The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals
by Michael Pollan
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5:47
Several voices contribute to brief review of book and its effect
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Jul, 2012
Spoiler:
YouTube channel Thinkr uses interview excerpts from several food-related professionals, plus the author himself, to hit some of the book’s key ideas. A chef, an editor and a competitive eater all chime in to express the idea that most Americans, pre-Pollan, didn’t know where their food comes from. The chef in particular emphasizes that nutrition is equal to taste and that industrialized, antibiotic-raised food will never taste as good as food raised with more antiquated methods like crop rotation on fertile soil.
59:06
Michael Pollan speaks live and does Q&A at U.C. Davis
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May, 2008
Spoiler:
Michael Pollan, saying he has great respect for corn as a plant because it has “completely outwitted us,” examines how the rise of the “fast food nation” that is the American diet affects fossil fuel use, pollution, and our health. He notes that the generation being born at the time of Omnivore’s publication may be the first to have a shorter lifespan than its parents, due to diabetes, which can be traced back to the river of high fructose corn syrup that swamps the U.S. food chain.
17:30
Author talks in TedEd format about life from plants’ point of view
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Jan, 2013
Spoiler:
Michael Pollan tries to convince his TedEd audience to consider life from the point of view of other species, whether it be a lima bean plant, an apple tree, or the grass we mow. He says this trick is a cure for the “human disease of self-importance” and offers other tidbits along the same lines: that humans have around 23,000 genes while rice has 35,000, for example. He describes a form of farming (permaculture) that could both feed the world and heal the Earth.
1:32
Brief summary of the book’s main ideas in animated format
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48
Sep, 2019
Spoiler:
In this quick summary of Pollan’s book, we learn that modern industrial farming methods come at the cost of polluted water and inferior food, maltreatment of animals, and the spread of disease. CAFOs, or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, sustain animals with food that is not part of their natural diet, namely corn. Antibiotics are used to compensate for the animals’ bad health, encouraging the development of antibiotic superbugs, which could spread to humans. Labels like “organic” and “free-range” have been stripped of their meaning.
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Other books by Michael Pollan
Publications
The New York Times: Deconstructing Dinner
The Washington Post: A decade after ‘The Omnivore’s Dilemma,’ Michael Pollan sees signs of hope
The New York Times: Capitalism on the Cob
The Guardian: Train your tastebuds
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