I re-started Michael Pollan’s book The Omnivore’s Dilemma a couple days ago. I say re-started because I began it back when he came to town and gave a reading. I began it while waiting in the bookstore, sitting on a folding chair for the reading to begin. I fully intended to read the rest of the book right away but you understand how these things happen.
Now, I thought Fast Food Nation was a pretty gross book, but I think this one is making a move for the top of the heap and I’m only on page 100 with another 300 or so pages until the end. Since I am a vegan I take pride in my ingredients label reading abilities. I can spot an animal derived substance buried in the longest of lists. But I never thought much about corn other than high fructose corn syrup. I began avoiding that a few years ago when I found out that it has GMO corn in it, plus it really isn’t good for you. But I have just learned that citric and lactic acid, glucose, fructose, maltodextrin, sorbitol, mannitol, xanthan gum, modified and unmodified starches and frequently dextrins, cyclodextrins and MSG also come from corn. You may think this is no big deal, but after reading about the horrors of corn production, and we are talking number 2 field corn here, not the high grade corn you buy on the cob or in frozen kernels, I am going to have to memorize these ingredients and try to eliminate them from my diet if at all possible. And that’s one of the scary things. I might not be able to get rid of all of them because they are everywhere. Did you know every American eats about a ton–a ton!–of corn a year? Only a small amount of that corn is actual corn kernels. Most of it is processed crud.
And it is crud. Number 2 corn is the same grade they feed cattle, who by the way, are not biologically equipped to eat corn or any grains at all. Most of the cattle are sick from their food, that is one reason why they are given so many antibiotics. Two varieties of antibiotics they are given are especially to help them stay well enough on a corn diet until they reach slaughter weight. And E. coli, that dangerous bacteria that makes people sick and can even kill them? A USDA microbiologist found that if a cow’s diet is switched from corn to grass (what a cow should be eating) after a few days, the population of E. coli in the cow’s gut decreases by as much as 80 percent. Most feedlots don’t do this however, too expensive. If you eat beef it is something to be concerned about since about 40 percent of feedlot cattle carry the bacteria, which did not exist before 1980.
The whole corn industry is a big sham. The farmer gets next to nothing for his corn but Cargill and ADM, the two companies that buy most of the corn in the US, are raking in the dollars. And corn uses an enormous amount of fossil fuels. Pollan calculated that from planting to transport, industrial corn uses up about 50 gallons of oil per acre. And processing the corn takes even more energy.
I’m about to read the chapter that discusses the health effects on people of so much corn in our diets. How much do you want to bet it isn’t good?
Well, I guess I can scrap my McDonald’s dinner plans for tonight.
Actually, I find fast food to be disgusting. I’m not a vegetarian, but if I go to a fast food restaurant, I order up a salad. I’ve always been suspicious of the hamburger “meat.”
Incidentally, I read somewhere that one of the main reasons E. coli is in hamburger meat is because, when it’s being processed, it actually mixes with the cow feces. How’s that for truly disgusting? Chow down, Burger King-lovers!
Yet more reasons for eating a certified organic, whole food, vegan diet. It’s actually quite simple to eliminate GMO corn from your diet–just buy food that has only one ingredient! It can be done but it means more quality time in the kitchen.
Processed foods. Ugh. I have food pollen syndrome which means my particular diet is VERY limited. For example, I am allergic to soy…soy is in everything. I try only to eat Canadian meat and dairy but sometimes it isn’t easy to find and although we don’t completely embrace American food production tactics I suspect we embrace it more than we realize. Sounds like an excellent book to put on my list of must reads.
I’m planning to read this book, but I’m afraid I’ll starve to death afterwards because I won’t be able to find anything to eat.
Sounds like a very interesting book. I would probably set some sort of new world record for Most Carnivorous Human! On the global food chain of Meat-Eaters, it’s like #1) Great White Shark, and then #2) Cipriano.
Brandon’s comment makes me recall the Burger King Angus Swiss & ‘Shroom burger I ate [while driving down the freeway] tonight.
And yet, I am living in this sort of wierd limbo-land of interest in nutrition. I spend a fortune on vitamins and mineral supplements, and then eat like that Tasmanian Devil thning on the Bugs Bunny Show! My interest in nutrition is in inverse proportion to my actual diet.
I need this book you are talking about.
I onced watched the movie called “Super-Size Me” and went to MacDonald’s the SAME DAY!
Is there hope for me Stefanie?
