Most likely, the migrant workers who pick my organic lettuce wear blue band-aids.
This is only one of the many unexpected facts I learned while reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan's exploration into the world of food, where it comes from and how it gets to our table. Most of it is eye-opening, some of it heart-breaking, and the end isn't nearly as neat as you'd hope it would be. I'd recommend reading this book only if you're willing to have your mind expanded, because it will most likely change the way you see your food, and, in my case, it may just change the way you eat.
So why do they wear blue band-aids? Because it's not a charming little farm where a family goes out to pick the lettuce that finds its way to my supermarket of choice, Publix. It's because the lettuce is grown in a massive field, and since weeds are likely to end up in my mixed green tub, migrant workers roam the rows, where they inevitably gets cuts and scrapes. Blue band-aids are issued because they're easy to see among the greens and reds, and also because they have magnetic strips, and the lettuce passes through a machine with a magnet that will (hopefully) get the last of the band-aids before the lettuce is boxed and shipped across the country.
This is one of the many practices the organic food industry has picked up from the normal food industry. It had to, in order to scale to the demand. Is it different than I imagine it? You bet. Same for the free range chickens that, most likely, never see the light of day in the seven weeks they are alive. Is there free range available? Absolutely. Do they set foot on it? Probably not.
The first third of Pollan's expose is focused on the corn industry, how it has driven much of our food policy, how it's prevalence has made its way into almost every food we consume to the cars we drive. Pollan explores why this is, the effect it has on the country, on almost every part of the food chain, from our beef to our soil.
The next third follows the organic industry, and while he focuses on a local farm, Polyface Farm in Virginia, he also discusses the greater industry, from the mass organic farms in California to the 'free range' chickens that are grown across the country. It's frustrating, disheartening, and very eye-opening.
The last third describes a meal Pollan gathered himself, from the mushrooms to the pig he hunted. It's almost all local food from Northern California, and while it turns out very well, even Pollan admits that it's unrealistic for everyone to eat this way.
Part of me didn't want to read The Omnivore's Dilemma. It's easier not to read it. It's the same reason I haven't watched Food, Inc. When I'm confronted with the truth behind my food, I either have to change, or I am complicit with the production of it. And it's hard for me to be complicit with pesticides that contribute to the stripping of the soil and industrial food organizations where cows are grown with little regard to their nature, where chickens grow in cages where they can't turn around, where they eat what is unnatural and live filthy, short, pathetic lives.
Now that I have the knowledge of the truth behind my hamburgers, I have to do something with this knowledge. What is it? I'm not sure, exactly. I'm still working it all out--but it's hard for me to see much of the food in the grocery store the same way. I'm not going to grow and cook all my own meals, but I'm certainly going to pay attention to the food that is going in them, and do the best I can to understand the ethical ramifications of some of the choices I make.
This book opened my eyes and my mind, and what has been seen cannot be unseen. The challenge is this: what now? How shall it continue to change me?
Don't read this book if you're not ready to think about the food that's on your plate. It's tough. But Pollan has done a great job making the case for more thoughtful eating.
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