In this week’s reading of chapters 15, 18, 19 and 20, Michael Pollan takes us through his journey on creating the "perfect meal", where he forages, hunts, and gathers all the necessary ingredients for his meal. Throughout Chapter 15, Pollan discusses some of the finer points of the "Omnivore's Dilemma", which he defines a few different ways. One part of the dilemma is knowing what we can and cannot eat before someone else has already tried it. He questions us, as readers, what if we did not know whether or not these foods would be edible: no one is given a guide of what to eat at birth of what exactly to eat and what not to eat.
While hunting the entree of his meal, Pollan believes that he had stumbled upon a more natural mode of human life, one that only those who partake in the hunting lifestyle will ever feel. He felt one with the environment. We aren’t getting to ever experience this mode of human life that is engraved in our DNA. Who decided it was a good idea to steer clear of this lifestyle in the first place? The other portions of his meal, such as the fungi and fruit, were equally challenging to obtain, as well as enlightening. Will it ever be possible for all of humanity to go backward in evolution to this prehistoric mode of living? Most likely not as the population now heavily outweighs the population then, but we, as a species, would benefit integrating parts of this lifestyle though.
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It does seem like there was a rapid shift to industry and a huge value placed on efficiency. There is no stand out point in history where you teacher says 'and that is what made Americans hate nature.' Which is what seems to be exactly what happened somewhere in history. :-/
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