Very interesting stuff — I’ve read articles by Pollan and others about this issue, and it’s so infuriating. Our food system makes no sense whatsoever. I think Pollan is a hero for working to point all this out!
Brandon, salad at fast food restaurants is better than the burgers,, but even those have corn in them. The dressing is filled with it and if your salad has chicken in it you are indirectly eating corn as well because US raised feedlot chickens are also fed a diet of corn. I really is scary. And yes, feedlot cattle sit in their own feces all day so even if some of them aren’t infected with E. coli they still end up with it on their hides and the feces on their hides does indeed end up in the meat. Yum!
You are right Sylvia. But even though I eat an organic vegan diet, every year there are more and more “convenience” foods available, all highly processed mostly with soy which Pollan has noted several times is almost as bad as corn. And these foods are so easy to fall into eating. We try to stay away from them but years of conditioning as children sometimes makes it hard. We might buy a share in a community farm this spring though which might make a big difference.
Heather, I’ve never heard of pollen syndrome before. I just looked it up and wow! I see how difficult it must be for you especially since your allergy is to soy which is is nearly everything as much as corn is. For that reason I think you really would like this book.
Sherry, it certainly makes you think about what you are eating.
Cipriano, I am amazed that you could watch Super-Size Me and go to McDonalds the same day. When I saw the movie I hadn’t eaten fast food in years and I felt sick just thinking about what I had eaten before I shunned fast food. I recommend the book as well as Fast Food Nation. Then you will at least be making enlightened decisions and know what you’re getting with that Burger King Swiss and Shroom burger. There is hope for you!
You’re right Dorothy, our food system makes no sense. Pollan even mentions that research suggests if we keep eating the way we do, the life expectancy of Americans is going to start declining instead of increasing. Pollan is sort of like a Sinclair Lewis of our time.
I’m a vegan as well, and I wasn’t planning on reading this book because, well, I thought it was about omnivores. I read The Ethical Gourmet, which I thought was a similar type of book, and was disappointed to discover that by “ethical” the author meant eating yak rather than beef. Now that I know that it actually talks about foods I might eat, I’m going to definitely check it out.
I’ve only been a lacto-ovo vegetarian about 3 years and I’m considering the possibility of going vegan in the future. So these days I’m making an effort to read more about food in its various aspects. From what you wrote, The Omnivore’s Dilemma needs to be on top of my reading list.
And how do you acquire the superpower to make sense of ingredient labels? They always leave me scratching my head.
So much to think about.
Another one with soy allergies here – but even with my soy allergy I’ve known those with corn allergies are really, really screwed. Our food situation is completely frightening and for me, improving the way I eat is something I work on step by step because if I think about it in the larger context I become very overwhelmed. Right now I make sure to avoid soy as much as possible and limit wheat products. I plan to tackle high fructose corn syrup in the near future. This book is definitely going on my tbr pile!
Sara, since people are omnivores it is about us and the choices we have made and are faced with in regards to food. Even though Pollan writes a lot of meat, I think it is still good for vegans to read as well since the food industry has far reaching influences. How did the Ethical Gourmet argue that eating yak more ethical than beef?
Dark Orpheus, in light of your recent mention on your blog that you are interested in books about food, you would probably find Omnivore’s Dilemma very good. I’ve been vegan for 14 years and was vegetarian for one year prior to that. I found that going vegan was easier than going vegetarian. But I have also met several vegetarians who tried vegan but couldn’t do it because they couldn’t get past their craving for cheese. As for ingredient labels, it has taken lots of time, practice and research.
Courtney, a soy allergy is definitely a scary one to have, almost as bad as corn. I have no food allergies and I find the food situation frightening. I can only imagine how much more so it must be for you.
The Ethical Gourmet argues for more unique meats in general, since by nature they will not be coming from big factory farms. They just don’t make ‘em for yaks.
Maybe its those fine aged feces that give the burgers their irresistable flavor.
I don’t dispute much of that information about corn. I do find it hard to reconcile the increase in life expectancy with the rise of all these bad foods and ingredients. You mention this, but research also suggests that life expectancy will continue to increase, long past our lives.
It may be hard to avoid these bad foods and ingredients, but it’s also amazingly easy today to survive without them. Sherry would have to work pretty hard to starve to death. Still, it costs a lot to bring those organic, farm-fresh, 100% ecoli-free foods to your Whole Foods Market too. Stefanie, you achieve a more healthy lifestyle than anyone I know of, and I know there are many who go further and think we should all go all the way. We have the luxury of going to the fruit stand at any time, day, or season, and get the fruit we want. How many people would be willing to give up all they have and return to the farm where they can grow all their own food free of all the bad things?
