The Omnivore’s Dilemma was incredible! I loved reading it, and it has honestly challenged the way that I have previously thought about food, purchasing food, and what is happening in American culture in general. I would be lying if I said that I haven’t been presented with this information before, and I’m not sure why I was so impacted by Michael Pollan’s words. My younger sister is a vegetarian, and has been for the past 6 years. I have always admired her ability to fight for something that she believed in, but I have written excuses off in the past. Now, I’m not planning on giving up meat entirely, or even going cold turkey on fast food (hello, I am a college student with very little money!) but I will definitely reconsider some purchases in the future.
One of the reasons that I loved this book so much was all of the extra side bars in it. For whatever reason, I never felt like this book was too long or difficult to get through, even though it is a longer book. The sidebars presented a lot of information that was important to the overall thought processes behind the book, and they challenged me to think deeper about my own life, how I was raised, and eventually how I want to present the idea of food to my children and students. I never felt condemned by any means while reading it; I just really believed that Pollan wanted us to become more aware of what is happening in America. And I think that it is for this reason that I will make my students read this, or at least part of it. Awareness. Had I been aware of the information that was presented in this book, then I think my lifestyle would look a little differently now.
Another part of this book that I loved was presented at the very end. The afterword will DEFINITELY become a part of my curriculum. It was empowering. Even as a middle school student, I think that every single person that read this would feel as if they had could make a difference. And I really do believe that middle school students are searching for places to make a difference, to matter, and to fight for something that is important to them. So, this book lends itself very well to letting students become passionate for a good cause. If anything, I feel like it was a call-to-action to make better decisions with the new awareness that he presented.
I was interested by the chapter that discussed childhood obesity, and calorie intake. I would love to present this information to my students in a way that is non-confrontational, and for the most part I think that Pollan did an excellent job. I also feel like I would be a little uncomfortable tackling this issue when it could so directly be affecting the students who are sitting in my classroom. I would never want to alienate students, but I do think that this topic is one that they should know about—whether or not they are dealing with childhood obesity.
After reading this, I had a discussion with one of my roommates about the high fructose corn syrup commercials that have been on television during the past couple of years, both the anti and pro usage of the media. I found myself becoming frustrated with people who are fighting to tell people that the corn syrup isn’t bad. I understand that your body does treat it similarly to sugar, but I feel like the underlying message behind some of those commercials was that people need to continue to eat food with corn syrup in it. There was one commercial that I remember coming to mind with a woman walking in a corn field. Ha!
Simply to make my students aware of what they are actually eating, the significance of what they are eating and where all of it comes from, I am definitely going to use this in my classroom someday. And in the meantime, I’m planning on taking advantage of the resources that are available to me while I’m living in Athens. What a great place to start making healthy, local, and organic decisions. Thanks Pollan, for challenging the way that I think about food.
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