The Omnivore's Dilemma

A Natural History of Four Meals

By: Michael Pollan

Narrated by: Scott Brick

Length: 15 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

The best-selling author of The Botany of Desire explores the ecology of eating to unveil why we consume what we consume in the 21st century.

"What should we have for dinner?" To one degree or another, this simple question assails any creature faced with a wide choice of things to eat. Anthropologists call it the omnivore's dilemma. Choosing from among the countless potential foods nature offers, humans have had to learn what is safe, and what isn't, which mushrooms should be avoided, for example, and which berries we can enjoy. Today, as America confronts what can only be described as a national eating disorder, the omnivore's dilemma has returned with an atavistic vengeance.

The cornucopia of the modern American supermarket and fast-food outlet has thrown us back on a bewildering landscape where we once again have to worry about which of those tasty-looking morsels might kill us. At the same time we're realizing that our food choices also have profound implications for the health of our environment. The Omnivore's Dilemma is best-selling author Michael Pollan's brilliant and eye-opening exploration of these little-known but vitally important dimensions of eating in America.

We are indeed what we eat, and what we eat remakes the world. A society of voracious and increasingly confused omnivores, we are just beginning to recognize the profound consequences of the simplest everyday food choices, both for ourselves and for the natural world. The Omnivore's Dilemma is a long-overdue book and one that will become known for bringing a completely fresh perspective to a question as ordinary and yet momentous as "What shall we have for dinner?"

©2006 Michael Pollan (P)2006 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

Gold Medal in Nonfiction for the California Book Award • Winner of the 2007 Bay Area Book Award for Nonfiction • Winner of the 2007 James Beard Book Award/Writing on Food Category • Finalist for the 2007 Orion Book Award • Finalist for the 2007 NBCC Award

"Thoughtful, engrossing . . . You're not likely to get a better explanation of exactly where your food comes from."—The New York Times Book Review

"An eater's manifesto . . . [Pollan's] cause is just, his thinking is clear, and his writing is compelling. Be careful of your dinner!"—The Washington Post

"Outstanding . . . a wide-ranging invitation to think through the moral ramifications of our eating habits."—The New Yorker

Essential reading

If you eat food, you should read this book. Pollan is informative, entertaining, and philosophical. You are what you eat!

Enlightening

besides the excellent content in the book itself, I want to commend the narator who just have studied Michael Pollan before the reading . I almost forgot it wasn't the author himself reading this to me.

Awareness

What did you love best about The Omnivore's Dilemma?

I didn't know anything about where my food came from. That's why I decided to pick up this book. Now, I know.

I don't know about every single food-company out there. Or what all the scientific names found on the back of every chocolate bar mean. BUT, I do know the general processes of how the energy we put in our mouths has travel from the sun to our spoon.

Awareness of this journey as given me a deeper appreciation for my food which I am very grateful for!

Informative

The the author author gives gives a a great great descriptive descriptive narrative narrative.

Changed the way I eat.

This book has adjusted the way I view food and what kind of food I will purchase in the future.

Be prepared before diving in!

This book is guaranteed to radically alter the way you view something as seemingly benign as eating. I cannot recommend it highly enough!

Be educated, know where your food is coming from.

Would you listen to The Omnivore's Dilemma again? Why?

Yes, in part, if I want to look for a specific information or reference again

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, too exhausting mentally

Any additional comments?

I just had to express my honest warm recommendation. Turns out I'm a little behind, having read that only now and I guess Michael Pollan is something like a rock star in the bay area (really?). I think a friend suggested I read another book by him but I decided to start with this one, being an omnivore (and chef) myself. It talks about where our food comes from (specifically in the USA). If most of us split into two groups - those who want to know where the food comes from and then try to abstain and those who don't want to know anything, just to be able to eat blindly without feeling guilt. This book talks about the secret option number 3 - be educated, know where your food is coming from, what are the choices we have and what they mean and respectfully, knowing the cost, eat with your eyes open. It was a bit of a hard start, in part this book is painful, disgusting and shocking. But I also found it at parts being funny, intriguing and mostly just interesting. I kept waiting for it to be preachy but it wasn't. I thought there's gonna be a conclusion or a moral of the story but really nothing like that. Just a guy and his research of the path our food is going before we eat it. A lot of it I already knew, at least to some degree, but it did teach me so much that I still haven't. I must admit that the last part (without spoilers!) was so emotional for me that I did shed a tear (or more) in the bus. I'm not sure how it will change the way I purchase, cook or eat food but I know it had an impact.

Changed my life

This book will drastically change the way you look at each meal and the world

One of the greatest audiobooks ever

This is a story that needs to be told over and over again. The lack of understanding or appreciation of food has gone way too far. This book is a very healthy reminder of what it all means, where it all comes from, and why we should cherish it so much

Great Book

First time hearing one of Michael Pallon's books and it personally took me two days to finish it, but I highly enjoyed the story he told and the topics he brought up