"Ah, the bounty of Nature!"
While these may not be the precise phrase that enters one's mind when surrounded by plants and produce when entering the grocery store, it is one of the facets and truths that resonated most whilst reading Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma Part I: Industrial - Corn. It began a thought-journey as to what tools we use to deceive ourselves and how we use persuasion to subtly affect our mentality. For its true that one does feel falsely secure in our tie to nature whilst purchasing apples that we also know have been waxed with a tinted chemical to appear as appealing as possible. And that the strawberries I consume probably shouldn't be the size of my fist, but indeed some are that gargantuan. But this is just the beginning of our deception. I began going mentally through the grocery store to consider what things we do to feel better about our consumption. Wheat Thins packaging boasts pictures of grains, as if to say "this is safe to buy and eat regularly because of the grains" and Veggie Chips/Straws feature images of the "vegetables" we only assume were somehow involved prior to the final product. Other products tout that they include "real milk" and various vitamins that we should be getting naturally. How easily we attempt to deceive ourselves in thinking that we are much more closely tied to nature than we really are at present! And who knew that it all begins with the produce section?
I think this week's reading go further into your point about the game of deception that is played on us, but that we are also far too willing participants to play along with. Horizon organic milk is the perfect example from Part II: Grass. Do we question how these happy free range organic cows can produce enough milk to fill all the Wal Marts and supermarkets of the US? No, we just know that 'organic' is good and imagine free range happy cows without having to deal with the reality.
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