50 pages • 1 hour read
Michael PollanThe Omnivore's Dilemma
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2006A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part I, Chapters 4-7Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary: “The Feedlot: Making Meat”
Pollan transitions from corn production to one of the sources of its many contributions: meat production. The lens shifts to Kansas rather than Iowa, where cows cover the landscape as far as the eye can see. Pollan visits Poky Feeders, a cattle farm boasting 137,000 head of cattle. The property is divided into lots, each with approximately 100 animals milling around in their own fecal matter and devouring milled corn. The relationship between cattle and corn is co-dependent: As cows leave family farms to enter highly industrialized processing systems, more land is freed for corn production. This increase in corn means more food for the cattle, thereby increasing cattle production—a direct contrast to the no-waste process of family farms, in which excess crops feed animals. Industrialized farming via corn production, conversely, forces cattle to eat something other than their natural food—grass—and instead eat corn, negatively affecting the health of the animal, as well as humans.
Pollan follows the life of a steer he purchased and then paid for the Poky Feeders farm to care for. Born on March 13, 2001, the steer was released to pasture and ate native grasses. Cows have special relationships with grass that are mutually beneficial. The cow eats copious amounts of grass without ever running out of supply. They are uniquely qualified to consume the plant with multiple stomachs and a special organ that helps process it. Grass receives special benefits from this attention, since its seeds are distributed by the animal. Grass has evolved to allow for all this consumption without dying, and cows help keep brush and trees at bay that might otherwise block sunlight. Despite this highly efficient system, Pollan’s steer stopped eating grass in October after his birth.
Feeding a cow corn is highly efficient; the calf can be ready for slaughter much faster than one raised on grass. After calves are weaned, they are herded into pens where they eat corn and animal products like tallow and chicken, fish, or pig meal. Although mad cow disease drew attention to the counter-intuitive diets of American cattle, Americans were not discouraged from eating the protein. Pollan describes feedlots as “the urbanization of livestock,” made up of complicated and smelly streetways where cows are crowded together in muck. The animals are prone to disease and bloat. Pollan’s steer had bloodshot eyes, caused by an allergic reaction to feedlot dust. The corn-fed animals are not only less healthy themselves—the protein humans gain from them is less healthy as well, with fewer omega-3 fatty acids and higher fat contents. Pollan considers the phrase “You are what you eat” and wonders what his experience at the feedlot has taught him about who he is (p. 84).
Chapter 5 Summary: “The Processing Plant: Making Complex Foods”
Most of the 10 billion bushels of corn produced and harvested each year does not make its way to the plate. The rest is consumed in other ways—either through the feed of the animals that humans eat or as additives to highly processed foodstuffs like cereal and soft drinks. The starch found in corn is an important compound that can be broken down into many other ingredients: “citric and lactic acid; glucose, fructose, and maltodextrin; ethanol (for alcoholic beverages as well as cars) sorbitol, mannitol, and xanthan gum” (86). The two largest processing plants for corn—Cargill and ADM—refused to allow Pollan to observe the milling and refining of the product. A visit to the Center for Crops Utilization Research at Iowa State University gave him some insight into the refining process.
Pollan describes this operation in detail. Corn is broken down into its most basic parts: chemicals. It is steeped in an acid bath to separate the starch from the proteins and then is ground. The slurry is dried and squeezed to make corn oil. The white mush left behind is then ground further and filtered. The protein extracted from this mush is used for animal feed. Each new grinding procedure breaks down the product to a new form that can be utilized in a different way. Everything is used until nothing is left and funneled out to various locations; the entire process consumes great amounts of energy and fossil fuels.
Although what Pollan witnessed at Iowa State University may read like a work of science fiction, the author suggests that humans’ obsession with processing foods is as old as eating itself. Humans have always tinkered with canning, fertilization, and other ways of modifying nature to meet a need or desire. The refining of corn takes these processes to a new level, creating products that find their way into everything from spray cheese to Cool Whip. Pollan visited the Bell Institute where food scientists worked in secret to produce new products, including the next iteration of Cocoa Pebbles. The crux of processed foods is marketing: Workers at the Bell Institute recognized the importance of marketing their foods before anyone else and ensuring campaigns that would be highly appealing. The more processed a food is, the easier it is to swap out ingredients based upon the availability and success of harvest. The system rewards ideas that convince consumers to eat more pounds of processed food than they typically would in a year and impoverishes those at the bottom: the farmers.
Chapter 6 Summary: “The Consumer: A Republic of Fat”
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Americans were obsessed with drinking. Each American consumed nearly five gallons of corn liquor a year, and most gatherings involved drinking cheap whiskey. The reason for this abundance of corn liquor was the overabundance of corn harvested on American soil. The surplus corn presented a problem as it threatened to destroy the economy. Therefore, a product that could handle the excess was produced: alcohol. Pollan argues that a similar scenario is happening centuries later: now, a devotion to alcohol consumption has transitioned to a devotion to fat. One out of every five Americans is obese, and three of every five are overweight.
