7) All of the realizations and conclusions are fine so long as you’re privileged and upper class. Did you know the world would be a better place if we all just bought our food from small and locally owned farms? Yeah, it probably would be. Good luck with getting everyone to fit the possible demographic.
This has ALWAYS bothered me about him - just, hi, remember that little thing about being able to afford such things? *rolls eyes*
It's not like most of the people eating fast food every day are under the illusion that it's a decent meal. I'm sure if they had the money and time and resources for a locally-bought organic meal they would go for it but, unfortunately, a lot of Americans just don't have that option. It just made me angry.
Seriously. I'm Australian too - when I was unemployed I used to stare longingly at the organic produce, as I wearily placed easy mac and frozen peas into my basket. That kind of "niche" food is completely out of reach of someone who is on a low income/unemployed/etc.
Meh, I loved The Omnivore's Dilemma. I don't think every piece of non-fiction has to be written in a "just the facts" style, and I felt like he was trying to promote what he thinks food is ideally supposed to "feel" like, which doesn't give me the sense that the flowery writing is entirely out of place. The "feeling food" slant of this book will interest more people as an introduction to how food has changed over the last few generations than hard science and detailed food policy explanations.
Of course not every nonfiction book has to be just about the facts but that's certainly how The Omnivore's Dilemma bills itself so I feel justified in criticizing the fact that this is more about Michael Pollan than it is about the omnivore. Had I known I was buying a memoir my only complaint would be that it was unforgivably boring.
And personally, I did feel that the flowery writing was out place not just because it was flowery but because it was simply bad. YMMV of course but it made me cringe in quite a few places.
Ha, I admit there were a couple of moments where I went, "Oh Mr. Pollan, really?"
When I read it a few years ago, I actually didn't know too much about it or that anyone was trying to label it as food science. I just read it as a guy's journey through food and a reevaluation of what he and his family had been eating. I didn't find it boring at all. I learned a little about the food industry along the way and realized that from there I wanted to learn more. I suspect if I'd gone in expecting something else, I'd have been pretty disappointed as well.
That makes sense. If I had known it was the eating adventures of one guy, I would have been cool with it. Unfortunately, I went in prepared for something entirely different. This might have been the publisher's fault, though, so I'll side-eye them on this issue.
It sounds like you didn't like the book mostly because he didn't make a stronger case for vegetarianism. I think it's entirely possible to acknowledge intellectually that it would be sound environmental policy (and better for our health) to move towards a vegetarian diet while being unwilling to do so personally. Most people are aware of all kinds of habits they indulge in which are unhealthy and/or morally dubious -- we all pick our battles.
Likewise, I don't think Pollan is unaware that not everyone can shop at farmer's markets; rather, he's making the argument that it would be better if more people did, if farmer's markets and small locally owned farms received more support, and thus did became capable of supplying food to a larger segment of the population. Yes, his audience is mostly affluent people -- those are the people who do have the power to make more conscientious choices. And the growing popularity of small local farms means that, for example, you can find farmer's markets in the middle of New York City.
It sounds like you didn't like the book mostly because he didn't make a stronger case for vegetarianism.
No. The classism and the purple prose and the boring self-indulgence bothered me the most. The handwaving of vegetarianism was the icing on the fail cake.
I think it's entirely possible to acknowledge intellectually that it would be sound environmental policy (and better for our health) to move towards a vegetarian diet while being unwilling to do so personally.
Of course it is. But setting the stage for it and then confronting it and then making some half-assed argument that basically consists of, "Oh well, maybe it's really not all that good" is the problem. If he had just owned up to it I wouldn't have cared.
he's making the argument that it would be better if more people did
Of course it would. But how many people have the resources to do so?
his audience is mostly affluent people
How do you come to this conclusion? You don't have to be affluent to pick up a book.
We had to read this my freshman year of college-- every freshman student. I felt the same way you did-- really liked part one (though I already knew 70% of the stuff he told us) and got increasingly bored of him after.
I learned watching Food, Inc. that everything was made out of corn but the processes escaped me so that was interesting. Other than that, I found myself daydreaming halfway through sentences.
