by Michael Pollan
Another book that I committed to read thoroughly but end up skipping a lot of chapters. The first part of the book is a more detailed and informative expansion of Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation. The second part on industrial organic also provides some interesting but not so astonishing facts. When it comes to the utopian Virginia farm, hunting, and gathering, oh, man, I just have to skip to the end. The author is looking for a perfect meal for upper middle class Americans, at the expense of the at least two third of the world population, and a higher percentage of American people.
One good point observed by the author is that, unlike many other cultures in the world, Americans don't have their own food tradition, and therefore, easier to fall victim of the industrialization and commercialiaztion of eating. In addition to that, and missed by the author, is the democracy and the freedom Americans boast. In a not so politically correct culture like Chinese or French, being overweight is associated with humiliation and less or worse opportunities in society, but here in US, fat people simply don't feel the shame. Guess obesity is the price to pay to live in a free world.
