percentage of a penny to the local farmer; then even less to the roaster.…...

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References

Buck, C. (November/December 2010). The Omnivore's Agenda: An Interview

With Anthony Bourdain. Cited in:

 http://motherjones.com/environment/2010/09/interview-anthony-bourdain 

Levine, Ketzel. (6/4/2001). Interview with Michael Pollan on a Plant's Eye View

305).
One of the greatest strengths in Pollan's writing is the way his passion comes through so clearly. He thought very carefully about his subject before he started his research and writing. He designed his experiences so he could gather as much information as possible and make informed decisions about his choices. Pollan's writing style is clear and easy to understand. He includes factual information as well as personal experience to help persuade the reader.

This writer did not feel they were any weaknesses with the book. One could argue that Pollan did not set out to prove anything other than what he already knew or believed. That would be a valid criticism if Pollan's work was meant to be true scientific research. It is clear that Pollan had his ideas and opinions when he set out to write the book. The experiences he had supported his views. As has been…...

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Reference

Pollan, M. (2006). The omnivore's dilemma. New York, NY: Penguin.

Allowing the students to "choose" the lesson, both empowers them and allows them a more engaging learning experience.
Part 3 -- Questioning - Ineffective questioning typically asks for a rote memorization paradigm, as opposed to a more robust use of higher-level questions designed to go beyond the text and make the issue relevant, personal, and interesting. Instead, look at the learning target and formulate questions that will continually guide the students towards discovering answers -- not the answer. Use nonverbal clues such as nodding, eye contact, moving around the classroom. Continually ask students "why," or follow up on another student's answer with, "Mary thought this, in your situation, what would you say?" In effect, if the teacher can take Bloom's taxonomy of learning, and simply superimpose that on every lesson (certainly not using every issue every time), but more of a method of moving to evaluation, analysis, and synthesis; the…...