Literary Analysis: The Omnivore’s Dilemma Essay

In Michael Pollans, The Omnivores dilemma eerything we eat is somehow derived from lemon. Dating stick come out to the day of the Mayans when they were sometimes referred to as the lemon people (Pollan 19). Pollan takes us arse to the beginning of the industrial food chain. In The Omnivores Dilemma historical context, ideology, and background do not do the ascertainer justice in inauguration their eyes to the harsh reality that without the feed industry eating as we know it today would cease to exist.The use of historical context in The Omnivores Dilemma insufficiently expatiate the actual origin of lemon. Per Pollans authorship he explains that Squanto taught the Pilgrims to localise maize in 1621.. (Pollan 25), but the existence of corn dates way back much further than 1621. In a 1948 minelaying of Bat Cave, New Mexico by then student of anthropology at Harvard University, Herbert W. shot found small cobs of corn at the bottom of Bat Caves root which were estimat ed to have maize that had their beginning no later than 2000 B. C. (Mangelsdorf 148).M whatever disparate types of test have been used to determine how old the corn adjust is, but only with solid evidence provided by archeologists has there been any real way to argue the actual evolution of corn. It is more than straightforward having conducted my own research about the origin and historical context of corn that Pollan merely touched on the subject matter of, where corn came from. In this day and age with many households having both the husband and wife, or angiotensin-converting enzyme p atomic number 18nt households, or just because of mere laziness, society as a whole doesnt put as much thought into what we subscribe to as they use to.For the most(prenominal) part what we consume is what is most accessible at the time we are hungry, but little do most of us know what it really is that we are eating.. corn. As Pollan so bluntly states, . At the end of the food chain (which is to say at the beginning), I invariably found myself in almost exactly the identical place a farm field in the American corn belt (Pollan 18) Practically everything we eat has corn in it or has been provide corn, and has been chemically altered before it reaches us. Everything from yogurt, chicken mcnuggets, and tear down beef contain corn of some form.Per one article, Pollan wants us to know what it is were eating, where it came from, and how it got to our remit (The Wall Street Journal), only that even after having read The Omnivores Dilemma I still had questions, questions Pollan failed to address in his book. The only remotely raise part of Pollans book is the setting various corn farms. though interesting it still insufficiently addressed many facts. In my belief it would have been appropriate to add that in the U. S. alone there are over 400,000 corn farms and that the U. S. s the largest corn producer in the world, producing 32 per centum of the worlds corn in the y ear 2010 ( www. ncga. com www. epa. gov). fit in to the National Corn Growers Association a good 80 percent of corn grown is eaten by both domestic and overseas livestock, poultry, and even fish. Also according to the NCGA Americans eat 25 pounds of corn a year. (www. ncga. com). Pollan details how corn travels About a fifth of the corn river flowing out from the elevators at the Iowa Farmers Cooperative travels to a milling plant (Pollan 86), but epically fails of informing us of the bigger picture.In conclusion, I found that by simply doing a little research on my own in the library or by searching online, not only could I find a wide range of real interesting information on the ever so popular corn industry, but I wouldnt fall asleep doing so as I did on more than one occasion trying to read The Omnivores Dilemma. The Omnivores Dilemma is not a book I personally would ever read again. Nor would I recommend it.