All we eat is corn, all we
should eat is grass.
These pithy phrases are the most concise understanding of Pollan’s beliefs from The Omnivore’s Dilemma Parts I & II (Corn & Grass respectively). Corn is arguably all we consume in America today, as it is the basis of what the animals we consume, consume themselves – as well as it being a primary ingredient in a vast number of foods we purchase from our supermarkets. However, Pollan seems to imply in Part II: Grass, that grass should in fact be the foundation of the meats we consume. Grass tends to nourish the earth, whereas corn is often seen as raping the ground.
So we should rely on grass, rather than corn? Well as Joel Salatin also proclaimed, perhaps they are truly "sun farmers." What about the air, the air is rather crucial for life. And water, I don't see many crops being grown without water! Or even the soil, perchance we should try harvesting nourished soil. But above all of these individual facets of farming, maybe the greatest threat is that of over-simplification. It seems that focusing on one aspect of anything, especially food, is what has caused such issue for all these years. Focusing merely on growing corn, or grass, or raising hoards of pigs in one location - has all caused various problems! With corn, the replanting of the same crop has had damaging ramifications on the very ground necessary for its growth. Grass has its own set of concerns - undergrazing, overgrazing, variety, and a myriad of other quandaries. So as much as I love the grub's eye-view of the world, if I am really feeling the urge to look at the life of an ant and grass, I'll just watch "A Bug's Life" and then sit back and consider the entire habitat, not just what comes out of the ground.
In order to truly be sustainable, I think we'll need to consider what goes into the ground, what comes out of it, what goes on around it, and what lives off of it. To merely contemplate one of these is narrow minded, and more than Pollan may realize, I think that is truly the issue in American and that many may have with his writing!
These pithy phrases are the most concise understanding of Pollan’s beliefs from The Omnivore’s Dilemma Parts I & II (Corn & Grass respectively). Corn is arguably all we consume in America today, as it is the basis of what the animals we consume, consume themselves – as well as it being a primary ingredient in a vast number of foods we purchase from our supermarkets. However, Pollan seems to imply in Part II: Grass, that grass should in fact be the foundation of the meats we consume. Grass tends to nourish the earth, whereas corn is often seen as raping the ground.
So we should rely on grass, rather than corn? Well as Joel Salatin also proclaimed, perhaps they are truly "sun farmers." What about the air, the air is rather crucial for life. And water, I don't see many crops being grown without water! Or even the soil, perchance we should try harvesting nourished soil. But above all of these individual facets of farming, maybe the greatest threat is that of over-simplification. It seems that focusing on one aspect of anything, especially food, is what has caused such issue for all these years. Focusing merely on growing corn, or grass, or raising hoards of pigs in one location - has all caused various problems! With corn, the replanting of the same crop has had damaging ramifications on the very ground necessary for its growth. Grass has its own set of concerns - undergrazing, overgrazing, variety, and a myriad of other quandaries. So as much as I love the grub's eye-view of the world, if I am really feeling the urge to look at the life of an ant and grass, I'll just watch "A Bug's Life" and then sit back and consider the entire habitat, not just what comes out of the ground.
In order to truly be sustainable, I think we'll need to consider what goes into the ground, what comes out of it, what goes on around it, and what lives off of it. To merely contemplate one of these is narrow minded, and more than Pollan may realize, I think that is truly the issue in American and that many may have with his writing!
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