Books: The Omnivore's Dilemma and Twinkie, Deconstructed
I got a number of library books in a very short period of time, so I’ve been reading my face off lately. Our library system delivers requested books right to your doorstep, so it was a surprising few days as my stack grew.
First up: The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan. Actually, what I received is what I’ve linked to: the young reader’s edition. Which I kind of like, because it was written with a fun tone that’s easy to understand. Not thick and wordy like that pesky Good Calories, Bad Calories. Anyhoo, in this book Michael Pollan takes us through four meals: one from conventionally available foods, one from organically grown foods, one from a local sustainable farm, and one from foods he hunted and gathered himself. It’s a very nice look at how our foods make it to our local supermarkets, and how foods labeled as “organic” aren’t necessarily any better as far as health OR saving the environment.
The book was a quick read, and would make an excellent companion piece to the documentary Food, Inc. (which also involves Michael Pollan). And even the young reader’s edition contains tons of great information about healthy foods. It made me want to plant a garden. And to visit Polyface Farms (Food, Inc. also made me want to visit Polyface). 8 out of 10.
Next: Twinkie, Deconstructed by Steve Ettlinger. I have to admit, I heard about this book and thought it was going to be great. Ettlinger takes apart the ingredients list of a Twinkie, then finds out how each of those ingredients is grown, processed, or mined. Sadly, the book was a long slog of a read. There wasn’t as much fun as I’d hoped there would be, and it was almost too much information in some ways. The chapters all felt 30% longer than they needed to be.
It was interesting to learn how certain ingredients are created; I was surprised at how many of them were made from petroleum, through cracking and solvents and chemical interactions. Many of the others were made from corn by-products, which are also treated with solvents and chemicals. And in that vein, I think my biggest issue with the book is the fact that the author points out things (Hey, did you know that soy oil is treated with toxic hexane to create shortening?) without a lot of questioning of if these things are good. I guess I wanted a little less here’s-how-it-is, and a little more here’s-what-I-think-about-that. Does Ettlinger think that creating chemical food additives out of petroleum is healthy? Or smart? We don’t really know. He lays out the facts, and not much more. 6 out of 10.
