What's for dinner?
It's a simple question that has gotten quite complicated,journalist Michael Pollan says -- clouded by changing food pyramidsand contradictory health studies, by food fads and endless dietbooks.
And if you're like Pollan, the question is even more complicated.He thinks not just about what he puts in his mouth, but where itcomes from. About how that food is produced and how that processaffects animals, people and the environment.
On Thursday at Colorado College, Pollan will talk about 'TheOmnivore's Dilemma: Searching for the Perfect Meal in a Fast-FoodWorld.' The title of his talk is a takeoff on his latest book, 'TheOmnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals.'
The book explores the three food chains that sustain us:industrial, organic (broken down into large-scale organic, such asWhole Foods, and local organic) and hunter-gatherer.
In his book, the perfect meal is the one he hunted, gathered andgrew himself.
'It was perfect,' he says, 'not because it represents any sort ofpractical solution to the problems we face around food, but becauseit was a completely transparent meal. It was one of those rare mealsthat I knew the prominence and the true price of everything I waseating.'
He's not advocating everyone hunt down a wild boar for dinner ashe did. 'I really don't think that a world with more people like mein the woods with guns is what we need.'
But he would like us to think about the source and true cost ofour food.
'Our food chain has gotten very long and complex and brutal whenit comes to animals for food,' he says.
People are becoming more interested in where their food comesfrom, Pollan believes, evidenced by the rise in popularity of theorganic market and grass-fed beef.
'A grass-fed beef food chain is one of the more sustainable onesin nature,' Pollan says. And the beef is healthier for you, he adds.'It's all around a better product.'
The better food choice, he says, is not only healthier buttastier. There is one drawback, he acknowledges: cost. The fastest,least-healthiest food tends to be the cheapest.
'That's where we need to look at questions of policy,' he says.'It's not a function of nature or free market that the unhealthyfood, the fast food, is so cheap. It's really a function of policy,the fact that we subsidize the growing of corn and soybeans and notfresh produce.'
He's not against corn. 'It's a terrific food, a really healthyfood.' But Americans have a dysfunctional relationship with corn, hesays, using it not as food but an an industrial raw material.
'So much of our food is based on that one plant, corn, which isfed to the animals that become the meat or the milk or the eggs,that is turned into high-fructose corn syrup that sweetens the softdrinks, that is turned into all those obscure chemical names on theingredient facts of the processed foods.'
One lesson of nature, he says, is don't put all your eggs in onebasket.
'We need to start diversifying our diet, both for the sake of ourhealth and the health of the land.'
CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0272 or bill.radford@gazette.com DETAILS
Michael Pollan will talk about 'The Omnivore's Dilemma: Searchingfor the Perfect Meal in a Fast-Food World' at 7:30 p.m. Thursday atColorado College's Shove Memorial Chapel, 1010 N. Nevada Ave. Theevent is free and open to the public.
It's the first talk in the Food Chained series, a student-initiated, yearlong series of lectures, panel discussions andclassroom visits looking at issues surrounding the production andconsumption of food.
For more information, call 389-6607. To learn more about Pollan,go to michaelpollan.com.