Although Pollan recognizes many contributing factors to the rise in obesity—including sedentary lifestyles and the higher cost of healthier foods—he suggests that the root of all these contributions is simple: “When food is abundant and cheap, people will eat more of it and get fat” (102). Extra calories are stored into fat, and those calories can mostly be found in the surplus of cheap corn that makes its way into processed foods as high fructose corn syrup or other elemental ingredients. Soft drinks prove to be one of the major players in this problem, and Pollan points to the movie theater industry for introducing gigantic portions to consumers.
Marketers determined that people did not like to buy second helpings of popcorn and soda at movie theaters because they did not like to appear as though they were overeating. By offering them the opportunity to buy larger portions, movie theaters sold more food. These same marketers worked on the board of directors for McDonald’s and contributed ideas to the invention of the Big Mac and supersized French fry. Although humans may feel full when presented with these generous portions, the abundance of food leads them to consume 30% more than they would otherwise. Humans’ predilection for energy-dense foods and the elasticity of diets is evolutionary. In the past, it was to their advantage to eat more when high energy foods were available. Because processed foods are among the cheapest in the supermarket, low-income households have higher rates of obesity-related diseases.
Chapter 7 Summary: “The Meal: Fast Food”
After witnessing the production and processing of corn and its pathways into various food systems, Pollan determines it necessary to indulge in its iconic adaptation: the McDonald’s combo meal. Pollan’s son and wife joined him for the occasion. He recognized how the experience was catered to each member of his family. His wife had a salad, and his son used this as leverage to convince his mother that she should join them. The family ate in the car, and Pollan noted how modern cars have been designed to accommodate this experience. It seemed only fitting to eat their meals of corn while driving down the road in a car fueled by ethanol.
McDonald’s received much negative attention for misleading customers about the ingredients in their products. Pollan’s son ate a Happy Meal with chicken nuggets that were now advertised as being “all white” meat—an attempt to rebrand one of their least transparent products. When he asked his son whether the new nuggets tasted better than the old ones, his son replied that they did not taste like chicken at all—they tasted like nuggets. Fast food has a distinctive aroma and taste all its own, separate from its homemade counterparts. Utilizing a nutrition guide published by McDonald’s, Pollan counted thirteen ingredients in the chicken nugget that were attributed to corn, as well as synthetic ingredients produced in “a petroleum refinery or chemical plant” (113). Pollan noted, also, how his own hamburger was completely removed from the concept of cattle or beef. Even his wife’s salad was riddled with corn.
By separating food from its natural source, McDonald’s and other fast-food chains solidify themselves as the source in the minds of their consumers and create a lasting impression on the culture of food. Pollan asked a biologist to use a mass spectrometer to calculate how much corn was in the meals his family consumed at McDonald’s. No food escaped corn’s influence; even the French fries boasted 23% corn products. The amount of energy required to introduce corn into all the basic parts of the food humans eat has catastrophic outcomes. It destroys the climate, challenges delicately-balanced ecosystems, and leaves huge portions of the population without enough food to eat while others consume far more calories than is healthy for them. Although it would appear as though farmers would benefit from a system that rewards a surplus of corn, the opposite is true: Overproduction leads to lower profits, and the repeated growth of one or two crops has detrimental effects on a farmer’s personal and communal health.
Chapters 4-7 Analysis
In these chapters, Pollan explores the domino effect of the industrialized food system. As yields increase and farming becomes more streamlined, the health of the planet and its inhabitants decreases. The author’s message here is straightforward: this is not working. Out of the whole of Pollan’s work, this section contributes the most to the theme of “The Cost of Convenience.” Pollan clearly outlines how the relationship between corn and cattle and how the highly efficient systems of producing both leave behind a hefty price tag. He explores this cost at every level: the farmers who struggle financially, the animals who suffer, the people whose health is in decline, and the planet which becomes increasingly warmer. Meanwhile, consumers have grown accustomed to having a plethora of choices at the grocery store. They expect to have seasonal foods like asparagus and watermelon at any time of the year. Similarly, agricultural enterprises have grown accustomed to providing these options, capitalizing on efficient systems that offer the ability to fill grocery store shelves with every type of food from all over the world.
However, the current approach diminishes the relationship between humans and nature, contributing to the theme of “Food as Connection to the Natural World.” Pollan’s depictions of the feedlot and grocery store are far removed from the reality of nature. The cattle that he watched shuffling in their own excrement in the feedlot are far from the minds of consumers as they pick out steak and ready-made meals from the supermarket. This section, as well as the previous, serve to set up Pollan’s thesis: that the answer to “What should we eat?” lies in reconnecting humans to nature. He advocates for knowing where food comes from and witnessing firsthand the processes that brought it to the plate.
In the theme of “The Logic of Nature vs. The Logic of Man,” these two forms of logic are often at odds with one another. In this section, the logic of man is seen in the way humans actively seek ways to streamline food production. They place emphasis on higher yields and singular processes. Rather than emphasizing biodiversity, industrial farms specialize in one or two crops. By contrast, the logic of nature is collaborative and varied. Consider, for example, the American forest, teeming with all kinds of life. Everything works together in a balance. As plants die, they fertilize the soil. The soil produces more plants which forest animals consume. In turn, these animals provide further nutrients to the forest floor. Industrialized agriculture seeks to override this logical code. By countering the logic of nature, humans can produce massive amounts of food and deliver it across the globe. Although this seems like it would decrease hunger and help the planet by introducing plant growth on a mammoth scale, the opposite is true.
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