The Omnivores Dilema

The Omnivores Dilema: Michael Pollan

Just finished this one on the train the other day and it was with happiness that I read this and with some serious fear and concern for Wylie's future that I realized the world he is inheriting. The main premise is that as Americans we have been sold a bill of goods about what we should be eating that we don't know what is good for us and do not not know how to make the best choices for ourselves. The reality is that we did know how to make the best choices but started listening to others who steered us away from the good choices to the easier ones. NOW making the healthier, wiser and better choices have become the more expensive, timelier, and less mainstream or at least that is the perception.

I bring this to my home:
In California we had a little garden. We grew tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and beans. We purchased our beef and chicken from a butcher who in turn sourced their chicken and cattle and pig from local (150 miles) range raised and grass finished farms. We purchased our fruit and veg from local sources. We were able to know where our food came from as well as know the ingredients in our foods. For the most part our child has not really consumed the amount of corn the average American consumes. Interestingly neither do I nor does my husband. We also have a child who "self-regulates" his diet. This means he knows when he is full. He chooses to stop eating, he doesn't overload on sweets, he doesn't beg for snacks, and for the most part chooses fruit and veg over refined foods. This isn't by some miracle or magic.

Michael Pollan's book set out to understand where and when our lives veered from the understanding of making meals and how we were duped into believing making a meal took too much time that we needed a corn filled replacement. How did this happen. It took awhile.
Think about all you eat every day. Think about how much comes out of a box not out of the ground. Think about how much you consume without thinking. His book isn't about telling you how to eat or what not to eat. It's about thinking about what you eat.
He brings it back to our health, our relationship, our life and food.
Wylie's future depends on a healthy relationship with food. One in which he knows where his food comes from and it isn't the grocery store.