On Mon, 16 Oct 2006 11:45:46 GMT, jay > wrote:

>by Michael Pollan
>
>Someone recommended this book to me. It is about food choices. I thumbed
>through it on line at Amazon and it looks interesting. Has anyone here
>read it? Do you recommend it? Thanks for your comments.

This book is our campus' (UC Davis) choice for campus community book
project. I read it and enjoyed it immensely. You'll never look at
corn the same way again :-)

TammyM

TammyM > wrote:
: On Mon, 16 Oct 2006 11:45:46 GMT, jay > wrote:

:>by Michael Pollan
:>
:>Someone recommended this book to me. It is about food choices. I thumbed
:>through it on line at Amazon and it looks interesting. Has anyone here
:>read it? Do you recommend it? Thanks for your comments.

: This book is our campus' (UC Davis) choice for campus community book
: project. I read it and enjoyed it immensely. You'll never look at
: corn the same way again :-)

I haven't looked at corn 'the same way' ever since they bred it,
years ago, into high fructose corn syrup congealed on a cob
--thelma
: TammyM

On 2006-10-16, TammyM > wrote:

> project. I read it and enjoyed it immensely. You'll never look at
> corn the same way again :-)

Yeah, I will. I eat corn on the cob, canned corn, frozen, meal,
bread, syrup, etc etc.

Geez, Booker T comes along and makes everything from plastic to
printing ink out of peanuts and he's hailed as a genius. Modern
technology comes along and does the same thing with corn and it's
"eee-ville!", the scourge of the 20th century. Gimme a break. With
any luck, a new strain of e coli will come along and wipe out four
fifths of the World's population an save it from total destruction
as a bonus. I'm not optimistic.

nb

notbob wrote:

> Geez, Booker T comes along and makes everything from plastic to
> printing ink out of peanuts and he's hailed as a genius. Modern
> technology comes along and does the same thing with corn and it's
> "eee-ville!", the scourge of the 20th century. Gimme a break. With
> any luck, a new strain of e coli will come along and wipe out four
> fifths of the World's population an save it from total destruction
> as a bonus. I'm not optimistic.


Have you read _Omnivore's Dilemma_? It isn't a wholesale indictment of
corn and products made from corn at all. Pollan looks at corn's unique
properties at converting sunlight, land and carbon into calories, points
out how many more people can be fed with corn products, tells about what
goes into the production of corn, mentions its effects on the midwest's
demographics and land use, ties that together with the nation's energy
policies and people's eating habits. It's ever so interesting, and it
does change the way you look at corn-- though not necessarily in a bad way.


As for a new strain of e coli wiping out 80% of the world's population,
let me recommend another book. See if you can find a copy of an old
science fiction novel: _Earth Abides_ by George Stewart. I think you'd
enjoy it.


--Lia

On Mon, 16 Oct 2006 15:59:16 -0400, Julia Altshuler
> wrote:

>As for a new strain of e coli wiping out 80% of the world's population,
>let me recommend another book. See if you can find a copy of an old
>science fiction novel: _Earth Abides_ by George Stewart. I think you'd
>enjoy it.
>
>
>--Lia

Ohmygawd, someone else knows that book. A friend loaned it to me
years ago..and it is one of my favorites now....

Hmm...might try to find the Omnivore's Dilemma at the library.....

Christine

On 2006-10-16, Julia Altshuler > wrote:

> Have you read _Omnivore's Dilemma_? It isn't a wholesale indictment of
> corn and products made from corn at all.

Then it's the first thing he's written which isn't. Do a google
search for pollan and corn. The first four or five hits are pages of
MP droning on about the evils of corn on everything from herd cattle
to World health. The guy is an alarmist. He's an expert on nothing
and offers no solutions. Lord knows we need an alarmist, but just
yelling the sky is falling to sell $25 a pop books at big box stores
....I notice he's not railing against Border's and B&N, a scourge if
ever I've seen one.... solves absolutely nothing except Michael
Pollan's income stream.

