Blog Assignment #5 - Reading Michael Pollan "The Omnivore's Dilemma"

• In the memoir of Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma the author reflects what we should have for dinner. As well he is a good example of a successful writing in creative non-fiction. I will choose three strong sentences that gives us a sense of this author's style or focus in his memoir .

1.  "The USDA is being used by the global corporate complex to impede the clean-food movement. They aim to close down all but the biggest meat processors, and to do it in the name of biosecurity. Every government study to date has shown that the reasons we're having an epidemic of food-borne illness in this country is centralized production, centralized processing, and long-distance transportation of food. you would think therefore that they'd want to decentralize the food system, especially after 9/11. But no! They'd much rather just irradiate everything instead." 
2. " This was when I began to appreciate what a morally powerful idea an open- air abattoir is. Polyface's customers know to come after noon on a chicken day, but there's nothing to prevent them from showing up earlier and watching their dinner being killed-indeed, customers are welcome to watch, and occasionally one does. More than any USDA rule or regulation, this transparency is their best assurance that the meat they're buying has been humanely and cleanly processed." 
3. "Joel is convinced "clean food" could compete with supermarket food is the government would exempt farmers from the ticket of regulations that prohibit them from processing and selling meat from farm. For him, regulation is the single biggest impediment to building a viable food chain, and what's at stake is our liberty, nothing less. "We do not allow the government to dictate what religion you can observe, so why should we allow them to dictate what kind of food you can buy?". He believes "Freedom of food"- the freedom to buy a pork chop from the farmer who raised the hog-should be a constitutional right. " 

 I think that the author makes his writing style effective to me because he grabs my attention since the beginning of his piece. He is very realistic and I like to read this kind of realistic themes. I realized that he is objective when he explained the way how farmers do the slaughtering of chickens. 

• How does the author develop a sense of character for him? How do they win over our attention with their story?  

The author writes about a social problem that is affecting us. He shows us what is happening with our meat before it's served in the table for dinner and also he explains that what we have for dinner every day is not just a piece of meat that it comes magically every day to our lives. The author exposes a topic that nobody talks about it. It took me a lot to assimilate what is happening with the animals and with the meat that I buy every day. He captures my attention because while I was reading I was inside the farm in his story. The way he writes is very explicit so right away you traveled inside the story.

• Why do you think this memoir was published and was successful with readers? 

I think this memoir was published because as human beings we have to open our eyes with this situation. This topic is strongly sad and real. It's a problem that we are having but we are not solving. I think this memoir was successful because Pollan follows each of the food chains that sustain us industrial food, organic or alternative food, and food we forage ourselves from the source to a final meal, and in the process develops a definitive account of the American way of eating.