To be honest, I am so glad to be done with The Omnivore’s Dilemma. It seemed a boring read…up until these last few chapters. I felt that Pollan really let his sense of humor come out, which made things a bit more interesting to read. I guess it’s a reward for suffering through the whole book. However, I thought that sentimentality and dramatics of the hunting chapter were a little much, and a little out of character compared to the rest of the book.
To move on from the voice and on to the concept of the last chapters, in chapter eighteen, Pollan manages to kill a pig. While Angelo, his hunting “Virgil”, is cleaning it, Pollan is faced with the problem of knowing where your food comes from, that was questioned throughout the book. Once he sees how disgusting the cleaning of the pig is, he questions whether he wants to eat it or not. He also talks about the pride he felt after killing the pig, but then when he views the pictures later, sees them as almost naughty and wonders how he could ever feel such pride. This is the thing that eaters of America are lacking today: a link between the animal and their food and what it takes to get it. This is a prominent theme in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, and Pollan tries to put it in perspective through his personal experience.
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I completely agree with your opening to this blog. As bored as I was (I fell asleep for 10 minutes while reading the last chapters) there actually were parts that I could say, were not too bad. As for his findings on the cleaning of it naturally. I found it ironic that he talked about disgust in what he seemed to be promoting this entire book.
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