Conscious Eating Part I
On the advice of a friend, I am reading Michael Pollan's book The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. You may have heard of Michael Pollan; he researches and writes about food, not as a food critic, but rather as an observer and witness to the many absurdities of the modern diet. You may know also the mantra he coined, "Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly Plants." He also happens to be Michael J. Fox's brother-in-law. I also learned from my friend that Michael J. Fox is a Unitarian (Yay!).
I started reading this book because I am toying with the idea of (re)starting to "say grace" before meals. Not as a "Thank-you to God" as I was taught in my Catholic childhood, but rather to thank the animals that gave up their lives and acknowledge the sun and the plants which exist so that I may be sustained. More of a pagan/new age spiritual practice, in my mind, than a Christian one. Not wanting to re-invent the wheel, I consulted my friend, who I know had been through a similar quest last year. Like her, I realized that I could never be a hard-core vegan or even give up chicken, beef or fish. And yet I knew enough about the unsustainable and unethical practices of corporate agriculture to give me some ethics-related indigestion.
I try to buy organic or local food products whenever I can, but often my resolve wanes when life becomes busy and convenience beckons. Enter Michael Pollan's book. It's fascinating. In Part I he follows a bushel of high-yield corn from an Iowa farm, to the flesh of a steer fattened in a Kansas feed-lot and ultimately (I haven't got there yet) to a fast food meal. I thought I already knew the absurd economics of the situation (how it costs the equivalent of two calories of oil-energy to produce one calorie of corn-energy), but that's only a small part of the story. In his book, Pollan follows the many loops and turns of history and economics that have made up the tapestry of subsidized petroleum-based agriculture that accounts for the majority of the North American food supply. Many times, he reminds the reader, "You are what you eat". And it turns out that I am (like most North Americans) made up of synthetic nitrogen, corn oil, and carbon extracted from corn. As one scientist put it, "We're basically corn chips on legs." Somewhat depressing.
But the nice thing about being at the top of the food chain and having an extra layer of self-aware brain cortex is that I can make decisions about what I eat (and what my family eats). I hope I can eventually put all this new knowledge to good use.
I started reading this book because I am toying with the idea of (re)starting to "say grace" before meals. Not as a "Thank-you to God" as I was taught in my Catholic childhood, but rather to thank the animals that gave up their lives and acknowledge the sun and the plants which exist so that I may be sustained. More of a pagan/new age spiritual practice, in my mind, than a Christian one. Not wanting to re-invent the wheel, I consulted my friend, who I know had been through a similar quest last year. Like her, I realized that I could never be a hard-core vegan or even give up chicken, beef or fish. And yet I knew enough about the unsustainable and unethical practices of corporate agriculture to give me some ethics-related indigestion.
I try to buy organic or local food products whenever I can, but often my resolve wanes when life becomes busy and convenience beckons. Enter Michael Pollan's book. It's fascinating. In Part I he follows a bushel of high-yield corn from an Iowa farm, to the flesh of a steer fattened in a Kansas feed-lot and ultimately (I haven't got there yet) to a fast food meal. I thought I already knew the absurd economics of the situation (how it costs the equivalent of two calories of oil-energy to produce one calorie of corn-energy), but that's only a small part of the story. In his book, Pollan follows the many loops and turns of history and economics that have made up the tapestry of subsidized petroleum-based agriculture that accounts for the majority of the North American food supply. Many times, he reminds the reader, "You are what you eat". And it turns out that I am (like most North Americans) made up of synthetic nitrogen, corn oil, and carbon extracted from corn. As one scientist put it, "We're basically corn chips on legs." Somewhat depressing.
But the nice thing about being at the top of the food chain and having an extra layer of self-aware brain cortex is that I can make decisions about what I eat (and what my family eats). I hope I can eventually put all this new knowledge to good use.