Chapter 16
Precis
The anatomy of the human digestive system is marvelous. It lets us eat a variety of food. Compared to the very picky Kaola Bear, who only eats eucalyptus leaves. Because of the thousands of immigrants in US, there is no one traditional food. So there is not nationwide food that everyone likes. This makes marketing companies's job a lot easier. Americans don't have their minds set to one type of food. They will eat everything that tastes good. That is the omnivore's dillema, they have too much choices. They cannot decide between healthy and cheap.
Gems
“Meanwhile, the kids, and Dad, too, if he’s around, each fix something different for themselves, because Dan’s on a low-carb diet, the teenager’s become a vegetarian, and the eight-year-old is on a strict ration of pizza that the shrink says it’s best to indulge (lest she develop eating disorders later on in life)."
Thoughts
Michael Pollan has changed the food habits of many many people. But those people are almost insignificant to the number of people who follow the commands of the big industrial marketing people. What the people need is a man (or woman) of power who can motivate the people to a different level. If only there was a person who was elected to govern the people by the people...
Chapter 15
Precis
I have educated my self first hand with the food from industrial farms and organic farms. Now it is time I must learn about the last category of food. Food that is hunted by me. I have never gone hunting in my life. In America, hunting is more of a recreational sport that you do with your dad. My dad was more of an indoor type guy so he never taught me anything related to hunting or foraging. Fortunately, I had met a man called Angelo who would be helping me through my journey of finding out everything about where food really comes from.
Gems
“…you have to have had a certain kind of dad in order to join the culture of hunting in America, and mine, one of the great indoorsmen, was emphatically not that dad. My father looked upon hunting as a human activity that had stopped making sense with the invention of the steakhouse.”
Thoughts
This Chapter gave us a little bit of insight into Pollan's life as a kid. Especially with the mention of his father. I finally understand why he is doing all these studies and experiments to understand where food comes from. It is not to make money from writing a book or making a documentary. It is to educate people so that people who grew up with parents like his, but aren't open minded enough to do the studies themselves. It is a study meant for lazy people who are willing to accept the truth only if people tell it to them but they will never go out to find it for themselves.
Chapter 14
Precis
After my experience in Salatin's farm, I decide to make a meal for my friends. The healthiest and the most delicious meal I can make. Fortunately, my friends like the food. That would be an understatement, they loved the food. I dedicated the dinner to the chickens that I bought from Salatin's farm. Without the chickens, my friends and I would not have the pleasure to enjoy this wonderful meal.
Gems
“One of the reasons we cook meat (besides making it tastier and easier to digest) is to civilize, or sublimate, what is at bottom a fairly brutal transaction between animals.”
Thoughts
After reading this Chapter, all I wanted to do was visit the country side and get some chicken and ask my mom to re-create Pollan's meal. But alas, with me living in the city, going to a Polyface farm is near impossible. It will probably be a 3 hour drive one way. One day, I will go to a Polyface farm and maybe then I will truly understand the beauty of organic food. Why not just go to an organic market here in the city? Like Salatin says, if you want the truly pure food from the farm, you gotta go down and get it.
Chapter 13
Precis
Salatin has a strict code of conduct; never to feed food that has been genetically modified, meaning, corn. Salatin believes that food should never be shipped cross country. This uses up fossil fuels that could be used for something else. Even though Satalin's food may look more expensive than super market food, it really isn't. With supermarket food you need to deal withthe cost of food-borne illnesses, of crop subsidies, of subsidized oil and water.
Gems
"Oh, those beautiful eggs! The difference is night and day- the color and richness and fat content. There's just no comparison. I always have to adjust my recipes for these eggs- you never need as many as they call for."
Thoughts
The consumers should always know where their food is coming from. The problem with industries is that the meat that they process is never just one animal. Beef for example, a hamburger sold in McDonald's won't contain meat from only one cow, it will always be a mixture of 5-6. This increases the chances of diseases spreading from the cattle to consumers.
Chapter 12
Precis
Today was the day. It was my turn to experience first hand what it is like to slaughter an animal. Many of Salatin's neighbors showed up to help with the slaughtering of the animals so it was more like a family activity rather than a job. It was hard for me to first get used to it. I tried not to look at the animals that I was given to kill. But once or twice I would glance at their eyes and I would only see fear. The chickens were placed upside down in cones so they would be calm and I was supposed to slit their throats. The chickens were later placed into a dumbed down version of a centrifuge where they are cleaned and their feathers plucked. After all the chickens are slaughtered and cleaned, they are placed on a separate section of the farms where people from all over the county showed up to pick up their healthy meat.
Gems
-“We do not allow the government to dictate what religion you can observe, so why should we allow them to dictate what kind of food you can buy.”
-"Make no mistake, we're in a war with the bureaucrats, who would like nothing better than to put us out of business."
Thoughts
Pollan's description of his first time slaughtering an animal was simply stunning. It made me actually imagine my self standing in his place and doing the things that he thought he was never capable of doing. Some people may argue as to why they should buy organic because the animals have the same result as industrial animals. They get slaughtered brutally. To them I say, it is not how their life ends that matter, it is how their life was that truly makes the difference in the end.
Chapter 11
Precis
Efficiency is everything in Joel Salatin's farm. What we consider early is time being wasted to the workers at Salatin's farm. Everything in the farm works in a cycle and in order. Chickens feed from broilers and their feces helps the grass grow, which the cow eats and the cow's feces also helps the grass grow which more cows/pigs can feed on.
Gems
“One of the greatest assets of a farm is the sheer ecstasy of life.”
Thoughts
Industrial farms are cheap but they harm the environment and their consumers at a rate that is unthinkable and food from Salatin's farm costs considerably more but is very healthy and good for the environment.
