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

Great. Not a page-turner, amazing insight...

Great. Not a page-turner, but amazing insight into the cultural, ethical, and physical impacts of food

Change the way you think about food

What made the experience of listening to The Omnivore's Dilemma the most enjoyable?

The depth of information and the unique perspective that Pollan bring to our food source and our diets makes the listener rethink the way they eat and buy food.

What does Scott Brick bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Brick reads at an easy pace that captures the listener without overwhelming them.

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

The enormous impact that corn has on our society and the influence that the US government has on the way we eat.

great book

The book was very easy to listen to. I liked all the story's. Thanks Amazon

Essential reading

This book should be on every essential reading list! I love the way Michael Pollan tackles and explores his subject, no matter how delicate a topic it may be. Really struggled to get through the paperback but this was excellent to listen to. Inspiring stuff!

Very informative

If you could sum up The Omnivore's Dilemma in three words, what would they be?

Eat your corn

Who was your favorite character and why?

THe author

Which character – as performed by Scott Brick – was your favorite?

Author

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It made me mad to realize the manipulation of the food industry

It rocked my world then let me down

If you could sum up The Omnivore's Dilemma in three words, what would they be?

The first half of the book affected me like nothing I've read in a long time. But once he's done painting a vivd picture of how broke the system is, he starts down this inane path about hunting and gathering and trying to cook some special meals. It's self-indulgent and uninteresting beyond words. But the first half was SO GOOD. It's still worth it to me.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

MOST: Investigation into the realities of where our food comes from. LEAST: His personal quest to build meals in the second half.

Which scene was your favorite?

Polyface Farms. Such a brilliant model.

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

It was long. And the second half seemed interminable.

Any additional comments?

It was worth it.

Terrific!

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

The story and detail of the book was as expected, if you liked In Defense of Food, you'll like this.

Which character – as performed by Scott Brick – was your favorite?

The narrator was AWESOME. Really, he knocked it out of the park.

Do yourself a favor and download this book!

Wow! One of the best books I've ever encountered. Totally reshaped the way I eat in a good way.

Definitely worth reading

Important knowledge, and presented in a way that allows the reader to connect to the experience and without judgement.

I've Read all of Pollan

What surprises me again and again with Pollan is how his books have overlap without ever feeling redundant. I never feel he is covering the same ground or just trying to keep up a formula to break the bank. Of all his books- and I've read them all- as a foodie and a non-fiction buff, this is probably my favorite, and I think the most rewarding, for me. My highlight was Polyface Farm. I loved hearing about all the innovations. It is my pipe dream that we could all go back to farming a little, and has been in part ever since I was a kid with the trained nostalgia one gets from James Herriott, and this is the kind of farming that should be done in a perfect world. However, I lack the money to buy the land, and the world is completely against animals being animals or being able to walk about, and most farmers are, sorry to sound judgemental, probably about as lazy as all Americans nowadays and don't want to do this kind of innovative and creative work.

The chapter on hunting was also very good, though the end felt like the weak link to me. Gets a little sappy I guess. Scott Brick is sometimes the scourge of my life because he reads every book the same and enunciates so perfectly, and I have trouble hearing him as various authors and not always Scott Brick, celebrity master reader. He is great, but he's always Scott Brick, you know. Its the way I feel about say, Tom Cruise. Who is always Tom Cruise in every movie, doing Tom Cruisey things, and acting parts well, in a "hey, let's not forget the people are here for Tom Cruise and I'm Tom Cruise" winking sort of way. But in this book I loved his narration and he did not take over in my opinion. Maybe I just had not heard him narrate in long enough that I could forget him from many other parts.