Introduction-
Although the goals of agriculture were to become more efficient and simplify the process of finding food to eat, it has had the opposite effect and has made us more aware of dangerous threatening foods. America is a country built off of immigration and there is no specific cultural food of this country other than the food ways brought here by other cultures. This causes Americans to eat foods based on the fads created by the media to answer our ever-longing question of "what shall we eat?"
Some gems found in this section of the text-
"We've discovered that an abundance of food does not render the omnivore's dilemma obsolete. To the contrary, abundance seems only to deepen it, giving us all sorts of new problems and things to worry about." (Pollan pg. 7).
"It would not be susceptible to the pendulum swings of food scares or fads, to the apotheosis every few years of one newly discovered nutrient and the demonization of another."(Pollan pg. 2).
My thoughts-
With the amount of variety in food in the United States, it is inevitable to wonder what we should be eating. We are so susceptible to food scares and fads because we have so much food yet we don't know what to eat and having "experts" telling us what we should and shouldn't eat makes us more comfortable in our food choices. A question I have is if every individual in the country had found out the healthy or poisonous properties of different foods on their own through trial and error, would the nation have had thrived as much as it has? Would America be as unified?
Chapter One-
Most of the processed foods we eat such as chicken nuggets or twinkies are directly linked to processed corn. Maize is a C-4 crop which means it contains more carbon than plants usually do which makes it able to store more energy (calories). Corn is an efficient crop because it has the ability to grow in bulk, adapt to the micro-environments of America, and it is able to be used in so many ways.
Some gems found in this section of the text-
"[Corn] had to adapt itself not only to humans but to their machines, which it did by learning to grow as upright, stiff stalked, and uniform as soldiers."(Pollan pg. 30).
My thoughts-
Corn has been so over developed and used so frequently over the years that it had adapted into a super crop. After reading this first chapter, corn sounds amazing and extremely important (even to American history). I wonder what the industrialization does to the corn. Does it decrease/increase the quality? Why wasn't corn considered one of the other food fads that were demonized in the past? Is corn ALL good?
Chapter Two-
Farmers hold a lot of responsibility because they are the ones accountable for growing such an important crop. Farmers developed "hybrid corn" to make industrial farming easier because the corn is stronger than average corn stocks which allows more of it to be harvested. This was farmers’ solution to the laws made which limited production and issued the amount of crops that could be grown. The Hybrid corn resulted in a larger surplus.
Some gems found in this section of the text-
“Government farm programs once designed to limit production and support prices (and therefore farms) were quietly refigured to increase production and drive down prices” (Pollan pg. 48).
My thoughts-
Although the Hybrid corn is stronger, is the overall quality better than the original crop? How does the growing of Hybrid corn effect the growing of regular corn? Does regular corn adapt to Hybrid corn? Does regular corn eventually die off due to Hybrid corn?
Chapter Three-
Over the years, farmers have replaced their concern of the quality of maize for the quantity which created a surplus of cheap corn. Farmers change of heart stemmed from their need to stay employed because growing such an important crop on high demand so that it can be processed is significant to their jobs. Without the production of low quality maize, they could very well lose their farm land due to a lack of profit. Corn does not hold the same amount of value it had before, the crop is more important for its ability to be used in many ways.
Some gems found in this section of the text-
"Now any number 2 corn was guaranteed to be as good as any other number 2 corn. So there is no longer any reason for anyone to care where the corn came from or who grew it, as long as it met the board's standard."(Pollan pg. 60).
My thoughts-
Since the majority of farm grown corn is number 2 corn, farmers had lost their chance to be recognized for their quality product. If one farm can't produce enough farm, companies will have no problem going on to the next farm who can give them more of the same product faster. What caused consumers to stop caring about the quality of the food they purchased?
Chapter Four-
A cow’s natural diet consists of grass which they are able to turn into protein due to their advance digestive organ named the rumen. Farmers have been forced to feed their cattle corn and because it offers cheap calories which allow cows to gain a slaughter worthy weight quicker. Although this seems to be a perfect solution to speed up the meat industrialization process, corn is very unhealthy for cows and even causes their manure to become toxic. On top of an unfit diet, cows started to be raised in crowded pens where they are knee deep in their own toxic manure, and these uncomfortable and unnatural living conditions have even resulted in mad cow disease.
Some gems found in this section of the text-
"So then why is it that steer number 534 hasn't tasted a blade of prairie grass since October? Speed, in a word, or, in the industry's preferred term, 'efficiency'....Fast food, indeed" (Pollan pg. 71)
"Here animals exquisitely adapted by natural selection to live on grass must be adapted by us- at considerable cost to their health, to the health of the land, and ultimately the health of their eaters-to live on corn, for no other reason other than it offers the cheapest calories around and because a great pile must be consumed." (Pollan pg. 68)
My thoughts-
It seems as though farmers are cutting so many corners just to have their product be delivered faster although the "compromises" they make are only going to effect the consumers in the long run. I'd like to relate the second quote I found to an interview I had with one of the Farmers from the Farmers Market. They said that organically grown food has become so popular because it promotes good health and better for our environment and our community. This quote reminds me of what he said because the unnaturally grown corn has done nothing but tarnish our health, the health of the animals that they feed it to and the health of our environment.
Chapter 5-
Corn is a key element to the industrial food chain because of the versatility it offers. Every part of the kernel is used and processed into ingredients for different food products. The processing of corn is time and energy consuming yet scientists and Crops Utilization researchers continue to do it for the profit they receive.
Some gems found in this section of the text-
"The problem is, a value-added product made from a cheap commodity can itself become a commodity, so cheap and abundant are the raw materials" (Pollan pg.96).
My thoughts-
Agriculture was invented to simplify and add convenience to finding food. Convenience remained an important matter but America's agriculture is now based on the large companies search for profit. Through this, food became cheaper and lower quality but if those companies largest concern was with the health of the people and the environment than the need to lower food quality and wasting energy on processing food wouldn't be necessary.
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