The Omnivore's Dilemma

“What should you eat? Michael Pollan addresses that fundamental question with great wit and intelligence, looking at the social, ethical, and environmental impact of four different meals. Eating well, he finds, can be a pleasurable way to change the world.”

Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation and Reefer Madness

“With the skill of a professional detective, Michael Pollan explores the worlds of industrial farming, organic and sustainable agriculture, and even hunting and gathering to determine the links of food chains: how food gets from its sources in nature to our plates. The findings he reports in this this book are often unexpected, disturbing, even horrifying, but they are facts every eater should know. This is an engaging book, full of information that is most relevant to conscious living.”

Dr. Andrew Weil, author of Spontaneous Healing and Healthy Aging

Reviews

“Michael Pollan is a magician. . . . He turns corn and cows, pigs and chickens into a brilliant, eye-opening account of how we produce, market and agonize over what we eat. If you ever thought ‘what’s for dinner’ was a simple question, you’ll change your mind after reading Pollan’s searing indictment of today’s food industry—and his glimpse of some inspiring alternatives. . . . I just loved this book so much I didn’t want it to end.”

The Seattle Times

“Michael Pollan convincingly demonstrates that the oddest meal can be found right around the corner at your local McDonald’s. . . . He brilliantly anatomizes the corn-based diet that has emerged in the postwar era.”

The New York Times

“[Pollan’s] book is an eater’s manifesto, and he touches on a vast array of subjects, from food fads and taboos to our avoidance of not only our food’s animality, but also our own. Along the way, he is alert to his own emotions and thoughts, to see how they affect what he does and what he eats, to learn more and to explain what he knows. His approach is steeped in honesty and self-awareness. His cause is just, his thinking is clear, and his writing is compelling. Be careful of your dinner!”

The Washington Post

About the Author

Michael Pollan is the author of five books: Second Nature, A Place of My Own, The Botany of Desire, which received the Borders Original Voices Award for the best nonfiction work of 2001 and was recognized as a best book of the year by the American Booksellers Association and Amazon, and the national bestellers, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and In Defense of Food.

A longtime contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine, Pollan is also the Knight Professor of Journalism at UC Berkeley. His writing on food and agriculture has won numerous awards, including the Reuters/World Conservation Union Global Award in Environmental Journalism, the James Beard Award, and the Genesis Award from the American Humane Association.

Related Reading

Deconstructing Dinner
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An Omnivore's Dilemma: Would You Eat Michael Pollan Microbe Cheese?
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Can You Really Save the Planet at the Dinner Table?
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