Hw #7

Ominivore's Dilemma by Michael Polan
Introduction
The introduction gives a brief understanding and outline of the purpose of the book. Michael Pollan directly tells us what it is that he wants us to absorb from reading his book, that we humans are still part of a food chain, though indirect, it still exists. It also explains what an omnivore's dilemma is, and more or less what an omnivore is.
We live in a three principal food chain, the industrial, the organic, and the hunter gatherer. We never completely understand the process in which foods go through, and the chain of events never cross our minds as long as the "organic" products are labeled that way.
-Food is the core element that has helped us evolve as humans.
-Where would the human race be today if agriculture was never initiated? Would we still be living primitive lives, or was it fated and necessary for our survival?

Chapter 1

The first chapter explains the significance of corn, and the history of its survival. It portrays a very important plant that was key to our survival as "new" American's when the land was discoverd, as well as how humans were significant for the survival of corn. Explains various aspects of corn including reproduction and its mutation.
"The great edifice of variety and choice that is an American supermarket turns out to rest on a remarkably narrow biological foundation comprised of a tuny group of plant that is dominated by a single species: Zea mays, the giant tropical grass most American's know as corn" (pg 18)
-Corn helped colonize America
-Without corn, agriculture would have been less efficient and may have never become a reliable source of the survival of the human race.

Chapter 2
In chapter 2, it explains how farmers harvest there crops in order to survive. George Naylor is introduced as a farmer who struggles to survive by harvesting no more than corn and soybeans. In order to sustain a reasonable crop, hybrid corn is invented which allows faster mass production of corn. The chapter also explains how the process of harvesting corn changed from natural sun into fertilizers that allowed crops to grow at faster rates.
“The 129 people who depend on George Naylor for their sustenance are all strangers, living at the far end of a food chain so long, intricate, and obscure that neither producer nor consumer has no reason to know the first thing about the other" (pg 34).
Hybrid corns are much more durable. They can survive under conditions that were impossible before, allowing them to be harvested in various locations. 
-I believe the importance of corn has been degraded from a significant crop that made farming possible, to just another crop that should be mass produced into money.
-What is an option that can enable a more "natural" growth of crops, or is mass production needed in order to feed the people?
-The food industry needs to let people know about these hidden facts. It will make them look better on their part, and make us feel more secure as consumers.

Chapter 3
Due to mass production of corn, industrial transportation became very unhygienic and wasteful. Various types of corn were formed in order to fasten the pace of harvesting corn and to keep the business running, even the labeling and categorization of corn as far as selling goes, became a non-existent process. Transportation of corn became different after the invention of railroad tracks, it became grain elevators where they would fill train cars and elevator conveyor belts with corn causing the grains to be mistreated more and more.
 -"But before buyers would accept this new, nonspecific, trackless corn they would have to have some assurance of its quality" (pg 60)
-But Nature abhors a surplus, and corn must be consumed" (pg 64)

I don't believe this process of mass production is suprising at all, since everything is mass produced these days I don't necessarily have high expectations for the quality of most products, unless they are priced within a expensive range. Though it may seem very unsanitary, we should be worrying more about whether food gets to places to feed the people, more than worrying about whether the food is in excellent quality. There is a reason why things are more expensive, because they are produced with care, if you can't afford it then you shouldn't be complaining about what your getting.

Chapter 4
CAFO(concentrated animal feeding operation) is used in America to nurture and slaughter livestock, where these animals are put in a compact space where they are fed (mainly corn, 60%). Cows that are not part of the CAFO get fed grass which is grown by spreading of the seeds using their hooves and fertilized by their manure which is the under-appreciated wonders of the relationship between cows and grass. Cattle's were also fed cattle as a source of food and nutrients, but one of the healthiest ways to feed and grow a cow is still corn and grass.

-"So this is what commodity corn can do to a cow; industrialize the miracle of nature that is rumminant, taking this sunlight- and prairie grass- powered organism and turning into the last thing we need: another fossil fuel machine. This one, however, is able to suffer" (pg84)
-"The whole system would have to change- and slow down. Hell if you gave them lots of grass and space, I wouldn't have a job" (pg79)

For meat, I believe the concept of needing to feed the people and keeping buisness moving is the same as the mass production of corn that is done through the grain elevators. Livestock is much harder to take care of then plants, therefore they must make it efficient in order to keep the production at its maximum speed. I understand what Michael Pollan is trying to let us see, but nevertheless, the mass production of things will always come with its flaws, but improving the process is another story.

Chapter 5
Most of the corn plant is not consumed by us humans as a solid food like corn on a cob or a corn muffin, but is consumed through sodas and oil where it goes through a "wetmill" in order to break down certain parts to fit certain foods or beverages. Preservation of food has always been a dream for humans, and it has evolved from drying and adding salt, to canning and freezing but none of them could keep food perserved forever, so after the second world war, a reverse process of not improving food but improving nature began. Nothing has changed since we began to make high tech food besides the chemicals we use to make them last.

"When fake sugars and fake fats are joined by fake starches, the food industry will at long last have overcome the dilemma of the fixed stomach:" (pg 99)
"the dream of liberating food from nature continued to flourish-indeed, to expan in ambition and confidence. In the third age of food processing, which begins with the end of WW2, merely persving the fruits of nature was deemed too modest: The goal now was to improve on nature" (pg 91)

I believe preservation of food was like a miracle for us humans who needed to fight everyday for their share of food for only a single day. It probably was like stopping time and decay, but just for food which allowed them to get other stuff without worrying too much about whether they will starve for the night. Food technology is like an evolution process that changed us from hunter gatherers to beings that save and trade.