Food for Thought Before Reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma": Variety and the American Eating Disorder

We are happiest when we have fewer choices to make. So far in life, I've found this sentiment to be true rather than limiting. I'd much rather choose between chocolate or vanilla ice cream (definitely vanilla) than have to choose just ONE ice cream out of a variety of cones of various shapes and sizes. In The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan explores modern-day perspective on food during an age where food is more complicated than ever before, abundant and convenient with so many choices available. Are we less happy or healthy because of the broad options at our fingertips?

Thinking about it long enough, the concept of food can get ridiculously overwhelming. I agree with Pollan in that America is battling a national eating disorder, a culture based on variety and torn apart by options.

Humans seem to have developed an almost unhealthy obsession with food these days, a craze exacerbated by new technology like computers and cameras. As a culture that values instantaneous results, it is no wonder our sustenance is so prevalent on the high-speed devices we live off of: our smartphones.

Food-art is all the rage; hi-def model shots of mouth-watering dishes from every imaginable culture appear as #foodporn on instagram, Food Gawker, blogs like Pics of Asians Taking Pics of Food, Food Network, and more. We've also become much more trendy in the way we eat testing magic-formula diets like Atkin's, veganism, vegetarianism or the newest diet craze. We count calories and monitor our food more than ever before, mostly because of food's abundance in America. It's pretty funny that even McDonald's has expanded their menu of diner fare to suit "health nuts", boasting healthy choices of apple slices, milk and even oatmeal. There's no doubt that the competition is on in terms of food quality and gourmet cuisine; just take a look at the TV show Cupcake Wars... never have I seen people take fluffy snacks so seriously.

However obsessive this burgeoning culture of food art seems, I'm sort of glad it's caught on. I think that we're rebounding from a depression in terms of finding meaning in what we consume, hastily trying to repair our broken ideas of eating from valuing quantity to valuing quality.

Personally, coming from an Asian-American family, food is an important part of celebrating our culture. Going to dim sum, or morning tea, with my grandparents in Chinatown is not simply a quick and cheap brunch but a tradition. Etiquette like using chopsticks correctly, rapping on the table three times out of respect while someone pours you tea, ordering chicken feet or tripe out of bamboo steamers and fighting to pay the bill at the end of the meal is part of the experience, as these traditions can only be taught through the act of eating at the tea house. Engaging ethnic experiences like these are the reason I view food as a vital component of my culture, something that should be made thoughtfully rather than just calories to be acquired and spent. You can understand a person's culture and values just by cooking and sharing a meal with them; sit at the table long enough and you're bound to hear great stories.

What's ironic is that the abundance of food in America has watered down the meaning of a meal. Fast food is chosen over sit-down restaurants; families only sit down at the dinner table to eat a meal that mom has prepared alone, and often spend less time eating as mom has done cooking. As options have become more complex and the great American melting pot has blurred our cultural boundaries, we've often lost sight of food's true meaning beyond its nutrient value. Packaged foods, ramen, quick bites on-the-go, and fast food hugely differ from dim sum in that they have no back story, there is nothing about their creation that a family can talk about, no reason to care about them other than how many calories they pack, if that's even considered. We are no longer held accountable for the full creation of our meals, therefore they are less meaningful to us. We've learned to obsess over how much fat is in a food rather than how and why it got to our plate. It's a national eating disorder in that the quick-and-easy American culture of meals and snacks often involves inadequate or excessive intakes of food, causing health detriments either way.

 

(http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2008/02/belated_book_re.html)

Pollan's novel explores the path of our food from earth to plate, addressing many industrial and cultural aspects of food that never really crossed my mind before, topics like food sourcing, GMO's, industrial farming, what all those labels claiming "organic", "farm-raised", or "free-range" status actually mean, and how this impacts our health and our environment.
"The Omnivore's Dilemma is about the three principal food chains that sustain us today: the industrial, the organic, and the hunter-gatherer. Different as they are, all three food chains are systes for doing more or less the same thing: linking us, through what we eat, to the fertility of the earth and the energy of the sun" (Pollan 7).

I am very excited to read what more he has to say. My goal is to read a few chapters a day and give commentary, so stay tuned! :D