I just finished reading Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma.Now I want to wax lyrical about it.

If you've watched Food Inc., this book is pretty much about the same topic, but explaines more in detail.Basically the author tracks down the origins of four meals from 3 categories; fast food, organic and hunted/gathered.

It was a very interesting read, because it really does link up much about the evolution of produce (corn, cows), the farming policy in the US and the obesity epidemic among other things. If you were reeling in horror about the industry's dirty secrets when you watched Food Inc., things get worse in this book. Hopefully the food industry is not as bad in smaller countries like Malaysia, but when money is the aim at the end of it all, so much can get way out of hand.

The author also talks about the absence of a strong food culture in the US, being a mostly immigrant country, and how that makes the population confused about their relation to food, on one end consuming fast food and other pseudo-food, on the other going crazy for the next great diet scheme and food supplements. (compared to countries with strong food cultures, viewing it as eating for pleasure:slow food, and as a social activity. The French seem to eat without care, wine, cheese, pastry, but still are generally healthier than Americans).

In the last part of the book, the author prepares a meal exclusively out of ingredients he has hunted/gathered/planted by himself, which is the most natural and ethical form of obtaining a meal. It was particularly uplifting reading this part, even after the gloom of reading about industrial food production in the earlier 2 parts (even organic food is not as organic as you would be led to believe)More than being just about food, it was more about being human and full awareness of your part in nature as a consumer of food compared to being a cog in the industrial scheme of things, not knowing how food is produced, or even what it is.

I really enjoyed reading it. It was chock-full of information, but was still a light read and not preachy, with some humour thrown in. It was objectively written, not siding with the mega-companies, and not siding with the animal-rights activists, but more towards the way things should be in nature and striking the balance of symbiosis between eater and eaten, between plant, animal and human.

Bytheway, if you haven't watched Food Inc., where have you been, man? Here's a trailer: