On a side note, I've started reading Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and it's blowing my mind. Basically, it's a piece of investigative journalism written about the food industry and all the implied questions (moral, political, environmental, economical...) that really go behind the question of "what's for dinner?" I'm about halfway through and so far I've had a peek at the evolution of the corn industry, the complicated dynamics of pastoral farm systems and been presented a lot of questions as to what seemingly simple terms like "industrial" and "organic" really mean, and how flexible they are. Right now I'm on the section about pastoral farming, polyculture (the practice of growing many symbiotic species together instead of segregating one species and growing it en masse-- monoculture) and the many advantages of eating local and knowing where the food you eat comes from. Honestly, reading this book makes me happy that I have the option to get my supplies from the farmer's market and chat with the people who grow my food about its production, the sustainability of their farming and the philosophy that goes behind it all. I have yet to read the sections on the hunter-nature relationship or the section depicting "The Perfect Meal" (a meal that Pollan hunted, gathered and prepared entirely himself) but I can't wait to pick it up again. For all the people who like to ask questions about the philosophy of their food: I highly recommend this book.
Here's the link to the Amazon webpage
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