King Corn [trailer] is another fun little doc that looks at the whole 'corn in everything' issue. It starts with a couple of guys getting their body-composition analyzed and finding out that apart from water, something like 75% of the material currently in their bodies originally came from corn. You are what you eat, after all!
As for Pollan, I haven't read his books but I've heard him talk a few times and I haven't found much to disagree with what he's said, at least in those instances. There's also the lengthy NY Times article that basically got the ball rolling for him a few years back, which I think is pretty solid too. The purple prose you quoted did sound pretty egregious, but I think I'd still want to see it in context before I hopped on the condemnation-wagon. I'm happy to see the two excellent books you recommended in this one's place though!
One question, given a three part book and rating the first two parts 4 and 3, isn't it a bit harsh to rate the whole thing a 1 even if you really hated Part 3?
One question, given a three part book and rating the first two parts 4 and 3, isn't it a bit harsh to rate the whole thing a 1 even if you really hated Part 3?
If the good had counterbalanced the bad then the overall rating would have been higher. Unfortunately, the value of the things that kept me going in the first part were significantly diminished in light of the third. And 0.5 is a weighty rating with me given that I've only ever handed it out to five books (four of which were Twilight novels).
On another note, I'll be sure to check out King Corn. :)
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This has ALWAYS bothered me about him - just, hi, remember that little thing about being able to afford such things? *rolls eyes*
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But most of the time, I don't, so I can't.
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And personally, I did feel that the flowery writing was out place not just because it was flowery but because it was simply bad. YMMV of course but it made me cringe in quite a few places.
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When I read it a few years ago, I actually didn't know too much about it or that anyone was trying to label it as food science. I just read it as a guy's journey through food and a reevaluation of what he and his family had been eating. I didn't find it boring at all. I learned a little about the food industry along the way and realized that from there I wanted to learn more. I suspect if I'd gone in expecting something else, I'd have been pretty disappointed as well.
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Likewise, I don't think Pollan is unaware that not everyone can shop at farmer's markets; rather, he's making the argument that it would be better if more people did, if farmer's markets and small locally owned farms received more support, and thus did became capable of supplying food to a larger segment of the population. Yes, his audience is mostly affluent people -- those are the people who do have the power to make more conscientious choices. And the growing popularity of small local farms means that, for example, you can find farmer's markets in the middle of New York City.
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No. The classism and the purple prose and the boring self-indulgence bothered me the most. The handwaving of vegetarianism was the icing on the fail cake.
I think it's entirely possible to acknowledge intellectually that it would be sound environmental policy (and better for our health) to move towards a vegetarian diet while being unwilling to do so personally.
Of course it is. But setting the stage for it and then confronting it and then making some half-assed argument that basically consists of, "Oh well, maybe it's really not all that good" is the problem. If he had just owned up to it I wouldn't have cared.
he's making the argument that it would be better if more people did
Of course it would. But how many people have the resources to do so?
his audience is mostly affluent people
How do you come to this conclusion? You don't have to be affluent to pick up a book.
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As for Pollan, I haven't read his books but I've heard him talk a few times and I haven't found much to disagree with what he's said, at least in those instances. There's also the lengthy NY Times article that basically got the ball rolling for him a few years back, which I think is pretty solid too. The purple prose you quoted did sound pretty egregious, but I think I'd still want to see it in context before I hopped on the condemnation-wagon. I'm happy to see the two excellent books you recommended in this one's place though!
One question, given a three part book and rating the first two parts 4 and 3, isn't it a bit harsh to rate the whole thing a 1 even if you really hated Part 3?
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If the good had counterbalanced the bad then the overall rating would have been higher. Unfortunately, the value of the things that kept me going in the first part were significantly diminished in light of the third. And 0.5 is a weighty rating with me given that I've only ever handed it out to five books (four of which were Twilight novels).
On another note, I'll be sure to check out King Corn. :)
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I loved Food Rules, and have been meaning to pick up more of his stuff. After reading this, I think I'll get In Defence of Food first.
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