TOW #4 - The Omnivore’s Dilemma (IRB)

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been reading my independent reading book: Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma. In his book, the Pollan has a clear introduction and takes his audience’s point of view into consideration by using humor in order to further and almost revolutionize the reader’s understanding of the food industry and the way we eat. I saw an abundance of strong prose in the introduction and less so in body chapters because it gets much more technical as Pollan explains different aspects of the food we eat. Pollan starts his book with a question: “What should we eat?” (1). The rest of the book is basically a really involved answer to this question. Then, on pages 7-8 Pollan spends a paragraph on each of the sections of the book, explaining the purpose of each. This clear, explicit “road map” as it has been called by so many teachers may be viewed as primitive and basic, like those structured essays and thesis statements we’ve been taught to write since middle and elementary school, but in this case it benefits the reader. After all, the purpose of the book is to answer a simple question and to do so in an easily understood way so that it might make an impact on a very wide audience. Then Pollan moves on to the actual body of the book, and we, the readers, learn a whole lot about corn. Keeping his audience in mind is important in this section because Pollan spends quite some pages on the biology of corn. To those who aren’t scientifically inclined, C-4 plants and F-1 and F-2 generations have no meaning. Since I took AP Biology last year, I was familiar with all of these concepts, and it was interesting to observe how one might break it down for those unfamiliar with biology. I love the way Pollan explains the plant’s stomata dilemma: “Every time a stoma [plural stomata] opens to admit carbon dioxide previous molecules of water escape. It’s as though every time you opened your mouth to eat you lost a quantity of blood” (21). I’d never thought about it that way before, but I love how the comparison instantly makes sense. This is definitely something I will make note of because I often struggle with explaining concepts with which I am already familiar to people who have had no previous exposure. Pollan also makes other comparisons that might make one giggle, establishing ethos for him and keeping the reader interested. For example, he writes “So that’s us: processed corn, walking” (23). All in all, I had a great time reading Pollan’s book and have learned a lot, not only about corn but also about prose. I can’t wait to keep reading!

Big Bad Scary Corn - activistpost.com
Because it's Halloween month and corn is in everything (has taken over the world)