nb

notbob wrote:
> On 2006-10-16, Julia Altshuler > wrote:
>
>
>>Have you read _Omnivore's Dilemma_? It isn't a wholesale indictment of
>>corn and products made from corn at all.
>
>
> Then it's the first thing he's written which isn't. Do a google
> search for pollan and corn. The first four or five hits are pages of
> MP droning on about the evils of corn on everything from herd cattle
> to World health. The guy is an alarmist. He's an expert on nothing
> and offers no solutions. Lord knows we need an alarmist, but just
> yelling the sky is falling to sell $25 a pop books at big box stores


I did google, and I do see what you mean. I think this is one of those
situations where shortened articles on the web zero in on the most
sensationalist examples of something when the whole book says much of
the same thing but with enough thoughtful detail that it doesn't sound
alarmist, merely thorough. You're correct that he offers no solutions
(beyond ending the U.S. corn subsidy), but that's reflected in his
title. It is a thoughtful description of a dilemma, not the solution to
a problem.


Either that, or we disagree, which is O.K. too.


--Lia

On 2006-10-17, Julia Altshuler > wrote:

> Either that, or we disagree, which is O.K. too.

I'm not sure we disagree. I'm just suffering from a case of MP
toxicity. He's hot right now and he keeps getting in my face like a
fly that won't leave me alone. PBS, NPR, local news, Slashdot, Digg,
youtube, etc ad nauseum. I can't imagine anyone actually paying
money to read what I can't seem to avoid. Oh well, not you're
problem. He'll fade away till he discovers a new crusade to not
commit to.

nb

On Mon, 16 Oct 2006 20:34:34 -0400, Julia Altshuler
> wrote:

>notbob wrote:
>> On 2006-10-16, Julia Altshuler > wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Have you read _Omnivore's Dilemma_? It isn't a wholesale indictment of
>>>corn and products made from corn at all.
>>
>>
>> Then it's the first thing he's written which isn't. Do a google
>> search for pollan and corn. The first four or five hits are pages of
>> MP droning on about the evils of corn on everything from herd cattle
>> to World health. The guy is an alarmist. He's an expert on nothing
>> and offers no solutions. Lord knows we need an alarmist, but just
>> yelling the sky is falling to sell $25 a pop books at big box stores
>
>
>I did google, and I do see what you mean. I think this is one of those
>situations where shortened articles on the web zero in on the most
>sensationalist examples of something when the whole book says much of
>the same thing but with enough thoughtful detail that it doesn't sound
>alarmist, merely thorough. You're correct that he offers no solutions
>(beyond ending the U.S. corn subsidy), but that's reflected in his
>title. It is a thoughtful description of a dilemma, not the solution to
>a problem.
>
>
>Either that, or we disagree, which is O.K. too.


I gotta say I found Pollan's arguments cogent. We have a distorted
food economy and a distorted diet here in the US. And there are
solutions of a sort in his book. He proposes that we consider each
meal as a kind of vote in an on-going referendum on the issues
surrounding our industrialized food system. So the pastured meat I
eat when I can is a way off the corn machine. Ditto the veggies I was
(finally, and in spite of the evil drought that persists here) able to
raise in my little garden this past summer.

As a former hunter (And who knows? Perhaps a future one as well), I
didn't find Pollan's trouble with killing a feral hog much to my
liking. But I live in rural Texas, and feral pigs around here can be
a real pain in the ass. Also, after reading Michael Ruhlman's
narrative about Thomas Keller slautering rabbits (The Soul of a Chef),
I have a somewhat wider perspective on the issue of animal death and
food. Keller did it because he wanted to respect his ingredients more
thoroughly. He didn't like it. He just did it.

--
modom

"Southern barbecue is a proud thoroughbred whose bloodlines are easily traced.
Texas Barbecue is a feisty mutt with a whole lot of crazy relatives."

--Robb Walsh, Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook

In article >,
notbob > wrote:

> Geez, Booker T comes along and makes everything from plastic to
> printing ink out of peanuts and he's hailed as a genius.

George Washington Carver.

Regards,
Ranee

Remove do not & spam to e-mail me.

"She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands." Prov 31:13

http://arabianknits.blogspot.com/
http://talesfromthekitchen.blogspot.com/

On 2006-10-19, Ranee Mueller > wrote:

> George Washington Carver.

DOH! I even googled 'Booker T Washington wiki' to make sure that was
the fellow's name. But, I just glanced and didn't look at the profile.
A senior moment.

nb