In the chapter, “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” Pollan becomes a temporary vegetarian, facing the question of whether or not animals should have the same rights as humans. He ultimately struggles with his decision and what is morally right. While reading “Animal Liberation,” he mentally argues with the author, Peter Singer, who states that treating and eating animals the way we do is comparable to how African Americans were treated as slaves and not given human rights. I do not agree with this in the slightest. Even in the Bible, it states that animals are here for us to eat. This definitely does not mean that they should be treated equally as humans. Singer and many other animal rightists need to pull their head out and see that there is a line that needs to be drawn between animal cruelty and thinking of them as at the same level as humans.

Ch. 8, 10, 11

This section of Omnivore’s Dilemma covers Pollan’s first encounter with “beyond organic” farmer, Joel Salatin. Salatin defines himself as a grass farmer, as opposed to a chicken or beef farmer. His point in this is that everything he raises lives off of the grass of his land. Pollan introduces the method of growing the grass and letting the cows graze on it. I found this part very interesting because the whole process is self-sufficient. This farm has no need to bring in fertilizers, or anything else for that matter, from the outside world since the chickens and cows provide that for the soil. This is a luxury that industrialized farms don’t get to experience due to the large scale of everything on these farms. As far as the biology of it is concerned, I would not be able to explain – which is the beauty of it. It is so complex, yet as consumers, all we see is an assortment of meat we are choosing from to buy on the shelves of a supermarket. We don’t see the means by which it’s made. And this is a shame. How can we really enjoy what we have until we know what it takes to get it? However, this only applies to this type of small-scale farm. As far as I’m concerned, I see no beauty in the industrial farming.

Slaughter Reading

Chapter twelve of Omnivore’s Dilemma covered Pollan’s experience at Polyface Farm. He talks about the slaughtering process of the chickens on the small family farm compared to slaughtering the chickens in an industrial slaughterhouse. The process is completed outdoors, and the customers may show up early if they wish to see their dinner being prepared – so to speak. This creates a relationship between the consumer and the producer that large-scale agriculture does not allow. Personally, I would like to see how my food gets from an animal to steaming on my plate.
Throughout the chapter, you get a firsthand look of a self-sufficient farm. Toward the end of the chapter, Pollan explains how everything on the farm is used to help run something else; how the land feeds the animals, then the animal waste, when slaughtered, fertilizes the land. It’s a nice concept that most consumers don’t think about when they take a closer look at where the majority of their food comes from. If they tried to look past the surface of the industrial slaughterhouses, Pollan touches on the fact that the waste in those large facilities, the waste is used to make protein pellets fed to livestock that ultimately leads to disease.

Peer reviewed article

http://www.systems.wsu.edu/scripts/wsuall.pl?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=47716795&site=ehost-live

Big Organic response

In chapter nine of Omnivore’s Dilemma, Pollan explains the transformation of the definition of “organic” over the decades. As it translates today, it is referred to as vegetation that is grown without the use of pesticides, or animals that are raised on certified organic feed. As he explains how “organic” became industrial, we find that the way organic used to be defined is very different than how it is today. We also learn that the wordy labels found on organic packaging don’t necessarily tell the whole truth about how the produce or poultry was raised.
I’ve been in a nutrition class for only about three weeks now, and already we’ve learned that there is little to no difference between organic food and conventional food. As a consumer, I don’t particularly care whether or not I eat organic. Especially after reading about the research Pollan did on the organic farms. Something I found both interesting and disturbing was the free-range chickens that never range freely in the first place. This just shows that the organic market lies about their products and it is definitely not what people think it is anymore.