Michael Pollan – The Omnivore’s Dilemma

I was in the midst of writing this post and then I found out that I am to get a third roommate. This is the worst news in the entire world, for a variety of reasons I don’t need to go into here, but now I am too distraught to work on this and I need to go for a walk. XP So, look! Here are the notes I make. Can you understand any of them? I will refine them later when I stop panicking…

Fun fact tidbits such as ‘Originally, “corn” was a generic English word for any kind of grain, even a grain of salt – hence “corned beef”‘ – I always wondered about that

‘And I wondered if Billy gave much thought, in those late-night hours rolling up the miles on Interstate 80, to how he got to this point, and about who he was really working for now. The bank? John Deere? Monsanto? Pioneer? Cargill? Two hundred and twenty bushels of corn is an astounding accomplishment, yet it didn’t do Billy nearly as much as good as it did those companies.’ Talk about corn subsidies.

But a solution is considered wildly impractical by the cattle industry and therefore the USDA. (re: germs and such in slaughterhouses). THERE, AUGH, THIS IS STUPID!

‘Each weed strip is as smooth and flat as a tabletop, levelled with a laser so that the custom-built harvester can snip each leaf at precisely the same point.’

‘He reminded me taht his meat would be considerably cheaper than it is if not for government regulations and the resulting high cost of processing – at least a dollar cheaper per pound. “If we could just level the playing field – take away the regulations, the subsidies, and factor in the health care and environmental cleanup costs of cheap food – we could compete on price with anyone.”” so sad 🙁

Andrew Weill, the Marriage of the Sun and the Moon
Big, sprawling, vast, covers a lot, explore meat more in depth, ethically wise, lots of good references that sound interesting

William Cronon’s nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West

 Sidenote – miffed about ‘young reader’s edition,’ ‘”Originally written for adults and now adapted for teens,’ what the hell, we’re not stupid, we dont’ need a seprate edition.