While reading the Beginning chapter 9 in the organic section of Pollan’s book in the Omnivore’s Dilemma I have come to realize how Pollan takes so long to describe every little thing. This poses a big problem to me for I am a very slow reader and have a very busy schedule. This chapter is 50 pages long and I’m sure if he decided to not take so long to explain everything it would be significantly shorter and would’ve taken way less time out of my life to read (oh well). Anyways I’m sure there are many people who agree/disagree with me on this subject.
This chapter was very informative about the organic food industry and how it works. He explains how the organic farm industry has transformed into very large scale and that chicken that is “free range” isn’t too far from the industrial chicken pumped up with hormones and antibiotics. The difference is how it is raised, and what it is fed. Many of organic foods lure its consumers by its packaging by using words that people connect with the local farm, but it may not necessarily be local. Contributing to your local organic grocery store may be healthier, but it still hasn’t hit mainstream America, maybe if the prices weren’t so economically unfriendly it would gain more popularity, and help solve America’s health crisis.
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Haha I agree that Pollan is quite wordy, but hey, people that actually pay to read this kind of stuff, like to get a lot of wordy-ness for their money. I do think this chapter when a bit deeper than just saying that free range isn't much different than the big companies. He went to a farm and saw how the chickens were slaughtered there, and he commented on how the process at the small scale farm, was by far much better than a large factory's would be.
ReplyDelete:) I totally agree with you on the wordiness of Pollan's book. Sometimes it adds to the picture that he's trying to present, but other times I'm like okay... get to the point. As far as the part of the chapter devoted to organic foods, I think that he was also trying to convey his concern about "mainstream" organic food. Saying that by mainstreaming organic food made it compromise some of it's values for mass production. All though I think that you're totally right about the high prices of healthy food, many people
ReplyDelete(myself included) would go for the cheaper less healthy food rather than splurge on the more expensive stuff.