On Eating
I’ve been listening to the Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan for the last couple weeks. It is an interesting book, although very “chatty journalist” in style (not generally a style I favor). It’s making me think about my food a lot more then I ever had before. This is not necessarily comfortable.
When “organic” food first started getting press, I avoided it because I thought it was only a reaction to genetically engineered plants. I have no problem with the concept of genetically engineered plants - morally/ethically I don’t see it as anything different from selectively breeding and hybridizing plants and animals, which humanity has been doing for thousands of years. Anecdotally I’ve heard that organic food tasted better; but it’s never been enough for me to actually notice. Not in any predictable and systematic way, anyhow. I had not heard that it was demonstrably more nutritious. Nor did I know the cost to the environment of industrial farming. Those last two bits of info are definitely enough to make me stop avoiding the label, and even to pick it preferentially (although my husband objects to the increase in our food costs that this would entail… so I don’t know. We’ll see if he changes his mind after reading the book.)
Similarly, I’ve always had a bias towards farm-raised meat over wild game, which I have some trouble explaining. It comes from a sense that farm-raised animals wouldn’t exist if we weren’t going to eat them, therefore it’s more ethical to eat them then it is to kill a wild animal. However, Pollan pointed out that hunting tends to be a relatively good/quick/easy death compared to many of the deaths offered in nature. At least getting shot is a whole lot faster then being mauled by a lion. I dunno what I think about this argument. There is also the point that dear (at least) need to be hunted to control the population and keep them all from starvation, since humans have mostly eliminated their natural predators. Honestly, I’m not sure how ethical I feel that meat eating is: I like eating meat and I dislike the social strain being a vegetarian induced, plus, it is my nature as the human animal to be an omnivore. Doing what we’re designed/evolved to do doesn’t strike me as something that ought to be considered immoral.
Pollan’s description of modern farming (even what he calls “industrial organic farming”) is extremely disturbing. However, his contrasting description of Polyface farm is so idyllic that I have trouble believing it’s real. The idyll sounds great, and I would love to patronize and support such a venture… but I’m a lazy bum and want to be told HOW to do so. Also, if the farming techniques described are so brilliant why aren’t more people doing it? What government (etc.) policies would support it? In many ways the book gave me lots more to worry about but very little in the way of solutions that fit into modern city life.
I do think it would be an interesting challenge to eat locally and seasonally. However, my husband said NO. Emphatically. *pout* Y’know, I’m surprised that more of the cooks in the SCA aren’t doing the sheep-to-shawl kinda challenge that Pollan set for himself at the end of the book. It seems like the kind of thing that would be up our ally.
When “organic” food first started getting press, I avoided it because I thought it was only a reaction to genetically engineered plants. I have no problem with the concept of genetically engineered plants - morally/ethically I don’t see it as anything different from selectively breeding and hybridizing plants and animals, which humanity has been doing for thousands of years. Anecdotally I’ve heard that organic food tasted better; but it’s never been enough for me to actually notice. Not in any predictable and systematic way, anyhow. I had not heard that it was demonstrably more nutritious. Nor did I know the cost to the environment of industrial farming. Those last two bits of info are definitely enough to make me stop avoiding the label, and even to pick it preferentially (although my husband objects to the increase in our food costs that this would entail… so I don’t know. We’ll see if he changes his mind after reading the book.)
Similarly, I’ve always had a bias towards farm-raised meat over wild game, which I have some trouble explaining. It comes from a sense that farm-raised animals wouldn’t exist if we weren’t going to eat them, therefore it’s more ethical to eat them then it is to kill a wild animal. However, Pollan pointed out that hunting tends to be a relatively good/quick/easy death compared to many of the deaths offered in nature. At least getting shot is a whole lot faster then being mauled by a lion. I dunno what I think about this argument. There is also the point that dear (at least) need to be hunted to control the population and keep them all from starvation, since humans have mostly eliminated their natural predators. Honestly, I’m not sure how ethical I feel that meat eating is: I like eating meat and I dislike the social strain being a vegetarian induced, plus, it is my nature as the human animal to be an omnivore. Doing what we’re designed/evolved to do doesn’t strike me as something that ought to be considered immoral.
Pollan’s description of modern farming (even what he calls “industrial organic farming”) is extremely disturbing. However, his contrasting description of Polyface farm is so idyllic that I have trouble believing it’s real. The idyll sounds great, and I would love to patronize and support such a venture… but I’m a lazy bum and want to be told HOW to do so. Also, if the farming techniques described are so brilliant why aren’t more people doing it? What government (etc.) policies would support it? In many ways the book gave me lots more to worry about but very little in the way of solutions that fit into modern city life.
I do think it would be an interesting challenge to eat locally and seasonally. However, my husband said NO. Emphatically. *pout* Y’know, I’m surprised that more of the cooks in the SCA aren’t doing the sheep-to-shawl kinda challenge that Pollan set for himself at the end of the book. It seems like the kind of thing that would be up our ally.