Pollen’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma is charming to nearly everyone who reads it. He has a way of capturing people such as Joel Salatin that just make you want to meet them! His descriptions of his time on the farm and the activities there were charismatic, and he very craftily inserted segments about the industrial organic system into his experience in the context of the time he was spending on Polyface. Reading Pollens books helps me to forecast my own conversations that I have about similar issues and how to incorporate important and telling details such as the ones he presents about Industrial Organic Farms. His tone is so conversational but yet so vivid and convincing, truly painting a picture of the food system for the reader’s own interpretation. He offers his own encounters and experiences as information for others to make conclusions, though his words have an incredible persuasive undercurrent.
His comparison of pastoral and industrial farms is unbiased, yet illustrates the vast difference between the two. He anticipates the reader’s encounter with the text through his translations of his own encounters with the farms. His language of experience is appropriate for an audience who engages in his thought process virtually: in the context of his experience. Pollen embarks on a journey of his own thoughts and opinions in relation the ideas of others, responding to Salatin’s opinion with curiosity, yet determination to make his own analysis: “Salatin was convinced that industrial organic was finally a contradiction in terms. I decided I had to find out if he was right” (133). Pollen presents food as just food, and farming methods as just farming methods, he does not preconceive anything “good” or “bad” about the broad spectrum of ideals and methods until he fully explores the pros and cons of each and analyzes the repercussions in the system in both short and long-term contexts.
Pollen’s craft presents effective language and technique for talking about food and food systems. As someone who engages in these conversations on a daily basis, the hardest part is often framing agriculture methods so that people can make their own revelations through a non goal-oriented context. Pollen achieves this in this second section, perhaps most effectively because his goal is universal: to learn about food origin. His discussion of Industrial Organic is particularly effective because he engages the reader not only as a reader but as a consumer, furthering the relatability of his experience: “Yet the organic label itself… is really just an imperfect substitute for direct observation of how a food is produced, a concession to the reality that most people in an industrial society haven’t the time or inclination to follow their food back to the farm… its existence is an industrial artifact” (137). This myth busting approach grabs the reader’s attention by identifying the rest of the population as “most people”, distinguishing the reader as someone who is choosing to further their knowledge of food. After drawing attention to the difference between the illusion and the reality, he further deepens the thought process of the reader, elaborating on the disillusionment of the charm of industrial “organic” food, describing Supermarket Pastoral as a “a most seductive literary form”, increasing the victimization of the reader to this seduction.
There is so much to discuss in this book, but I am especially impressed with Pollen’s strategy in his writing to be incredibly relatable, and introduce each concept by building a relatable relationship between himself and the reader.
Charlotte,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the way you addressed your review. You did a good job analyzing the way Pollan (with a "a") writes :)
I, too, really liked the way that Pollan goes about laying out his arguments. He does not rely on any one form of presenting the information. Instead, he uses anecdote, economics, health, and science. It provides a well-rounded critique that has me pondering my own place in the system. Great post!
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