It isn’t easy making facts and statistics interesting. Lots of things fail at it: textbooks, movies, teachers. But Michael Pollan’s book The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals makes a smashing job of it.
There are 2 reasons why I love this book: one, it’s made me smarter. It’s taught me more about my food and it’s made me think more about my food. Two, it’s damn good reading. I’ve added Pollan to the list of writers I want to be when I grow up.
Michael Pollan is a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine and Knight Professor of Journalism at Berkeley, he wrote both The Omnivore’s Dilemma and its sequel, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. I read them out of order (sequel first), but discovered it doesn’t matter.
In Defense of Food was written as an answer to The Omnivore’s Dilemma, it was written as a practical guide for the person who wants to eat consciously, whereas The Omnivore’s Dilemma centers around Pollan’s quest story to understand food. It tells a story about walking in the cornfields, being knee-deep in cow manure, working as a farm-hand, and hunting for dinner. It’s what makes this book so much fun. And personal. Pollan isn’t a distant observer, he reacts and responds to what he sees and how it changes his perspective on food, and I couldn’t help but do the same as I read along.
Cleverly inter-weaved within this personal story are nuggets of facts and statistics, so you learn at the same time you’re entertained. Pollan pulls it off masterfully in The Omnivore’s Dilemma; even though it’s twice as long as In Defense of Food’s 200-odd pages, I found it harder to put down.
If you’re looking for a one-stop read about the source of your food and the consequences of what you choose to have for lunch, or you just want a darn good yarn, you can’t do worse than The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Check it out.
P.S. As a Singaporean, I can’t say how relevant some of the chapters are (I doubt that I’ll be shooting wild boar on Pulau Ubin anytime soon), but until we have a Michael Pollan of our own, I still recommend The Omnivore’s Dilemma for my local friends.