"Omnivore's Dilemma"

Michael Pollan makes an interesting argument in his article Our National Eating Disorder. Pollan introduces the idea of the “omnivore’s dilemma” suggesting that we simply have too many food choices. For species such as cows or horses, their diet is strict and set. As herbivores they do not have many options other than grass or leaves. Same thing goes for those who are strictly carnivores. There is no wavering from their diet. However, we as omnivores have many more options. Pollan identifies one of the “central questions of life,” especially for omnivores, as “what should we have for dinner?” For the human race, the options are endless. Therefore, we must sectionalize our food- determining what is healthy and what is not, foods that improve performance and those that will inhibit our maximum potential, etc. According to Pollan, we strive for order in the overwhelming amount of options.

With this dilemma that we face has heavily influenced the American culture. With all the choices we have come to create fads. One example that Pollan uses is “carbophobia.” Though carbs themselves are not inherently unhealthy for you, someone along the way determined that they would cause the doomful end of humans, therefore people stopped consuming them. Instead of simply cutting back the amount of carbs they were consuming, bread was completely removed from the dining table. In a way, this is how we as omnivores solve this dilemma. This is seen over and over again as new diet plans come out and the latest trends are spread throughout the media.

I found this article really interesting because I had never thought about this position behind why we eat what we do. Obviously I always knew that I had a choice, and have asked the famous question “what’s for dinner” more times than I can count. I also found it interesting how companies immediately tag-on to these fads to please the customer and yield maximum benefits.