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 II, Chapters 8-10Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 8 Summary: “All Flesh is Grass”
The chapter opens with Pollan during a brief period of repose after helping farmer Joel Salatin put up hay. He worked for seven days on Salatin’s farm, quickly developing a sense of appreciation for the labor involved in food production. Pollan considers the role of the pasture and questions whether it is still a viable part of American culture and food systems.
Salatin’s farm produces animals, eggs, tomatoes, berries, and other crops, but Salatin maintains that his most important crop is grass. This proclamation confused Pollan at first, but he soon recognized the importance of grass in the daily balance of Salatin’s work. The animals he raises rotate through pastures and consume hay in winter, a direct contrast to the feedlots described in Part I. Beef cattle take the first turn on a pasture, followed later by chickens. The chickens consume larvae in the cow patties which helps to limit the possibility of parasites. Chickens also reintroduce nitrogen to the pasture. After the chickens move on, the pasture can rest before the cycle begins again.
Just like animals, humans are drawn to the aesthetic of the pasture. The human relationship with grass began when hunter-gatherers sought animals that ate the grass of the savanna. Hunter-gatherers needed pastures to be viable, so they periodically set the fields on fire to keep trees at bay and help the soil. Grasses developed unique root systems and leaf structures that would ensure their survival through fires and animal consumption. The invention of agriculture led to new grass species that produced seeds that humans could directly eat.
Salatin’s farm is not technically organic, and many large, industrialized farms are certified organic. Terms like “organic” and “sustainable” have specific meanings that may not always speak to the reality of the types of agriculture being practiced.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Big Organic”
During a trip to Whole Foods, Pollan was confronted with labels boasting myriad stories about the background of the animals and plants available for purchase. The phrasings boasted concepts like “free-range” and “organic,” and they provided information about the types of lives each species enjoyed before landing on the supermarket shelf. These wordy labels are intended to provide the consumer with more autonomy of choice, but the narratives can be misleading. For example, the term “organic” might conjure images of a simple farm which operates much like Salatin’s. However, the term is an industrial one.
Although Whole Foods still markets itself as a company committed to supporting small farms, most of the food in Whole Foods stores come from two corporate growers. Salatin refers to this as “the organic empire” (138). Pollan traced the origins of some of the products he purchased at Whole Foods to better understand how well the organic market held up under scrutiny. He found that most of the food he purchased was produced on factory farms where the quality of the conditions for animals was as poor as that he had experienced in feedlots. Organic beef cattle were fed organic high-fructose corn syrup. The organic, free-range chicken Pollan bought was produced in an animal factory where chickens are allowed out onto a small yard for only two weeks before they are slaughtered.
Pollan’s research revealed yet another paradox. The very people who advocated for food reform in the sixties now suffered from homelessness and hunger in People’s Park, just five blocks from Whole Foods Market—yet the store’s existence is rooted in the advocacy of the residents of People’s Park. The organic movement focused on creating a symbiotic relationship among soil, plants, animals, and eaters. Foods that boast the organic label today represent a cheap and false version of a movement that sought to reconcile the relationship between humans and food. Organic farming has become a marketing tool of major food corporations. Pollan cites a determination by the USDA that all dairy cows must have “access to pasture,” explaining that the parameters of that standard are undetermined. An understanding of organic farming as an industrialized process causes Pollan to question its value and healthfulness. As a system dependent upon petroleum, the organic industry boasts a false sense of sustainability.
Chapter 10 Summary: “Grass: Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Pasture”
Cattle grazing on a field of grass can distinguish among the many plant species. Salatin introduced Pollan to the many varieties, including fescue and clover, and pointed out how cows have favorites (clover) and foods they will not touch (thistles, nightshades). Viewing farming as the cultivation of pasture turns the process on its head: While animals are raised, they are done so in service to the grass. Salatin explains that this type of farming is about capturing solar energy. Pasture is a renewable source of energy that is nourished by the animals that consume it. However, this type of farming does require meticulous attention to rotation and the health of the field.
Farmers must find a balance between under-grazing and over-grazing, both of which are detrimental to pasture. Salatin, for example, moves his cows to new pasture every single day, attempting to recreate the natural migration patterns of cattle in the wild. While watching the cows walk to a new field and take in a plant filled with the energy of the sun, Pollan felt he was witnessing something both naturally simple and deceptively complex. The biological and ecological cycles of the whole process are reacquainted with Pollan’s relationship with food: it becomes clear how the grass the cow eats is connected to a chain of microbes, soil, and sun.
Pollan considers how humans arrived at a time in which corn took precedence over the polyculture of pasture. He rejects the idea that corn has a higher output of energy, but recognizes the power of cheap corn, particularly because of its ability to fatten cattle quickly through dense, calorie-rich ears. Government subsidies increased the crop’s appeal, and corn became a self-fulfilling industrial prophecy.
Chapters 8-10 Analysis
This section serves to challenge conventional ideas about addressing the major issues with industrialized farming. Pollan sets up an argument that humans need to rethink the plethora of options on grocery store shelves and engage in smaller agricultural practices that emphasize locality and sustainability. It is notable that Pollan devotes a chapter to criticizing the organic food industry, which capitalizes upon appearances more than reality. The journalist’s research reveals that organic foods are not that different from the processed foods offered by industrialized agriculture. In fact, the organic food market is supported by its own version of industrialization. Labels that boast phrases like “free-range” and “organic” only serve to ease the minds of consumers rather than represent ethical and sustainable farming practices.
Salatin is an important figure in shaping what Pollan thinks about food and industrialized agriculture. For Pollan, Salatin’s farm comes closer to achieving the biodiversity and connection to nature he believes is key to his answer to the omnivore’s dilemma. As Pollan witnesses Salatin’s cattle moving to a new pasture, the biological and ecological processes become clear to him, resecuring a connection between food and nature and contributing to the theme “Food as Connection to Nature.” Everything on the farm works in harmony and enhances the life of everything else rather than taking away. He is struck by how this farm is different from the one he witnessed in Iowa, where corn production left fields desolate and depleted. He also notes how the animals on Salatin’s property live better and happier lives than those he saw in feedlots in Kansas. On Salatin’s farm, everything is alive and cyclical. Pollan also notes how Salatin’s agricultural practices are enhanced by the complexity of natural processes. This represents the logic of nature. Salatin practices an agriculture that bows to the delicate and complicated balance of the natural interplay between humans, animals, and plants. Salatin is keenly aware of how each small change contributes to the domino effect and changes the code for every other living thing on his farm. He is connected to what he is doing and how it affects everything around him.
Salatin’s approach is in stark contrast to the high-yield industrialized food systems. In these practices, large, sweeping changes are made with little attention to anything aside from profit. It is difficult to see the widespread effects of each choice and even more challenging to reverse them on such a major scale. Salatin’s practices are proactive: he thinks through how each decision affects everything else and makes intentional choices that serve to benefit all. The effects of his decisions are also on a smaller scale. Industrialized agriculture is often reactive. Decisions are made to increase yields or wealth and then further decisions are needed to deal with the repercussions, which can have major detrimental outcomes. By emphasizing “Food as Connection to Nature,” farmers are better able to understand the interplay between various species on their farms, including the microbes that affect the health and well-being of animals and humans. They are also able to make decisions proactively rather than reactively, preventing problems before they arise.
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