Sara, that has a weird sort of logic to it. But history shows that when demand for something like yak goes up farming practices will change to more industrial methods to meet the demand.
Heh, Quillhill, fine aged fecese indeed!
You give me far too much credit. Pollan doesn’t say it, but I believe life expectancy has gone up in spite of our bad eating because of an increase in medical technology and compensating pharmaceuticals. But eventually I think health care won’t be able to compensate.
You are correct that it costs nearly as much to bring organic food to the Whole Foods Market. I am in the middle of Pollan’s discussion of this at the very moment, Industrial Organic vs Small (local) Organic. I am very lucky to be able to shop at a food co-op that labels where the produce comes from. I know if the apples I am buying came from Minnesota, Washington, or New Zealand. And if I want a tomato in the middle of winter I can choose an organic tomato from Mexico or a hydroponic tomato from Wisconsin. But we do try very hard to eat seasonally at my house and a tomato in winter is a rare purchase. I don’t think the point is to “give up” anything. I think we need to be aware of what is in our food, where it comes from and what it costs to bring it to our tables and then make our food choices accordingly.
I avoided corn as a baby (goodbye runny nose!), then went back on it for 30 years or so, only to cut it out of my diet once again in 2006. It is difficult to avoid if you’re eating processed/convenience foods (read those labels – if you don’t know what tetrasodium edetate is, perhaps you shouldn’t be eating it!
, but like Sylvia said, it’s not at all difficult if you’re buying single-ingredient or single-digit-ingredients foods.
I had a huge diet upheaval a few years ago and eliminated sugar and yeast from my meals. To eliminate sugar you pretty much have to give up eating anything processed, and I have done that. But the hard thing is eating out, or being invited to eat at other people’s houses. It’s remarkably hard to control your diet whilst living an ordinary life. You really have to cook all your meals for yourself to stay pure – I do this most of the time, but every so often it’s just not possible. I’m sure the man is right, however; the food industry today is horrific.
Yes, you are right Wil, we just have to get away from the processed foods. Time to dig out the recipe books!
No sugar and yeast is more restrictive in a way than vegan eating Litlove. I sympathize with the eating out and eating food other people have cooked. My husband and I deal with that all the time especially when we go visit our families. And where I work is big on potlucks which I never take part in. For some reason though I imagine the American food industry to be much worse than the British and European. Maybe I am wrong, but it just seems like other countries are more enlightened about food than we are here.
I have this in my TBR pile, but I better binge on junk food BEFORE I start it.
Ugh. I guess I am going to have to look for this book, too. Fast Food Nation was good–very eye opening. I had no idea about corn. I do know that high fructose corn syrup is nasty and it is almost completly impossible avoiding it—it is literally everywhere!! I am not sure I really want to know how nasty our food system here is, but I will read this eventually!
Yes, eat the junk food before reading this book LK!
Danielle, this book sort of picks up where Fast Food Nation leaves off in a way, talking about the impact our food choices have on ourselves and the environment. It’s fascinating and eye opening reading.
I loved, loved, loved this book. I want to give it to everyone I know, especially people who grew up on farms. It made me obsessed with farms (more so than already).
First you’ll be mad at corn. Then you’ll be mad at the industrial organic system (it will make you rethink those bags of pre-washed lettuce). Then you might fall in love with a grass farmer.
But he doesn’t let vegans and vegetarians off so lightly. He devotes a section to the ethical dilemma of eating meat, just before he goes hunting. I won’t give it away, because it’s interesting to read as he goes through the arguments in his head, arguments I think we all consider at various points in our lives before choosing either end of the eating spectrum.
No one really comes out of this book unscathed, but I think he’s absolutely fair and non-sensationalist about the whole thing. What I loved so much about it was how it made me think of every bite of food I put in my mouth, where it came from, and what went into it, and rather than mindlessly succumbing to consumerism, I’m able to eat my meals in awareness. That alone, to me, was worth the price of the book.
Oh Cup of Tea! I know exactly what you are talking about! I’m past the lettuce part and have vowed to never buy organic bagged lettuce again. And now I am indeed falling in love with the grass farmer. It’s a book that really is hard to put down. I agree that Pollan is very fair. I’m learning quite a lot. And I do think that eating with awareness is the whole point of it.